The peener debate

Everyone, minus like 2 or 3 people, thinks that I'm going to have a boy.  I refer to Nacho as a "he" and Susanne from school keeps telling me it will be a boy because my stomach is more of a "basketball" than a "watermelon."  I bet you're wondering if there's any truth behind any of these old wives tales. Well, it's your lucky day because I just researched them for you (yes, I'm on vacation in Europe, but it's cold and damp and rainy here and this is a lot better than going out in winter gear).


Old Wive's Tale (OWT): If you're carrying high, it will be a girl.  If you're carrying low, it will be a boy.
Truth: Sex has nothing to do with it; it all has to do with muscle and uterine tone as well as the general position of the baby.

This lady is carrying SUPER low.  I've never seen anything like it.  It looks like an oversized breast!

Does it look like I'm carrying high or low?

OWT: A female fetus's heartbeat is faster than a male fetus's heartbeat.

Truth: Fetal heartbeats are pretty much the same until the baby is born; then, the girl's heartbeat will be considerably faster.

Fact: Nacho's heartbeat has hovered around 140-160 bpm.

OWT: If your husband puts on weight during the pregnancy, then it's a girl.  If he doesn't, it's a boy.  

Truth: No science supports this.

Fact: Scarlett's uncle Angel gained 60 lbs when her aunt was pregnant with their first boy.  Billy, scared that this would happen to him, has worked out pretty much daily and hasn't gained anything, the rat bastard.

(hispanic) OWT: If you have lots of heartburn, your baby will be born with lots of hair.

Truth: May be based on the fact that Hispanic babies are usually really hairy and most women get heartburn during pregnancy.

Fact: I've had hardly any heartburn during the pregnancy (thanks, chiropractor!)

OWT: If you have acne while pregnant, it's a girl.

Truth: Babies may be born with some acne due to the mother's hormones, but not the other way around.

Fact: I had a full face of zits for like 4 months and now they're gone.

According to this website:

http://www.amazingpregnancy.com/oldwivestales/

I'll be having a girl.

Ok, so the point of this was to let you know that I think we're having a boy and with that realization comes the decision about whether or not to circumcise little Nacho when he's born.  

A 1990 article in the New England Journal of Medicine claims that routine infant circumcision earns the health insurance system an estimated $140 to $160 million annually. The cutting procedure has become an automatic response after birth, the article said, and is routinely practiced in thousands of hospitals around the country.

A bit of history (from, of course, Wikipedia): despite modern medicine's rejection of what in America is a century-old tradition, millions of parents continue to circumcise their newborn sons. For many, this decision stems from tradition, particularly among Jewish parents whose faith guides the father to circumcise his eight day-old son as a way of forming a covenant with God. For others, the decision is based on the desire for cosmetic conformity, and belief that a cut penis is a cleaner and healthier penis.  Due to the unsanitary conditions of WWII, uncircumcised soldiers often developed serious infections around the foreskin. More often than not, American soldiers sent into battle uncircumcised returned home without foreskins. New recruits were also expected to be circumcised.

Many people believe that doctors routinely prescribe circumcisions (they do not), that circumcisions are painless (they are not), that boys with circumcised penises are "cleaner" (men have had foreskins for millions of years.  I'm sure that cleaning a penis with foreskin is not that difficult to do), and that all boys are circumcised (80% of the male population in the world isn't circumcised; 65% of the US population is compared to about 1% of the British population).  

Finally, foreskins are there for a reason.  They provide protection, an immunological defense barrier, erogenous sensitivity, coverage during an erection, self-stimulating sexual functions, and it has (the very important) sexual function during intercourse.  Furthermore, approximately 230 baby boys die per year from complications due to circumcisions.  Scary.  

So why would I want to deny little Nacho all of the joys of having a foreskin if there aren't any religious or traditional reasons for circumcision?  

 Most of the stuff here I read on www.drmomma.org.