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Intro
There is , arguably , more superstitious notion wall pregnancy than any other so - called " medical stipulation . " To disjoined fact from fiction , we examined the science behind the hearsay .
Pregnancy lasts nine months.
" It ’s really more like nine - and - a - one-half months , " said Dr. Joanne Stone , an obstetrician at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and co - author of " Pregnancy for Dummies " ( For Dummies , 2009 ) .
To make matter more confusing , doctors typically evaluate pregnancy ’s distance as 40 week , enumerate from a fair sex ’s last geological period . woman usually become prolific 10 to 16 days after their period starts , so from this method acting of tally , the first two week of every maternity take placebeforea charwoman has conceived .
When you have sex determines the gender of your baby.
Dads - to - be have two types of sperm : those that make infant boys and those that make baby girls . Some say that the body of a mamma - to - be is more hospitable to boy sperm or girl sperm during sure times in her cycle . And so , the theories go , when a couple has sexuality can learn whether they conceive a Junior or a Bubette .
While a few small survey have supported timing method acting for sex pick , larger , more recent studies have failed to find any correlation between the solar day within the rich windowpane a couple has sex and the gender of the baby , excuse Dr. Rachel Vreeman , co - author of " Do n’t get down Your Gum ! myth , Half - Truths , and Outright Lies about Your Body and Health " ( St. Martin ’s Griffin , 2009 ) .
The only agency you may reliably choose the sex of your baby is with the help oftechnology .
You can predict the sex of your baby without technology.
Time to crack it to nan : Basketball - shape paunch do not calculate boy . In a study of 104 cleaning woman , release in the daybook Birth in 1999 , no correlational statistics were rule between a pregnant venter ’s size or contour and the baby ’s sex .
Similarly , anticipation using the Chinese lunar calendar , the fetal heart rate and the Drano test ( where the charwoman ’s weewee is mixed with the Diamond State - clogging liquidness and the resulting color allegedly reveals the child ’s sex ) were examined by physicians in Vancouver in 1999 . None of them were dependable .
Neither is women ’s intuition dependably accurate , according to a 1996 article in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine . Of 110 cleaning woman who professed throw a strong sense of the child ’s gender , some one-half were right the same number expected to be right if they were just guessing .
In all , scientists have find most folklore - based method of promise a baby ’s sex have the same odds as flipping a coin . " And 50/50 odds are not that bad , " Vreeman say .
There may be a case for the prognostic economic value of utmost morning sickness . undue , unrelenting morning malady also known ashyperemesis gravidarumis slightly more correlate with having girls , Vreeman said .
Twins skip a generation.
Fraternal Twin do run in kinfolk , due to a factor that can make a womanhood more probable to release multiple eggs during ovulation . But the hyper - ovulation factor does n’t leapfrog over certain generations . It is passed on from parent to nestling just like all factor are .
Evidence show up that superposable twins , however , come at random , rather than running in families . If there are many readiness of carbon - copies in your syndicate line , " it is believably just a coincidence , " Vreeman told MyHealthNewsDaily .
Breastfeeding makes your breasts sag.
While infant sure as shooting debilitate a lactating breast , their hunger does n’t cause prospicient - term change in breast steadiness . Scientists have confirmedbreastfeeding does not add to breast ptosis(the scientific name for saggy breasts ) .
However , multiple pregnancies , smoke and simply get older have been correlate with droopier segmentation , fit in to a work of 132 women published in the Annals of Plastic Surgery in May .
The mom-to-be is the only one going through hormonal changes.
She ’s not alone : Dad ’s dealing with hormone shifts , too .
A study publish in the journalEvolution and Human Behaviorin 2000 find that over the course of his mate ’s pregnancy , an expectant male parent ’s testosterone stratum go down and his prolactin levels go up . Researchers believe this adjustment may help primedudesto play daddy .
Your body shape will never be the same again.
" With exercise and diet , it certainly is possible to get back in the flesh you were in before catch pregnant , " Stone said , tote up that this is easiest for people who were quite fit before conceiving .
People tend to forget that the body changes with age , with or without a pregnancy , Stone told MyHealthNewsDaily . So before blaming your saddlebag on your offspring , try out counting the candela on your next natal day cake .
Pregnancy makes your feet grow.
While most women feel some swelling in their calf , ankle joint and foot during pregnancy , many can fit back into their favorite blackguard at some period postpartum .
But this one is n’t a consummate myth : Some women permanently go up a half - size over the course of a pregnancy and possibly even another half - size with each subsequent pregnancy .
" Hopefully , they ’re not having ten kids , " Stone express joy .
Drinking any alcohol during pregnancy will hurt your baby.
While binge booze during pregnancy can cause severe problem , late studiesof thousands of women in the United Kingdom and Australia have confirmed earlier inquiry propose that light to temperate drinking unremarkably delineate as one drink a calendar week to one small-scale drink most twenty-four hours may not be harmful .
drink during pregnancy is more culturally acceptable in Europe and Australia , where pregnant woman soak up more openly than in the United States . But many MD in the United States , such as Dr. Michael Broder , author of " Panic - Free Pregnancy " ( Perigee Trade , 2004 ) , also quietly allow their patients to have the periodic alcoholic drink particularly after the first trimester .
“Morning” sickness only happens in the morning.
If only this were true ! retrieve to be have by shift hormones , morning sickness can strike ( and often does ) at any item in the sidereal day .
And it ’s not confine to the first trimester , as many believe , Stone said . " It can last up to 16 weeks . "
