HTT - Y Edition

My mother has an obsession with numbers. For example, when she was visiting, she made me tell her the addresses of homes we were considering buying. When I mentioned them to her, she said, "Well, 29 isn't a great number, but 36 will work."

So imagine my thrill last year when I found out that the half-way mark in my pregnancy happened to be my birthday, which also happened to be the day that I was scheduled to have an ultrasound to determine the gender of Miss Dub, who was only Baby Dub at that point. But in a series of bizarre twists, I arrived at the doctor's office all a'flutter, only to have them give me a quick check-up and send me out the door. Before leaving, I skittishly inquired, "What about my ultrasound?" Turns out in Colorado you have to make a separate appointment to get an ultrasound, which no one informed me about. I blame the altitude.

Anyway, my insane excitement to find out my baby's gender coupled with the numerical significance of it being my birthday proved too much. I was DEVASTATED. Like, I threw myself a pity party that may or may not have involved a McDonald's bacon, egg and cheese biscuit and a little crying. But a few days later, I went to my (Colorado-mandated) appointment and in a few minutes, I knew my "it" was a "she." And my impatience seemed sort of silly. I mean, what difference did a few days make? After all, I already had boy and girl names picked out, and I was still a couple months away from decorating decisions.

So it was with some surprise/shock/interest that I spoke with a woman the other day who found out the gender of her baby at SEVEN weeks pregnant. SEVEN weeks. I mean, I'd still be double-checking pregnancy tests at that point, and she's already settled on a name. And I thought I was impatient!

Because there is a new blood test that claims to determine a baby's gender by identifying the presence (or lack thereof) of a Y-chromosome. I won't go into the accuracy of it all because I honestly don't know. (Also, because the Web site looks a bit like an infomercial, which is kind of sketchy when you're talking science.) Oh, and did I mention that the test costs $250 snaps?

Now, I'm not one to judge (except when I do, which is 99.9 percent of that time, which is more accurate than a pregnancy test) ... but I think the whole concept is a little strange. I mean, it's one thing if the blood test was available in your doctor's office, in which case, "Yes, please!" But to pay that much money to find out the gender of your baby before you even need maternity underoos just seems a little unnecessary.

In this woman's case, she is building a home and hoped to find out the gender to help in the planning and painting phase so, touché. But for the ordinary woman with an ordinary pregnancy, I say - wait! (But only until 20 weeks for me, people; I don't have the patience of Job!)

I know lots of you love to wait until your babies are born to examine their respective parts, but what about those of you who like to find out sooner - Would you ever do this?

I want to say I wouldn't, but I can be very impatient, especially on my birthday.