I have three boys. I have had three fairly different pregnancies and as a result, had people each time tell me that I was having a girl. We found out the sex of each of our children during ultrasounds and only two of those ultrasounds surprised me.
With our first baby, it really didn’t matter either way. We were so excited to see the tiny features of our baby on the screen that we were ecstatic when we discovered it was a boy. But that first time, I did think that I was having a girl. My husband does not let me forget that while I was pregnant and before our ultrasound, I referred to our son as “baby girl.”
When I became pregnant with our second child, I again believed that I was carrying a girl. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t disappointed initially when we found out that we were having another boy. It wasn’t that I was unhappy about another son but I immediately realized that there would be no Barbies, no little toenails to paint, no one to pass my jewelry down to. Luckily, my disappointment only lasted for a few moments until I, oddly enough, began to think of future Halloweens. I imagined my boys dressed as Batman and Robin, and Ernie and Bert. With that image in my head, I became very excited to have boys that would be so close in age as brothers.
By the time I was pregnant with our third child, I believed, without a doubt, that I was carrying another boy. The ultrasound confirmed it, and I quickly refreshed myself with the theme song of “My Three Sons.” I was completely happy. Still I wondered how many people would choose the sex of their child if they could. Would I have considered it?
Here is some information that I found on trying to conceive a boy or girl.
According to ezinearticles.com, if you are hoping to become pregnant with a boy,
“Your baby's gender is determined by which sperm chromosome reaches and fertilizes the egg first. There are both Y (boy) and X (girl) chromosomes. Both race to the egg, but each have different characteristics. Y sperm are very fast, but are also extremely weak. X sperm are not the fastest, but are by far the strongest. To get pregnant with a male baby, you'll want to use positioning that places the sperm as close as possible to the egg. This gives the weak little guys a short trip and limits their time in a hostile vaginal environment. The best known positions for a deposit very close to the cervix is rear entry where the woman is typically lying on her stomach, but has her knees in a sitting position. Another variation has the woman sitting up with bent knees on the edge of the bed or on the floor. You can use a pillow to raise your pelvis even further for an even deeper deposit.”
According to justmommies.com, conceiving a girl is more about the timing of intercourse. “You will want to have sex several days before you ovulate. However, if you have intercourse too close to ovulation you may end up conceiving a boy. Sperm can live up to five days. You want to time intercourse so that you are having sex as far from ovulation as possible but still close enough that the sperm will still survive. The female sperm live longer than the male so if you time things right, the male sperm will not make it to the egg to fertilize it. You want to try not to have sex during the two days before your peak day.”
Wow. That seems like a lot of work and I have never attempted to try either suggestion. I have no idea if there is any truth to the information presented above but found it to be interesting. My conclusion is that no, I would not attempt to choose the sex of my baby, even if I could. Would you?