'I never believed in old wives’ tales. Until I fell pregnant with a girl after having a boy.'

I am halfway through my second pregnancy with a little girl, and I would officially like to go back to 2022 and bonk myself over the head.

I spent the latter half of that year pregnant with my first child, a boy, who I gave birth to in January 2023.

In hindsight, that pregnancy was a breeze.

Watch: What an OBGYN learnt during her first trimester. Post continues.

I felt a little bit of nausea between weeks seven and 12 in the mornings, usually while commuting to work on public transport.

I was exercising regularly, eating pretty normally, and apart from a few weird things like bloody noses, the general uncomfortableness of pregnancy, tiredness and some hectic pelvic pain towards the end of the third trimester — I had what you would call an 'easy' run of it.

In fact, my skin and hair never looked better. My first pregnancy cleared away all of my usual hormonal breakouts, and the dermatitis I'd been dealing with for years vanished.

I was *glowing* as they say.

Here's me, three days before I gave birth to my boy in 2023 (in the office might I add), feeling…fine!

Fast-forward to 2023 and my pregnancy couldn't look more different. At the time of writing I am nearly 18 weeks, and still nauseous. Thankfully, in the last couple of weeks the nausea is now only for a couple of hours a day instead of the joyous 9am-5pm sickness I endured for most of the first trimester.

My dermatitis has never looked worse, and has found a new place to sprout other than my OG face and hands combo — now it's also all over my chest and neck.

I am itchy and achy and tired on a new level. Yes, having a toddler hasn't helped that last point, but I am by no means *glowing* on any level this time around.

I am a fact-loving gal. I work in the space of news and crime mostly, so superstition and old wives' tales generally bounce right off me.

Not this time though, I am nodding and 'uh-huh'ing' to all of it.

So let's go through some of them, shall we? (And try to find some facts to back them up…):

Morning sickness.

The 'tale' is that you're more likely to get more nausea while carrying a girl, (which I've anecdotally found to be true.)

Even Harvard University did a cheeky study into this in 2020, and their conclusion after analysing 4,320 pregnancies, was that "women gestating a female foetus reported greater frequency of nausea and vomiting during the first trimester of pregnancy than women gestating a male foetus".

The study didn't explore why that might be, but the rationale behind this idea stems from the belief that higher hormone levels associated with a female foetus could lead to increased nausea and vomiting.

Interesting. It seems there's actually a bit of truth behind this tale after all.

Hair, nails and skin.

The 'tale' is that while carrying a girl your hair and nails are more brittle, and your skin is….bad. With a boy, you're said to be shinier! Brighter! Healthier!

The (in my opinion, gross) saying you might've heard is that, "baby girls steal their mum's beauty".

Looking around, it looks like this one is a proper myth. There are no studies and there's no scientific basis behind this tale. (But tell that to my dermatitis... it won't believe you.)

Skin, hair and nail changes, however, are a well documented side effect of pregnancy thanks to the extra blood flow and higher hormone levels in your body.

Salty versus sweet.

The 'tale' goes that if you're expecting a boy you crave salty foods, while if you're preparing for a girl you'll steer towards sweet.

I am not as convinced by this one, because I've craved chocolate and orange juice in both pregnancies…but many women swear by this difference.

In a study of 500 women in Jordan, published in the British Medical Journal, researchers found that there was no statistical association found between food cravings and the gender of the babies.

However, it is interesting to note that around 67 per cent of mothers who craved caffeine and spicy foods gave birth to female babies.

Make of that what you will…

Weight gain.

The 'tale' goes that while pregnant with a girl you gain weight throughout your body, while carrying a boy you tend to gain weight primarily in the belly.

Look, for me, this one is true. However, I largely blame my toddler because, first time around, I had more time to look after myself and workout regularly.

BUT, I did look into it, honestly expecting this one to be myth-busted immediately. I in fact found that (according to one study), the opposite is true.

According to the analysis of 68 million births over 25 years, by an endocrinologist at the University of Georgia, increased pregnancy weight was correlated with male babies.

Kristen J. Navara wrote that this relationship suggested the result might be because male foetuses have higher metabolic rates and need more calorities to develop successfully.

Does any of this ring true for you? Did your pregnancy fall in line with the gender 'myths'? Let us know in the comments.

Feature image: Getty.