Pregnancy diary: Testing the wives’ tales about babies to see if they have any truth to them

I knew what sex baby I was having but my friends didn’t. For a bit of fun, we tested the old wives’ tales to see if they had any merit.

This is the sixth instalment of Imogen’s pregnancy diary, with a new chapter released every Sunday.

Part one: Why I was dumbstruck when I found out I was pregnant

Part two: The first doctor’s appointment, blood tests and dating scan

Part three: Photo reveals why pregnancy announcement didn’t go to plan

Part four: I had these dreams about my baby’s gender

Part five: My family’s devastating loss while I was pregnant

After we’d had the sex of the baby confirmed at the 12-week scan, my friends wanted to host a mini-gender reveal where we’d test the old wives’ tales to see if they had any merit.

I only knew of two – the ring over the belly and the saying about girl babies “stealing” their mother’s beauty.

However, when Vanessa rocked up with a whiteboard and 25-odd wives’ tales and questions to ask, I was shocked.

The wives' tales that we were testing.

A little spread for a little gender reveal. Note the little babies!

Six of my besties were treated to knowledge about things like my nipple size and colour, whether I’d had any cravings or morning sickness, which side I was sleeping on, how my blood pressure had been, and even whether or not Michael had gained weight.

We also conducted three experiments with my urine – yes, really.

In one experiment, we mixed my urine with bicarb to see if it fizzed or not, in the second we mixed it with purple water (from soaked purple cabbage) to see what colour it would turn, and in the third we judged its original colour to determine if it was more fluoro or muted.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be conducting experiments on my own urine.

At the end of all the questions and experiments, the tally was 13 boy and 12 girl.

Before we revealed the big news to them, we went around the table to get everyone’s guesses of what the baby was.

We got four guesses for girl and only two for boy.

Our friends were of course absolutely thrilled for us and cried out with glee when we told them we are expecting a boy.

The results of the wives' tales.

During my second trimester, the focus has been getting the baby’s room ready and preparing a baby registry for our baby shower.

In an effort to get some clarity and insight on what to put on the baby registry, Michael, Penny and I attended a baby expo.

The expo was great but I definitely left there with more questions than answers because of the sheer amount of products, information and people that were there.

And because I haven’t done this before, it’s hard to know what is actually needed – outside the obvious stuff – versus what’s a ‘nice to have’.

What makes it even more tricky is that each baby is so different from the next, meaning most products have mixed reviews ranging from ‘couldn’t live without it’ to ‘barely used it because my baby didn’t like it’.

The large price differences between things also makes it difficult to decide too. Is this more expensive than its competitors because it’s a higher-quality product that’s worth the price tag or will the lower-priced item perform just as well?

Alongside those questions is the etiquette around a baby registry.

What is an acceptable amount of items to put on? What price range is OK? Do you put the big things on there or buy those yourself? What is the highest-priced item that should be listed? How do we word the invite to say we’re not expecting anything but if you want to buy something please buy it off here?

The paint colours we were choosing between for the baby room.

I also cringe at asking people for presents and money – avoiding it at all costs.

But, I need to get over that because Michael and I have a very generous network of family and friends – that we are so grateful for – who want to buy things for us and help out.

And, if it was the other way around and we were buying for friends and family, we wouldn’t hesitate to help them in any way we could with their new family.

So, Imogen, get over yourself!

Meanwhile, in the baby room – which is what Michael has been calling it since we moved in – we decided to paint the walls a grey-blue tone and a warm white as we felt these colours were hopefully going to be ones with the most longevity as he grows up. Fingers crossed!

At 22 weeks I had another ultrasound which is colloquially known as the 20-week scan.

The morphology scan is a routine scan that checks the baby’s size and how everything is developing.

It’s recommended you don’t have an empty bladder for ultrasounds to make it easier to see things.

The specialist doing my ultrasound was very thorough and explained what she was looking at and after getting pictures of what she could while my full bladder was getting in the way, she told me I could go to the loo – sweet relief!

The baby’s side profile as seen on my 20-week scan.

As we neared the end of the scan, she was trying to get a good picture of one of the structures of the heart, but the baby wasn’t in a good position to see it.

She applied more pressure – and apologised as she was doing it – to try and move the baby into a better position. She’d seen what she was looking for in earlier views but wanted to get a proper picture of it.

In the end, she asked me to get up and “jig around a bit” to get the baby into a better position.

So, I stood up and did a little jig – belly out and all – and then hopped back onto the chair. Two minutes post-jig she got the picture she was after, and got a better view of something else too.

She told us that from what she could see, everything was looking normal and developing as expected, which was great news.

The baby’s hand and arm.

As the weeks go on, my dry gagging has basically stopped, apart from an occasional gag here and there which I like to think is the baby’s way of reminding me he’s in there.

But I could do without the gag reminders, seeing as he’s moving around now.

At one of my hospital appointments, the midwife had asked me if I had felt any movements yet.

Because I’d never experienced baby kicks before, I really didn’t know if I had felt anything or not.

She said that was normal but that his movements would get stronger and I’d definitely know when I was feeling them.

I remember the first time I realised that I was feeling the baby move. I was sitting at my desk at work and felt these bubbles rise up my lower abdomen. I immediately thought to myself, ‘oh my god that was the baby’. I felt so much happiness, excitement and relief that I had felt him move.

Our baby’s legs and feet.

Lo and behold, the little bubbles that I was feeling – think internal farts (I know you know what I mean) – soon morphed into bigger twitches.

As he’s grown, the strength of his movements have increased, as well as the frequency.

Often, I’ll feel him when I’m sitting or lying down – and I’ve read that’s because when you’re moving, the baby is rocked to sleep but when you stop moving, they wake up.

That’s why he seems to be having a little dance party before I go to sleep.

Every time he’s really kicking off, I get Michael to feel my stomach to see if he can feel the baby but every time he puts his hand on me, he gets all shy!

As such, Michael’s only felt him move a handful of times so far.

Right now, the movements feel like big muscle twitches in my lower abdomen. They’re not so localised as you might imagine a ‘kick’ with a foot could be, rather it’s like the whole lower part of my belly twitches.

I remember at my 12-week scan, the doctor doing my ultrasound said he was an active baby.

I asked her if she was moving him around with the ultrasound receiver but she said she was following him!

At that stage I couldn’t feel anything, but now I certainly feel how much he moves around in there.

I know some people get grossed out by the idea of something moving inside you but to me, feeling him move is a comfort and a nice reminder of his life.

Originally published as Pregnancy diary: Testing the wives’ tales about babies to see if they have any truth to them