Potentially Reliable Predictors on the side of a BOY:

1. According to one view of the role of the timing of conception and ovulation, we're having a boy.
2. My hair (head, arm, leg) seems to be growing faster than before, so supposedly that means I'm having a boy.
3. I'm carrying relatively low, so it's a boy.
4. The new, much-discussed study on breakfast-eating and nutrition should indicate that we're having a boy.
5. People keep telling me I'm glowing and look wonderful, so it's a boy.
6. My linea nigra (dark line on my stomach) goes all the way up to my breastbone, rather than stopping at my navel, which means it's a boy.

Clearly Crazy "Predictors" on the side of a BOY:

1. Robert's not gaining weight along with me, so one tradition holds that therefore we're having a boy.
2. "Since the sum of the mother's age at conception and the number of the month of conception is even, it will be a boy."
3. When I reach for a mug, I hold it by the handle, which means I'm having a boy.

Potentially Reliable Predictors in the side of a GIRL:

1. Based on the baby's heartrate of 145 at about 12 weeks, we're having a girl.
2. Pregnancy acne: I have it. Supposedly it's a girl.
3. The baby is not that active, though I can feel him/her, so theoretically that means we're having a girl.
4. My feet are not colder than before I got pregnant (if anything, I'm overall much warmer, including my feet), so that should indicate we're having a girl.
5. I've gained weight in my hips/rear as well as my stomach, so therefore it's a girl.
6. My "chest development has been quite dramatic during pregnancy," so therefore it's a girl.
7. I haven't really had any/many headaches, so it's a girl.

Clearly Crazy "Predictors" on the side of a GIRL:

1. My pillow points south, so it's a girl.
2. My mother's hair isn't grey (yes, they allow dyed hair to count here, bizarrely), so it's a girl.
3. My nose hasn't changed shape, which means I must be having a girl.
4. If someone asks me to hold out my hands, I hold them out palm up, which clearly means I'm having a girl.

Predictors that seem to be able to be interpreted EITHER WAY:

1. "Chinese Gender Predictors," based on my lunar age and the calendar month of conception, predict a boy. However, another "Chinese Gender Predictor," based on my lunar age and the lunar month of conception, predicts a girl.
2. Ah, yes, the wedding ring/needle test (possibly the most scientific here): on a first try it predicted a boy (it moved in circles). Strangely, a second try predicted a girl. . .
3. Cravings: well, I don't particularly crave anything (either sweet or salty/sour) more than anything else, or at least not more than I did before I was pregnant, which means this one's split 50-50.
4. Morning sickness, according to one old wives' tale, predicts a boy for me, because I didn't have a lot of morning sickness in my first trimester. Another view holds that I'm having a girl, by the same logic.
5. Individual people's predictions also appear to be split. Robert's grandmother thinks "it looks like" I'm having a boy. As the weeks have gone by, she's been absolutely certain of it. On the other hand, Aunt Mary is convinced I'm having "a curly-haired girl." Then, as far as strangers go, there's the old man on the street who insisted that it's a boy and the clerk in Staples in Downtown Crossing, at the beginning of May, when she asked and found out that we weren't finding out the sex before the birth, unpromptedly volunteered that she's certain it's a girl. "You'll be back in here in six months with your baby girl!" she said. We'll see.