Do You Have Any Favorite OB Myths?

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

I was wondering if anyone had a favorite OB myth that you've come across in work.

I'll start with a few of my favorites:

When I worked at a maternity home, the lead houseparent told the girls that if their baby was a girl, it proved that the young lady had participated in a lot of sexual activity at conception. If it was a boy, the young lady had intercourse only once or twice. I couldn't think of any biological basis for that one. Of course if the young lady had a baby girl, then she would really have been read the riot act about her sexual activity from the housemother.

This one I heard rather recently. A woman went in for an u/s to determine the baby's sex, and baby had it's legs crossed. The woman asked the u/s tech to count the fetal ribs because men have one less rib than women do - the "Adam's Rib Theory."

Anyone heard of other interesting OB myths that are brought into the doctor's office or hospital?

Oh, and to never have something negative to say about another child's appearance while you're pregnant, or your baby will "come out ugly"!

I admit, I obeyed that one religiously!

And your child IS adorable!!!!!! What a cute picture.

This is the most interesting thread! So funny. It makes you want to "make up some" We could create a new category of urban legends!

Has anyone ever read the urband legends pages of Snopes.com? They do have an entire section devoted to the urband legends related to pregnancy. Included in section is the UL about urinating into Drano (if it fizzes, it's a boy, if it doesn't, it's a girl - or turns a certain color). I've heard my clients talking about it and I was wondering if anyone has heard of it. Here's a link to Snopes pregnancy page: http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/pregnant.asp

I was just curious about myths that you have come across at work or everyday life. This has all been rather interesting.

oh! I got a new one today!

A staff member where I work told me his wife could predict whether I was having a boy or girl. I was supposed to a the month I conceived (February...so 2) to the age I was during that month (27). If the number was odd, I'm having a boy. Even, a girl. So, APPARENTLY, I'm having a boy.

Of course, I ran the numbers for my four other kids right after, and according to her method, my son was supposed to be a daughter, and my youngest daughter was supposed to be a son.

Heart tones today were 165.....hmmmmmm.....which myth to believe????

Sarah

:coollook: Has anyone heard about the relationship between a woman's orgasm and the sex of a baby? I heard that if a woman orgasms at the same time the man does, the child will be a boy. If the woman does not have an orgasm, the child will be a girl. I must admit, there must be some truth to this. I won't go into details, but if my experiences with my dh indicate any truth to this myth, then I would be a rich woman. Why pay thousands of dollars to go to a doctor for sex selection, when I can tell you the tricks of the trade for just $19.99 + shipping and handling :coollook: :rotfl:

Hmmmmmmm

I'll bet that goes along with the male sperm swim faster/female sperm live longer thing. I've heard that the contractions of the pelvic floor during orgasm can give the little swimmers a boost, so the theory would be that in the presence of orgasm, the boy sperm are where they need to be to outrun the girl sperm AND get to the egg before they die. In the absence of orgasm, the trip would be longer, so there would likely be more girl sperm overall.

Makes sense I guess........lol

Sarah

Hmmmmmmm

I'll bet that goes along with the male sperm swim faster/female sperm live longer thing. I've heard that the contractions of the pelvic floor during orgasm can give the little swimmers a boost, so the theory would be that in the presence of orgasm, the boy sperm are where they need to be to outrun the girl sperm AND get to the egg before they die. In the absence of orgasm, the trip would be longer, so there would likely be more girl sperm overall.

Makes sense I guess........lol

Sarah

I've actually heard this one before... I dunno if it makes sense or not. :) I read this post and immediately my brain drew up an image of individual sperm with little white sneakers, the male sperm wearing baseball caps trying to beat the female sperm with bows in their hair...:rotfl:

Yes, we too have many pt's that show up to have the baby because, "Today is my due date" or because, "There was pink mucus on the tissue when I wiped". Countless pt's of this type. Now if we can only get the docs to educate them in the office....

Specializes in Urgent Care.

Not OB but peds anyway.....I know a nurse who thinks that NOT giving kids vaccinations builds a stonger immune system. I think that could(maybe) actually be true. But what about the harm from the side effects of all those diseases it takes to build that immunity?

Specializes in Looking for a career in NICU.
How about getting rid of any housecats before bringing the new baby home. The cat can hypnotize the baby, and "suck his breath out"!

Lol!

Actually, there is a small amount of truth to the cat theory.

What people are witnessing when the cat "sucks the breath" out of a baby....is the cat jumping into the crib or onto a bed, and it smells the scent of milk coming from the baby's mouth...in an attempt to get some milk, the cat starts licking the baby's face, and the cat is STANDING on the baby's stomach is what causes it to smother to death.

Specializes in Looking for a career in NICU.
that is a generalization. just the one that says "all redheads bleed more".......

trust me, i am a redhead, these things were no worse for me than the general public who are not redheaded.

I have naturally red hair, and both the nurse and the doctor told me that I would bleed more b/c I had red hair.

I had never heard this myth until I was in the hospital giving birth, so I just assumed it was true.

When my neice was pregnant her boyfriends mother told her that she was not to have oral sex performed on her because the baby would get strangled on the saliva. The same woman told her to be sure not to douche because it would drown the baby. I really don't know where people come up with these things.

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
I have naturally red hair, and both the nurse and the doctor told me that I would bleed more b/c I had red hair.

I had never heard this myth until I was in the hospital giving birth, so I just assumed it was true.

Well I am gonna back off from saying this is a myth. Too many people seem to have experienced redheads bleeding more than others, so there is probably something to it. I just have not found it to be the case in my own experience, which is really, useless anecdotal information, not fact based on studies or statistics.

+ Add a Comment