Playing the Gender Game

I really always thought that when I had children, I would want to be surprised when the doctor held up my child for the first time and announced "It's a boy!" Or "It's a girl!" My sister and her husband waited with both of their girls, and I always thought I would, too.Until the day I saw "Pregnant" on the screen of my digital pregnancy test.

Since then, not only have I been counting the days until we can go for the 20-week ultrasound, but I have also been taking every quiz I can lay my hands on, trying to get an indication of whether our little bundle is male or female.

So far, everything points to a girl, even the Chinese gender prediction calendar, which claims to be 90% accurate. (I know the calendar must be correct because it was wrong on so many other people that mine has to be correct in order to maintain that 90% rating.) My belly is riding high, my face has turned into an acne nightmare, and the baby's heartbeat has consistently been high (175 at the first ultrasound and now right around 150.)

On top of all this, my family tends not to make boy children. My brother-in-law likes to tell my sister, "It's the man who determines the gender," but she always replies with, "Not in this family."

My aging grandparents have 8 grandchildren. 7 are women. They also have 7 great-grandchildren, of which 3 are boys, and 2 great-great-grandchildren, both girls. So out of 17 descendants, just four are boys, and they all came from one branch of the family tree, my Aunt Jo and Uncle Walt.

Still, it's kind of like playing roulette. If it came up red and even the last six times, it makes you want to play black odds.

In truth, I don't care either way if our little one is a boy or girl. But it's the waiting to know that is driving me crazy. Three more weeks!