Pick a Sex, Any Sex
Some couples will do anything to guarantee a boy or a girl.
by Jeanne Sager
August 14, 2008
Sonograms may be responsible for taking the big surprise out of the delivery room for millions of moms and dads, but an increasing number of parents already know what they're going to have:
They picked their baby's sex before making the actual baby.
These days, women in the prime of health are voluntarily undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) for the added benefit of pre-implantation genetic determination (PGD). In the procedure, scientists test the woman's embryos for genetic abnormalities, such as Down syndrome or cystic fibrosis, and determine a baby's gender — with a 99.9 percent accuracy rate and a bill in the $14,000-range.
Thousands more opt for MicroSort, a centrifugal spinning of sperm that carries a 90 percent guarantee for families who want a girl, an 80 percent positive for moms and dads who yearn for a boy and a cost of $3,000.
Families without that kind of cash lying around — neither PGD or MicroSort qualifies for most insurance plans — are turning to cheaper and far less reliable methods.
One popular resource is Dr. Landrum Shettles' How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby. First published in the 1960s by an IVF researcher at Columbia University, the Shettles Method was largely discounted by a New England Journal of Medicine study published in the 1990s. But advocates of the system of timing sex to certain points in a woman's ovulation cycle to produce the desired gender still claim a seventy-five percent success rate.
Janie Glover of High Point, North Carolina, says it worked for her twice. Daughters Katherine and Reagan are seven and three. "I would have been happy with a boy as well, but I just like girls," Glover said. "I really thought the Shettles Method was just worth a shot. If it worked — cool. If not, well, that would be okay too."
Britt Jordan was desperate for a girl.
MicroSort carries a 90 percent guarantee for families who want a girl.
The California mom contacted a Europe-based company that told her the sperm and egg only come together when they're "polar opposites." Baby Choice promised an ovulation calendar that would tell her the days her body would "accept girl sperm."
Jordan was so happy the day the sonogram confirmed her third child was female that she went online and wrote a glowing testimonial. "My family was laughing at me," Jordan admitted. "My OB/GYN said I got lucky. But it wasn't luck. The whole thing about polarity made sense to me." The Jordans consider it $400 well spent. Daughter Haylee is now two, and the Jordan family is complete.
Texas mom Carrie Stallwitz wants more children, but her husband has said he'll only consider it if they're trying for a boy. "He's a very 'manly' man and wants a boy to do 'guy' stuff with," Stallwitz explained. "Both our daughters are very 'girly' right now."
Their neighbors — a doctor in family practice and his wife — swear by a method that involves checking the basal body temperature and using a baking soda douche to alter the pH level of the vagina. Carrie's husband is supposed to drink something caffeinated before sex, and they're supposed to use certain positions and to make sure Carrie orgasms first. "I think it is a combo of every method and wives' tale out there of how to conceive a boy," she admits.
©2008 Jeanne Sager and Babble
About the Author
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Jeanne Sager is a freelance writer and photographer living in upstate New York with her husband and daughter, Jillian. She maintains a blog of her award-winning columns at jeannesager.blogspot.com. |
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