Pregnancy Myths and family
Pregnancy is a powerful and an emotional event in our lives, not only for the women who become pregnant but also for every other member of the family, everyone will be involved at some point. It can be your own mother, your siblings, your cousins, perhaps yourself, or maybe your spouse who’s pregnant.
When reaching an older age, your children or even grandchildren may become pregnant. So, it’s no surprise that when the subject of pregnancy comes up, relatives and friends will give some medical advice trying to be helpful, but does this advice have any roots to truth or is it just a myth?
Many of the advices given roam around the topic of how to get pregnant in the first place.
For some basic review on how to get pregnant, one rule rules all: timing is everything.
The egg and the sperm have to be in the same place at the same time. If this rule is fulfilled, fertilization will occur with a success rate of 30 percent. In order to make this happen, the sperm has to survive 3-4 days while the egg has to only survive for 1 day, so the timing has to work out for the living sperm when the egg is dropped out and still alive.
Ovulation occurs 14 days prior to the onset of menses regardless of the duration of the menstrual cycle. Therefore, it’s best to have intercourse in the 2-3 days before ovulation, during ovulation, and for one day following ovulation.
Pregnancy myths:
Pregnancy myths about increasing the odds of conception:
There are some other variables people consider in an attempt to increase the odds of successful fertilization, and here are some myths people believe in regarding this subject:
Myth №1: position and pregnancy
Bottom line is no, there is no correlation between trying different positions during sex and increased odds of pregnancy.
Myth №2: saving up the sperm
Saving up the sperm especially during ovulation to have a maximal count seems a perfectly logical thing to do. However, it turns out that maximum sperm counts occur after about 48 hours. Any further saving up beyond the 48 hours time-period is considered pointless.
In fact, this has led to the recommendation that having sex every other day (48 hours) has the maximum odds of a successful pregnancy which has recently been changed with the newer recommendation that suggests having sex every 24 hours has slightly higher chances of achieving conception.
Myth №3: lubricants never affect pregnancy
This is partially true. But only if the lubricant is not spermicidal (kills sperm). And yes, this does really happen, some couples consult physicians because they are having trouble conceiving and doctors have found that in some cases, it is related to the type of lubricants used. So, you have to read the label very carefully if you’re trying to get pregnant.
Myths about avoiding conception:
Now, while some people try to conceive, a lot of people try to avoid conception. And there are perhaps more myths around how to avoid getting pregnant than how to become pregnant.
Myth №4: movement and pregnancy
There is no evidence that moving around after sex reduces the chances of conception.
Also, heat does reduce the sperm count slightly, so you might have heard that sitting down in a hot tub will reduce the chances of pregnancy and that is in fact true.
Myth №5: heat prevents pregnancy
Heat indeed slightly reduces the sperm count; it certainly is not enough of a reliable method to prevent pregnancy entirely. So, you can’t rely on this hot tub effect.
Myth №6: early withdrawal
This certainly decreases significantly the probability of conception. However, it is not an absolute protection, even if done correctly. The reason for this is that there is a small amount of sperm in the lubricant that males excrete during sex, and in some cases, this small percentage is enough to cause conception.
Myth №7: calendar or rhythm methods
This basically involves restricting intercourse to times of the month when there is no ovulation. So, just like I mentioned above, if you want to maximize your chances of conception, you would want to have intercourse just before, during, and after the ovulation period. And it’s only logical to assume that avoiding having sex during this period will work as a contraceptive method.
Now, this does result in a dramatic decrease in the probability of conception. However, there is a particularly high failure rate when it comes to this method.
To appreciate this, let’s look at some recent surveys examining the failure rates of what is called “reversible contraception”:
- Contraceptive pill: 7%
It is important to emphasize that this is a failure rate from all causes and not necessarily form the pill itself, it may be due to other factors like forgetting to take the pill.
- Male condom 9%
- Diaphragm 8%
- Periodic abstinence 20%
- Spermicides 15%
As you can see, the calendar method is one of the most unreliable methods of contraception.
Myths about determining the gender of the fetus:
Once the woman is pregnant, often times the couple and their families would want to know the gender of the baby. And there are some scientific methods to find that out:
1-Ultrasound:
Which sends harmless sound waves towards the mother’s uterus, and the bouncing back of these waves will give us a decent picture of the fetus with enough anatomy to determine the gender. This method has 93% accuracy during the 12-14 weeks period and 99% accuracy during the second trimester.
2-Amniocentesis (Aka chorionic villus sampling):
In this method, some of the amniotic fluid is removed from the mother, and then the fluid collected will be analyzed for chromosomes.
If it’s found to be XX chromosomes, it’s a girl.
If it’s XY chromosomes, it’s a boy.
The accuracy of this method is essentially 100%.
Like anything else in this world, whenever we talk about a topic. There is science-based information and there is folklore. So, let’s see some of the pregnancy myths about gender prediction:
Myth №8: carrying low = boy; carrying high = girl
The actual reason behind a woman carrying low or high is determined by muscle tone and the baby’s position in the uterus. It has nothing to do with the gender of the fetus. This dates back to ancient England where it used to be thought that a boy needs to be out front and independent while girls need to be close and protected. So basically, this myth is not only untrue. It’s also sexist.
Myth №9: fetal heart rate
This myth claims that if the fetal heart rate is above 140 beats per minutes (bpm), it is a boy. And if it’s below 140 bpm, then it’s a girl.
This has been studied in scientific experiments, and it is shown to be completely false. The heart rate has nothing to do with the gender of the fetus.
Myth №10: fetal movements
If the baby moves a lot, then it’s a boy. And if it moves less, it’s a girl.
Again, this is based on sex stereotypes with the notion that boys are more aggressive and active than girls. But in reality, it has nothing to do with predicting the gender and like any other pregnancy myths; it has a 50:50 chance of getting it right.