Take a guess

Our decision to wait to find out the gender of the next (Mott) Lacroix drives some people crazy.  At my baby shower I had one friend offer to buy me a home gender test, have me take it and then she wouldn't reveal the results to me but just really wanted to know for herself.  I must admit for some reason the closer we get to the due date the harder it becomes for me to wait as well.... or perhaps it is just the difficulty of coming up with good candidate names for both girls and boys.  Who knew that one of the most difficult things with a second pregnancy would be a second set of names?

Regardless there is no shortage of opinions on the gender of our soon to be child (aka Lentil, for the time being, don't worry that isn't even a candidate permanent name).  Early on a couple of Mexican grandmothers emphatically informed me that it was a boy.  My dear friend and co-worker is also amongst the avid boy camp.  In fact I think that most betting folks vote for a boy.... but then again the consensus when I was pregnant with Genevieve was that she was a boy too.... good thing no one bet large sums on that result.  Enough votes were in for a boy that I was nigh convinced myself, I won't even pretend to have a premonition about it, until last week.

When I was pregnant with Evie, and everyone including Patrick, was convinced she was a boy, the only person to say otherwise was a bagger at Sunflower.  Now before you go poo-poohing this method of gender prediction hear me out.  This guy, who just happens to come off as the sweetest, most gentle person that I have encountered, claims to never be wrong and doesn't even ask you what your having.  He just says "I am thinking its a ____."  When I encountered him last time it was after an appointment with my midwife and I was about 36 weeks pregnant.  As he bagged my groceries he nicely informed me of Evie's gender status and told me to bring her by after her birth.  I have not, however, seen him at the Sunflower since then (I only go there a handful of times a year though in fairness).  Last week, also after an appointment with a midwife, I walk into the Sunflower only to be greeted by this guy.  As I checked out he just also happened to be my bagger.... and he said to me, "I am thinking its a girl." Again no questions on if I knew the gender or not, just a simple statement.  Regardless of the ultimate outcome, the random coincidence has given me quite a bit of joy... not to mention made me redouble my efforts at finding a suitable girl name.

But really, how can anyone ever do anymore than guess at the gender?  I mean each person has a 50/50 chance of a correct guess right?  I found out a few months ago that the carry high/carry low method has opposing answers depending on your geography.  My brother's girlfriend who is German informed me that there high equals boy and low girl where as here it is the opposite.... clearly someone is wrong.... and what about the poor souls like me that seem to just carry in the middle?

Anyway, the impossibility of even an educated guess, together with the rather comical form my body currently finds itself in, got me to thinking about other examples of where one person's perception can be totally off from reality....