Old Wives Tales About Pregnancy Baby Gender and More

There are volumes of old wives tales about pregnancy and baby gender.

The questions remain-which of them are really true and what should I believe?

Some of these old wives tales are:

If you hold your hands above your head you'll strangle the baby with the umbilical cord. Actually, my mom was a nurse and reminded me of this many times when I was pregnant.

Old wives tales on baby gender contend that if you carry the baby low and your weight is mostly on your hips and "baby bump" looks more like a watermelon--the baby is a boy.

On the other hand, if you carry your baby high and out front and your stomach looks like a basketball, it's a girl.

Old wives tales about pregnancy and baby gender are just that-old wives tales. The only way to know the baby's gender is to have an ultra sound after the 20th week of pregancy.

Another question answered by old wives tales about pregnancy is, "how can I get this baby to hurry and come?' Grandmothers advise to just take a long, bumpy car ride.

Other interesting information that is part of old wives tales is how certain phrases used in the everyday life of the era become meaningful in the culture then and now. In the day, ladies wore corsets that laced up in the front which were tightly tied and laced-thus the phrase "straight laced".

As with many things decades ago, personal hygiene had much room for improvement. And, because of this, many women and men used bee's wax to help smooth their complexions as many suffered from acne and its scars into adulthood. Old wives tales claim that if two women were talking and one began to stare at the face of the other, she would tell her to "mind your own "bee's wax". Also, if they sat so near the fire that the wax would melt-thus, the expression "losing face" was born.

According to old wives tales everyone played cards for entertainment. there was a tax levied when playing cards were purchased but only applied to the "Ace of Spades". Rather than pay the tax on a deck of 52 cards, they would only purchase 51 cards and were, therefore, considered stupid since they weren't "playing with a full deck".

There were no cameras in George Washington's day. Paintings of his day  showed George Washington  standing with one arm behind him and others showing both legs and arms. Ironically, according to old wives tales, painters didn't charge by how many people were in the paintings but by the limb. How many limbs were, actually, painted? With arms and legs being limbs the artists could charge more. Hands and arms are more difficult to paint, therefore, the expression-it'll cost you and arm and a leg."

Unbelievable as it may seem, people took baths only twice a year in May and October.

Men shaved their heads because of lice and bugs and women kept their heads covered. The wealthier men could afford wigs made of wool. Since these couldn't be washed, they would take a loaf of bread, place the wig in the bread and bake it for half an hour According to old wives tales, the heat would make the wig big and fluff,y thus the saying, "big wig". In today's world when one is referred to as a "Big Wig" it is because he is seen as being wealthy, powerful or both.

What  are we creating for the future concerning old wives tales about pregnancy and baby gender and other "sayings"?