It's a boy... or a girl

My mom always has tricks for determining if someone is having a boy or a girl. When my sister was pregnant, her overly swollen feet meant she was having a boy ... she ended up having a girl. When my cousin was carrying her baby quite high, my mom was convinced it was a girl ... wrong again -- she had a bouncing baby boy. And when my other sister had terrible sweet cravings during pregnancy, my mom also predicted a girl ... and finally my mom was right.

Old wives tales abound when it comes to determining the sex of your baby. But now scientists have come across a way of determining whether it's a boy or a girl that sounds suspiciously like an old wives tale.

Researchers studied over 220,000 pregnant women and determined that if you're heavier at the start of your second pregnancy than you were at your first, there's a higher chance that you'll have a boy. They aren't clear why, however. One researcher suggests that environmental contaminants that are linked to male births may also build up fatty tissue.

It all sounds a bit flimsy to me. And it's certainly not a reason to pack on pounds if you want a boy or go on a crazy diet if you want a girl. Call me old-fashioned, but if I were pregnant, I think I'd trust an ultrasound more.