by Ashlee Thacker

Created on: August 17, 2009

There is always a lot of old wives tales that have been passed down from generations. I have heard quite of few of them myself. I got two kids of my own and I can tell you that some of these tales of conceiving and pregnancies are true. You couldn't believe all of the ones that I have been told. I myself, as I was a new mother I wanted to believe a lot of it. Just to be careful of not letting anything happen to my baby or a way to help it get ready to come out. Too many myths were a little far-fetched that people had told me but some make a real good laugh.

Stories from my mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, and other family members. As such as taking a bath when you are pregnant. They say if you are in the bath while having your baby it will drown. Is the baby not swimming in water in your belly. I guess back then before all the new technology women did not realize that or what. You are suppose to in your first trimester to help relax the aches and pains of all that weight you carry around. Though if your water breaks in the tub you need to get out because it will cause infection in your uterus. Well if your water breaks then you want to get the hospital a.s.a.p. not take a bath anyway.

Another one to add, is putting your arms above your head can wrap the umbilical cord around babies neck. That one has been passed down through my family. My mother experienced that first hand when she didn't believe my grandmother but she did it anyway. Come to find out her child, my brother came out blue and purple with cord around him. He is still alive today but it did take them awhile to get him to breathe. So I was to make sure that I never lifted my arms up to high.

I'm sure we have all heard the one about heartburn. If you have real bad heartburn your child will come out with a head full of hair. That's not true either, I know for a fact. The reason is with the baby moving and pushing all of your insides around that pressure on you heart is going to give you heartburn. With my last child I had the worst heartburn ever all day, everyday and woke me up in the middle of the night. So bad that I vomited quite a few times from it and had to eat Tums like candy. When time for the baby to be born he was balder than a bat. He may have had five hairs on his little head.

The doctor told me this one personally about old wives tales. That the more sex you have the sooner the baby will come. The female creates a hormone called oxytocin which can ripen the cervix. The male semen contains a hormone called prostaglandins which cause the cervix to contract. I was two weeks overdue so I was willing to try anything at that time. We had sex three times then it was the next day and the baby was on the way.

The last wives tale is the one about the full moon the babies will start popping out left and right. Both of my children were born on or around a full moon. There is no scientific fact yet, but everyone has noticed it to be true. My daughter was born on a Friday the 13th with a full moon so I think that makes it worse. My son was born two days after the full moon. The delivery room was so full women had to wait in the lounge to be seen. Has soon has one came out immediately one went in. It was like rush hour traffic there it was incredible. I believe the nurses said that they had 36 babies due to be delivered that week. That don't include the ones that are not scheduled to be induced.

So to sum it all up there are some old wives tales and myths that are true and then some are just to ridiculous to believe. I can actually say that I know some of these are real. So make sure you do not believe everything you hear.

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