Tag Archives: baby

Will It Be a Boy or a Girl?

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One of the true wonders of nature and life is birth, and many a times couples have been contemplating the question that has been occupying human beings possibly since the beginning of humankind: will it be a boy or a girl? There are tests available these days, such as ultrasound, which is completely safe, and slightly risky invasive measures such as chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis. Some of us, however, wish not to know what gender the unborn has.

A new study has found that women who started their period at a young age are more likely to give birth to a girl. For a long time a myth held that the sex of the newborn is determined by the father and it was popular to think that increased virility of the father would help producing a boy. The new study published in Human Reproduction now shows how the mother may actually influence the sex of the child (DOI: 10.1093/humrep/der107)

The study encompassed over 10,000 mothers who were asked at which age they had begun their period and that information was correlated with the sex of their baby. Women who began their period at the age of 10 gave birth to girls with a probability of 54 %, compared to 47% for women that started their period at the age of 14. A previous study had demonstrated that women who entered menarche before the age of 12 had higher levels of the female sex hormone Estradiol.

Male embryos are more vulnerable to hormone imbalances, giving the observations more support. The researchers performed a statistical analysis and found that “Women entering menarche outside the normal range, especially those with earlier menarche, may have an increased chance of producing female offspring.”

Another study also showed that men who have many brothers, are more likely to produce male offspring.

However, all these numbers are still very close to the 50 % mark, and such slight changes in percentages may  be statistically relevant, but they do not really give a great insight as to whether one of us will be expecting a boy or a girl. It is evident that many factors play a role in influencing the sex of a child and for sure there will be other population studies to follow. At the end of the day, we will always ask ourselves the question as to what gender a new unborn has? Whatever might be the individual probability, the miracle of life always holds the greatest surprises.

Monty Python summarised the miracle of life in a very humorous way. Maybe life is a miracle and carries its fascination by its mere existence?

 

Image reproduced from: www.hiren.info
Video reproduced from Youtube/ MontyPython

 

Royal Baby Fever

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With yet another celebrity having a baby it seems everywhere you turn people are getting pregnant on the celeb scene.  2013 is the year for expectant celebs.  Kim and Kanye, Jordan and Kieran and of course the most prestigious of them all Kate and Wills.  No longer is it about matching heels and Hermes but about whose baby is going to win the style awards at the next toddler tea party.

Since the elusive 50 Shades of Grey… (I know, I know it’s so 2012) the amount of babies born has increased from 723,913 in 2011 to 729,674 in 2012.  Ok granted it’s not a huge amount but I am intrigued as to what the final figures will be for the end of 2013!

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Zara Phillips, Alesha Dixon, Caprice, Frankie Sandford, along with Rochelle Wiseman, Fergie (Black eyed peas, not rubbish Royal) and Halle Berry, to name a few.  It seems there is defiantly a baby boom on the horizon.  I think 50 Shades does have a lot to answer for!  However the book cannot be blamed wholly on this promiscuous turn of events.  In terms of us mere mortals I blame the recession on the number of babies being born.  People are staying home and making their own entertainment.  Swapping cocktails for, well another stiff serving of sorts.  No longer are we splashing out on expensive dinners and chilled Chardonnay.  Instead we have to budget our hard earned cash on M&S meal deals.  Finding other ways to amuse ourselves amidst these hard times is it any wonder so many babies are being born.  What with a sell-out fantasy favourite novel and the price of bread rocketing, we have no choice but to make our own entertainment.  Money is being spent on household entertainment and Ann Summers it would seem.  For instance 4 people in my office on the exact same team are all pregnant all due this year.  This cannot be pure coincidence; it must mean everyone has similar interests in books and likes shopping at M&S.

Up until the last few weeks we can blame the bad weather as a contributing factor to all these women becoming impregnated.  The constant stream of rain and cold for month on end does not make for a great date night.  Soggy stilettos and matted hair, not quite the romantic encounter we had in mind.  People don’t want to get dressed up and go out when there’s a thunderstorm on the horizon.  It keeps couples snuggling up with wine and DVD’s and only the sound of the rain for comfort.

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It seems that although celebs have no idea what a recession is or how much the price of bread is.  Or so we would think, they seem to be taking a leaf out of us mere mortal books and making lots and lots of babies.  It’s like the swinging 60’s all over but without all the pot and tie dye.

Of course these celebs have no idea about silly things like the recession so they must just be plain horny.  The hideous weather, erotic fiction and the ever looming recession hanging over our wallets are all vast contributing factors in this year’s expression of love.  Any babies born in 2013 are literally going to be known as the 50 Shades phenomenon.  My guess is even Wills and Kate have a copy tucked away somewhere….

What to Do About Boring Facebook Baby Talk

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Adrian Fernand – Australia’s seriously stylish agony uncle and creator of idobelieveicamewithahat.com – answers your questions on life, the universe and everything. This week, Adrian has advice on how to deal with Facebook friends boring you about their babies.

Dear Agony Uncle,

I’ve hit the age where all of my friends are starting to have babies. As a (still) single girl, I’m tired of the endless Facebook status updates about their children’s sleeping patterns and teething troubles. Is it rude to tell them that I don’t care and that they should spare me the detail?

Bored with Babies, Shoreditch

Dear Bored with Babies,

Ah, the good old-fashioned pressure further compounded by modern-day technology. It’s bad enough to have one’s relatives barking in one’s ear about prospective grandchildren, not least when our own peers hit that communal wave of procreation to make us feel insignificant and reproductively-challenged via—heaven forbid—Facebook. It’s as if something’s in the water—an overly fertile amoeba—that ferrets into our friends’ ovaries and makes them spawn like tree ferns, casting offspring asunder; bottled at the source in the State of Utah.

Alas, your friends have entered the next stage of their lives where late-night jaunts and disco pashes are no longer de rigeur, replaced by a demanding little person who screams and gyrates, but not in the good way. Everything that might have mattered once before has now taken a baby seat, their priorities lying solely with the nurture of their infant.

Cut your friends some slack—it’s not easy being a new parent, particularly on three hours’ sleep. If their perpetual dialogue offends you so, use the ‘Hide’ button in your Facebook feed and promptly eradicate their diatribe like a soiled Pampers. And remember: just because you haven’t given birth, doesn’t mean you can’t bang on about your new ‘babies’. Prada heels or a Vivienne Westwood tote are much sexier than news of sleepless nights and baby spit.

Image reproduced from idobelieveicamewithahat.com

Bringing Up The Baby Conversation

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So you’ve been dating Mr Wonderful for 6 luxurious months.  It’s all hearts and flowers and looking dreamily into his eyes over the Seabass.  You think he could be the one or at the very least in the running for a long term partner.  30 is fast approaching in a few years and no-one is getting any younger, no not even Katy Perry.  Although you’re not quite over the hill in any sense of the word, it really is time to start thinking about the future and who you’re actually going to allow into it.  Gone are the days of dating boys for 6 months, a year or 2 years and not being bothered if they are in your future or not.  Getting older means not being able to afford to waste 12 months on trying to shape your boyfriend’s unambitious persona.  Or spending time at each other’s house without thinking about whether you should live together or not.

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There comes a time in a relationship at one time where your bio clock comes a knocking and you realise eggs are drying up quicker than Gandhi’s flip flop.  You might be in your mid 20’s or your mid 30’s but at sometime or another you’re going to have to ask the question ‘Do you want children or do you want to spend the rest of your days drinking Jagerbombs and holidaying to Ibiza?’.  You have a large glass of wine and wince while he ponders over what you have just said.  Trying to ask this without sounding like Kathy Bates in Misery can be pretty tough.

There’s one thing phrasing the question, the other thing is timing and when to ask the question.  Bringing it up on the second date can seem a little too intense and Jennifer Anniston alarm bells will start to ring gregariously in his head.  However wait 2 years and you’ve found out that the two of you want totally different things and are on completely different wave lengths.  2 years wasted and big years especially if you are the one who wants children.  Then you have to go through the whole dating rig moral again.  Break up, spend time getting over him, then who knows how long it will take to find another suitor.  This could be months in which case your over 30 now (considered an old mum in fertility terms) eggs are starting to become more extinct and I guess you want to be dating for about a year before you fall pregnant with the next guy perhaps?  And then there’s deciding to get married or not before having children…Ok that’s another article altogether!

It’s a very turbulent time for a woman.  We can’t all have the luxury of Charlie Chaplin lives and fathering children in our 70’s (nor would we want to!).  The best way to approach this conversation to act very casual about the whole idea and see how your man reacts.  Drop into conversation after a few months about your fictitious friend from marketing falling pregnant and see how he reacts.  Or you could have a fake pregnancy scare?  Ok maybe not…  However do not I repeat not get blind drunk and ask your boyfriend of 1 year if he wants children or not, ‘because you weren’t going to waste any more time on him if he didn’t.’ Ahem.

All of this doesn’t mean you want to have children there and then, it just means that you need to put a bit of a plan together for the future.  That’s the easy bit.  The tricky bit is broaching the conversation with skill and prestige while remaining cool and effortless about the whole thing.

Good luck ladies and may your wombs be waiting patiently!

I Want a Baby – Is It the Right Time?

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London Life Coach & Relationship Expert Sloan Sheridan-Williams talks about when to have a baby. Follow Sloan on Twitter @SloanSW_London and check out Sloan’s website www.sloansw.com

Clearly from your question, you realise now isn’t the time for you to have a child. But it also sounds like you are not too far from your desired goal so well done for being so self-aware. They say that it is in a child’s best interest to be born into a safe, stable & nurturing relationship but you do not have to look too far to see that some celebs now show that single parenting is far more acceptable than 30 years ago.

I say this because I wish to stress it is not that you are single that makes me answer in the way that I am but, from what you have said so far, your desire to get pregnant may be tied to a need to recreate the mother-child bond you say you have missed. Perhaps the first step for you is to look into your current friendships and relationships and nuture these rather than looking for unconditional love in the wrong places.

My advice is to read some self-esteem/confidence books and realise that you are perfect just the way you are. Then gradually work on trusting just one or two of your closer friends with the little things until you realise that you are a capable individual that has a lot to offer in the world and likewise some of your friends are too.

When this all clicks, I am sure you will attract a partner that makes you happy and you will no doubt be a wonderful mother. Your past does not have to be your future. You would not drive your car looking only in the rear view mirror so there is no need to run your life like that.  Take the leap of faith and watch your desires come true. Anything is possible – you just have to believe.