Touchy Touchy

I know a lot of pregnant woman cringe at the thought of having someone touch their belly. This has never bugged me unless they touch it before week sixteen or so (when it is still a little too cushy). I know people are just curious and that they know that there is a miracle growing in there and that is why they wnat to touch. So what has been bothering me? Let me explain. I don't know the gender of this baby but it appears that the rest of the world does. I am really trying to stay in the neutral zone in terms of wanting a boy or a girl and feel pretty good about it. I like hanging out in this 'safe place' but everyone wants to tell me what I am having! It is especially bad when people talk about it in front of Claire (who is the only one in the house who has a clear preference on what she wants). The other day I was in a coffee shop and this woman knew for sure I was having a boy. Claire grimaced at this and told the woman that it was actually a girl. "God told me so," Claire confidently responded.

I know that a big pregnant belly is a sight and I get that fact that people are curious to know who is in there. But sometimes it gets a little crazy. Like the other day when these two woman asked me to lift up my hair so they could see the hairline on the nape of my neck. They inspected it for a few minutes and said that it looked like I was having a girl. Others want to know how Matthew is behaving because they believe that if he is calm and adjusting well to my belly- that there is a boy in my tummy. If he were resisting and acting worse than normal, it apparently would be a girl. I have had people look at my earlobes to see if one is bigger than the other, a few people wanted me to turn around 360 degrees before they made their guess, and I had one lady ask me if my ankles were swelling and because I told her they weren't- she said it was a boy. Another man in a mini mart said to me, "Sorry to tell you, but you are having a boy." I was offended that he was sorry for me because if I have another boy, I will love it. People's predictions and the way they go about predicting is just wild!! People tell me I am carrying high, or carrying all in front, or carrying all of the baby sideways, or that I haven't gained any weight in my face (which I try not an laugh hysterically at when they say this because they don't know what I look like when I am not pregnant). No matter their observation, they all predict different genders and sometimes I find myself clinging to what they are saying and believing for a minute that they might just know what I am having!

It is ridiculous. When I was pregnant with Matthew, I was sure he was a girl because all the views of his face in the ultrasounds looked so cute, so sweet. But it was really just him and he is just sweet looking. The same goes with this pregnancy. The baby looks sweet and precious in the ultrasounds which might make you think it is a girl but I am telling you, Matthew's face fooled me! I also did the Chinese Lunar Calendar when I was pregnant with Matthew and it said he was going to be a girl. I plugged Michael and Claire's info into it and it correctly predicted their genders so I thought maybe the Chinese had cracked the code on predicting gender with silly facts. Seriously- I don't feel any different than I have in any of my other pregnancies. I don't notice a difference in the way I am carrying this baby, I think that my face is just as blissfully chubby as it has gotten with all my babies, and I have absolutely no 'feeling' about the sex of my baby. The only similarity I can draw is that I have a hard time brushing my teeth (in terms of barfing) and this only happened with Claire's pregnancy. But that is nothing! This baby is who he/she is and me thinking about it won't change that. I have to say though that I am now ultra curious these days to see who is in there. Emily or Daniel??? We might only have to wait one more week to find out!