Any hope for a girl?

[Finn Louise]

Hello Everyone!

I’ve looked at posts here for a little while, but am new to posting myself! I have two wonderful boys and have always been curious about possibilities of a daughter (while a bit doubtful). Here’s why:

My husband comes from a family of many boys (3 and 1 girl, mother was 1 with 3 brothers, aunt has 3 boys 1 girl). I work with mostly all females teaching mostly all females. Within my colleagues, there has been about 13 baby boys and only 2 girls. We joke that it has to do with Mother Nature trying to balance out our ratios since we are always around women. While it is a bit of a joke, I feel there is some truth as the scales are so skewed towards boys.

I also have been told by a doctor I have mild PCOS and have battled with low progesterone. I lost one baby due to an ectopic pregnancy about a year and a half ago which resulted in losing my left Fallopian tube. I generally have been fortunate to be able to get pregnant. However, given all of these circumstances I do wonder if trying to sway pink would have any possible chance of working. I’m thin with a BMI of 19, so dropping a lot of extra weight on an LE diet doesn’t seem super healthy. I’ve been pushing my breakfast back to late morning, exercising 3-5 times a week for 20-30 minutes plus whatever else chasing two active boys! I’ve read the post about girl mom and boy mom personalities, and while most people see me as laid back and not at all competitive, I do have a tendency to worry or be anxious. I’m very happy and feel blessed with what I have. We are open to any new life that comes our way but are fine if we only have two boys. I was just really interested if anyone had thoughts on what would make the biggest impact for me, such as diet, exercise, general mindset, timing, etc...

Thanks to anyone who takes time to read this and respond!

[atomic sagebrush]

You always have a chance of a girl. I don't think a family with 1 girl and 3 boys is "many" boys, that's very much in the realm of normal to have 1/3 split like that. That doesn't indicate anything genetic at all (gender isn't genetic anyway!)

It's been shown in scientific studies that women with higher level education and working in certain fields have way more boys. No one knows why that is, whether it's similarities in lifestyle or some other thing entirely, but it seems to be the case.

Welcome to the site!

You do not have to lose weight on LE Diet and you're already below my cutoff point where I have people stop losing weight anyway. I would have you do the LE PCOS-type diet which is extremely healthy. Use whole grains only (no white refined grains, though I sometimes make an exception for pasta), no sugar, full fat dairy only (no skim or part skim dairy at all), and up protein and fat intake to 50-60 g (not counting protein and fat in high carb vegetables and fruits, and NOTHING in low carb veg, they're free and unlimited)

We see best results with exercise more like 60 minutes a day, 4 or more days a week, but as long as you're already thin and are eating lower protein you can probably get away with what you're doing (anyone with PCO-tendencies is better off doing some exercise, even if moderate). I hesitate to urge you to do more because I fear weight would fly off you.

Timing doesn't work at all but what does seem to work is doing just one attempt. So I would have you do one attempt, either at a 2-3 day cutoff if you prefer (even tho timing doesn't work I know some still want to use it) or at first positive OPK, whichever you prefer.

[Finn Louise]

Thank you kindly for your response! It truly means a lot to have you take the time to respond! For the most part I feel I’m trying to fit within what you’ve said. Generally these guideline are a way for me to focus on improving any symptoms related to PCOS anyway. I think this also helps in letting go and not getting too caught up in trying to control a particular outcome.

I was most intrigued by your explanations of personality types and gender. Hearing also about women with higher education and career more likely to have boys adds to that. I read something once with apes about how once they removed a female from a bunch of females, those removed females living individually started having more girls. I was curious if this all maybe is related to those ideas of competition. I don’t generally identify with being competitive, but i found this all very interesting and thought maybe it would be a topic if interest to others.

Thanks again and thanks for creating a network of women who are able to reach out and support each other!

[atomic sagebrush]

Yes I agree and have read about the apes as well. (that's the work of researcher Sarah Hrdy if I recall) When the apes no longer had to fight constantly for resourced they had more daughters probably because they were no longer in active combat just to stay alive. I do think these things are all interconnected and very much wish I had the resources and a cast of thousands to investigate this. We could blow the lid right off gender determination!!

My pleasure, and I'm so glad you found us!