Dispelling Some Common Myths About Pregnancy, Part I
We humans have managed to foster many, many myths about pregnancy over the years. Here are only three of those myths.
Myths about pregnancy are common to all cultures, and why not? If there's one thing we all share, it's our humanity -- and the miracle of childbearing is common to us all. Not too surprisingly, it would take a good-size book to challenge all the pregnancy myths just in our own culture, much less all the others.
Due to space considerations, though, we'll limit our study of the subject to this two-part article. Now, some of these myths may seem reasonable at first glance, but some of them are so far out it's hard to see how anyone could believe them. We trust you'll be able to tell them apart.
Myth 1: If a woman's carrying her baby wide rather than low, it means she'll have a girl.
This myth about pregnancy is actually true 50% of the time -- but only because a baby can only be a boy or a girl. In truth, how a baby is carried involves the length and shape of the mother's torso, how the baby's positioned, and how far the mother's abdominal muscles can stretch.
If the baby is carried sideways in its mother's womb, of course the mother will look wide, but this doesn't mean that the baby's more likely to be a girl. Most mothers carry their babies lower with each pregnancy, so that doesn't mean a boy's imminent because the baby's riding low.
Myth 2: You can predict a baby's gender by measuring the heart rate.
Nope. This myth about pregnancy is as baseless as the previous one, though it sounds good because, after all, it's based on a measurable medical factor. The truth is, a normal fetal heart rate will be 160-200 beats per minute. That's a given. Just because it seems high doesn't mean it's a girl.
Oh, by the way -- that myth about how craving sweet or salty foods can indicate the gender of the baby? That's right out, too. So is the idea that girls make morning sickness worse. The only reliable way to tell a fetus's gender is by means of amniocentesis or a sonogram -- and those aren't infallible, either.
Myth 3: If you raise your arms above your head, your baby could die!
Not likely. Even if the umbilical cord does get wrapped around the baby's neck, which happens about 25% of the time, that's usually caused by either the cord's length or the baby's own activity -- and in almost all cases, the baby develops normally anyway.
Don't let this myth or any other myths about pregnancy get you up in arms!
