In my wife’s native Taiwan, they have a number of superstitions / old wives’ tales concerning pregnancy. When she was pregnant the first time, several of her friends and family told me a number of them
You should never tap her on the back. When I asked my wife, all she could think was that maybe this could startle her and, again please follow along with the logic, maybe she would fall down. Noted that this may not happen too often, but a husband could never be too careful.
Don’t move homes. The spirits may not like it.
Don’t move your bed. One could argue that this is like trying to close the barn door after the horse is gone, but the purpose isn’t to try to get un-pregnant, it’s that the unborn child wants to sleep in the same place.
OK, so what kind of advice has been passed down from mothers to daughter over the centuries in the States? I can only vaguely remember a few wise nuggets of wisdom which my grandmother would tell us young children:
Never buy stock at a high price and sell low. The shock could be devastating to an expecting woman.
Avoid brief sexual encounters in closets at London restaurants with strangers while your wife is pregnant. This adds to the cost of the divorce.
I’m not tapping my wife, have toned down the night time calisthenics and am mentally prepared to decline invitations of sex from strangers, should that come up, what else do I need to not be doing for the next 5 1/2 months?
Lots of them center around predicting the gender. They all have a 50% chance of being correct.
If she’s carrying high/low, it’s a girl/boy.
If pregnancy makes her less than lovely in appearance, it’s a girl because the baby is “stealing her beauty.”
And my all time favorite - if the mother is experiencing much physical discomfort, it’s a girl because no two females can occupy the same space and get along.
Don’t watch horror movies because if something scares you, your child will be born looking like that thing. Twaddle, of course. Have you guys seen my son?
Unfortunately not an old wives’ tale, just from an old silly medical survey (Done in 1942): morning sickness is only experienced by women who are sexually disgusted by their husbands.
My best friend helpfully told me that last week. I had awful morning sickness.
It’s just as accurate as the Drano test for predicting your child’s gender. :rolleyes:
Eat bananas if you want a boy. This one has been in the news for the last day or two - I’d never heard of it before - because of some research tying potassium-rich diets to greater chances of having a boy.
Heartburn will mean your baby is born with a full head of hair.
I know it’s a myth, but dammit, I suffered from godawful heartburn during both my pregnancies (once after drinking of glass of apple juice, fer cryin’ out loud) and both my kids were born with full heads of hair.
