Quote :

" if it weren't for war in the past 500 years, there would be more than 24 Billion people on Earth."

Are you saying that if the people who have died in wars in the last 500 years had not died [in those wars], they would have given rise to 17 billion descendants today? wtf?

Quote :

"On a side note, is there a reason/factual support that certain genders of kids seem to run in families?"

I remember reading a research article a few years ago which found that aggressive rational masculine people (police, firefighters, athletes, engineers, etc) tended to have more boys, whereas sensitive caring emotional people (teachers, nurses, doctors, etc) tended to have more girls. Makes sense scientifically.

inb4condemnationofstereotypes

9/19/2012 4:20:22 AM

I guess I'm screwed on having a girl then.

9/19/2012 4:54:20 AM

haha

i guess it is down to the testosterone level... higher it is, higher the chances of conceiving a boy, and vice versa.

9/19/2012 6:10:08 AM

Quote :

"After 3 boys and countless hours of doubting yourself, your job, your time, your spouse and support, what would you do? It's not as simple as "just love what you've got!" Of course you'd love your kids, but it can still be a heart-breaking ordeal."

Seriously? Do people who feel this way just not understand the basics of genetics? And yes, it is as simple as just love what you've got. You could just as easily be a person who experiences multiple pregnancy loss with no known medical cause and has no live children. Be thankful you have three healthy children.

9/19/2012 8:31:12 AM

I don't see "I am thankful for my healthy children, and I love and appreciate them" and "I would love to have a girl/boy" as mutually exclusive. Obviously for some people (OP lady) they are, but just because you want something other than/in addition to what you have doesn't mean you don't love and appreciate what you do have.

There is nothing outright wrong in having some preference for your kids' gender. Some people take their desires too far by a lot of people's standards, but it's human nature to have preferences. When you don't get what you've always dreamed of (not just for kids, but anything in life), you can't will yourself to make those wishes vanish, even if you're completely happy with the alternative ending.

9/19/2012 9:32:10 AM

We have 2 boys and soon will try for a 3rd. We have hopes for a girl but honestly it's health is WAY more important to us and for the majority of parents. Too many friends have trouble concieving, or carrying to full term not to appreciate how fortunate we are.

But, it doesn't mean the wife doesn't talk about wanting a girl. She's fine with a 3rd boy but it's two different things, health being far superior of a concern but you can't spend all your waking hours hoping and praying for healthiness without considering or creating preferences on other trivial things.

9/19/2012 10:26:44 AM

^^ Oh I totally agree with you, but "countless hours of doubting yourself, your job, your time, your spouse and support"? Say what? That's the sort of talk you expect from someone who has had years of trouble conceiving at all, not someone who is disappointed that the Y sperm reached the egg before the X sperm.

9/19/2012 11:14:25 AM

Quote :

"aggressive rational masculine people (police, firefighters, athletes, engineers, etc)"

wait what

9/19/2012 11:27:02 AM

aggressive rational masculine people (police, firefighters, athletes, engineers, etc)

read

9/19/2012 3:14:58 PM

Are teachers, nurses, and doctors not rational people?

9/19/2012 3:16:40 PM

inb4condemnationofstereotypes

sensitive caring emotional people

9/19/2012 3:43:48 PM

I have zero problem with this. It's the couple's choice, and as long as there's nothing jeopardizing the health of the baby, it should be a completely individual choice to make.

And as had been pointed out, the same process is used to screen for tons of genetic disorders and birth defects. I'd like to do it for that reason myself, though my wife doesn't quite see eye to eye with me, yet

9/19/2012 5:32:18 PM

damn, you done got married? congrats.

9/19/2012 5:37:33 PM

I just want to clarify that I see nothing wrong with this at all, they are free to do whatever they want as long it does not endanger the child IMO.

just sad when there are a lot of homeless children who need homes and they can get a girl that way. But mainly sad because the lady was so upset that she was having another boy.

9/19/2012 7:49:54 PM

so it doesn't bother you that all of those unused children are just aborted and discarded?

9/19/2012 7:56:40 PM

^Nope. And if we stopped being so fucking stupid about abortion and planned parenthood in general, there would be a whole lot fewer orphans needing adoptions too.

On a side note, I fully plan to adopt at least 1 child in my lifetime in addition to any kids I may or may not have biologically.

9/19/2012 8:08:58 PM

i guess you have no soul.

[Edited on September 19, 2012 at 8:18 PM. Reason : literally and/or metaphorically ]

9/19/2012 8:18:03 PM

shit, I was hoping this was a thread on how to buy a 12 year old russian girl

9/19/2012 8:44:18 PM

Fertilized eggs aren't people.

Just about every other civilized society in the world has made a decision on when a developing fetus stops being defined as a developing fetus and is declared a human being with all the accompanying rights and privileges. For some reason the US has not. Once we figure this shit out we can stop all the hand wringing and bitching and move on to talking about real health and human rights issues and get past "abortion is murder nonsense."

There's not doubt that at some point abortion actually is murder, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that it isn't at the moment of fertilization or even at the moment of implantation in the uterus. Is it when cells begin to differentiate? Is it when there is brain function? I dunno, maybe. It's time to figure this shit out and stop holding the combination of a sperm and an egg as so sacrosanct that we can't even research and discuss it.

Now, all that said... this woman is batshit crazy and is probably a terrible mother to her son and will be a horrible mother to her daughter as well.

9/19/2012 8:45:03 PM

Quote :

"so it doesn't bother you that all of those unused children are just aborted and discarded"

i wish more people would abort

9/19/2012 8:48:26 PM

Quote :

""countless hours of doubting yourself, your job, your time, your spouse and support"? Say what? "

yes, it takes a lot of thought and planning to have kids. what if you've reached your "max" and still haven't gotten that boy/girl? Just because you're able to have kids doesn't mean you don't desire beyond that. Like all things, it becomes old hat.

but as I've been saying: until you're in their shoes...

fwiw, I do know many couples who can't have kids and know what they go through.

9/19/2012 8:50:34 PM

^^I don't. I wish more people had access to cheap genetic screening and I also wish birth control was sold OTC. I wish contraception in general wasn't treated as a sin and I wish our population was more educated about sex.

[Edited on September 19, 2012 at 8:51 PM. Reason : sdfsd]

9/19/2012 8:50:49 PM

but you just explained that a fetus isn't a person, so why does it matter? people who don't want children or aren't capable of raising children properly should abort. i agree with you on contraceptives.

9/19/2012 9:04:15 PM

just reach in there and yank 'em out by the arms, and twist real hard so you break that parasite's neck on the way out.




[Edited on September 19, 2012 at 9:25 PM. Reason : ABORT ABORT ABORT]

9/19/2012 9:25:03 PM

9/19/2012 9:30:30 PM

Wow, this thread has really shit the bed.

9/19/2012 9:31:18 PM

what it's not really any different than hair clippings on a barbershop's floor. just dead cells. slightly more laborious to clean up.

9/19/2012 9:38:26 PM

you're right. fetuses and hair clippings are both non-conscious entities. the fact that it looks/is human is irrelevant.

regardless, no one wants to see that shit.

[Edited on September 19, 2012 at 10:10 PM. Reason : .]

9/19/2012 10:07:28 PM

shut up^^ that is not a legal abortion, that is either a still born in a shitty excuse for a hospital or it was illegally aborted well after the fetus has been developed also in a shitty excuse for a hospital.


there is a difference between a fertilized egg being properly aborted and a 6+month old fetus being crudely aborted. that picture is gross and you know it (way to completely take the thread into the abortion topic too btw).

Quote :

"I also wish birth control was sold OTC. I wish contraception in general wasn't treated as a sin and I wish our population was more educated about sex."

me too ... would it really be that hard to do?

9/19/2012 10:13:12 PM

Quote :

"yes, it takes a lot of thought and planning to have kids. what if you've reached your "max" and still haven't gotten that boy/girl? "

a) it doesn't take any planning or thought to have kids. People prove that on a daily basis

b) You say, "That sucks," and move on with your life, appreciating that you're lucky enough to have any healthy children at all. Or if you decide you're financially stable enough you can try again or adopt the sex you want so badly. Hell, even if you do eventually squirt out that girl you want, there's nothing to say you'll even like the kid down the line. Because let's face it, with people who are as desperate as this woman is to have a girl, it's not really about the baby being a girl. They want a certain personality type to go along with that vagina. If this little girl decides she doesn't giving two shits about baking, sewing, etc, this mother is going to be extremely disappointed and I'm sure it will reflect in her parenting.

9/20/2012 8:48:52 AM

lol at the idea of doctors being sensitive caring emotional people.




i have no problem with choosing the sex of your child, really. what's the worst thing that will happen, male-to-female ratios will be thrown off worldwide and large sections of unattractive people will be gaying out because they can't compete for a hetero mate? oh my.

9/20/2012 9:36:06 AM

Quote :

"there is a difference between a fertilized egg being properly aborted and a 6+month old fetus being crudely aborted"

not really. until it passes through the vagina and has the cord cut, it is nothing more than a parasitic lump of cells. if it's illegal, that is fucked up.

9/20/2012 11:21:52 AM

I thought this was a thread on Chinese child adoption

9/20/2012 12:45:38 PM

Not a whole lot to discuss. China is like the Wal-Mart of adoptions. You touch down at the airport in Beijing and they just start throwing babies and fortune cookies at you.

9/20/2012 1:46:29 PM

too bad fortune cookies and babies both taste terrible

9/20/2012 1:57:29 PM

My old boss spent like 3 months and tens of thousands of dollars (or maybe just thousands) in China trying to adopt a girl.because his wife couldn't get pregnant

Then the wife got pregnant like a month after they had the kid

9/20/2012 3:33:17 PM

I have never seen anything valid concerningore testosterone equals more male children. I don't understand how that could even affect how the sex chromosomes are determined. You either give an X chromosome, or you give a Y chromosome. (If you're a male, that is.) If you have a link to the study in question I would like to read it, but otherwise I wouldn't put much stock into it.

9/20/2012 6:39:03 PM

i wouldn't put much stock in anything oep posts

9/20/2012 6:54:10 PM

Shrug. I don't really want kids, but if it ever happens (losing vs. the IUD?, adoption?) , then any girl I have will
be raised in the most awesome (to me) way possible: think for herself, guns, bicycles, non-smothering parents,
how to fix a car, build shit, etc. She can dye her hair, paint her nails, and we can do the girly shit, but I'll be damned if I let her leave without basic life skills. I'll also show her sewing, crafting, cooking, nurturing and all the awesome shit women do.

Still, gender selection? Why? Ugh. They could have spent $40K on an adopted kid and got the gender they wanted.

P.S. My parents tried for years for a boy (1 boy vs. 3 girls), and any residual feelings of inadequacy disappeared
when my parents were like "hmm...the girls turned out alright in the long run." (Bro is currently on house arrest out of jail on his second DUI. Classy.)

9/20/2012 8:58:58 PM

^^ Also, that picture looks to be about a 7 month old fetus delivered by forceps birth vaginally, judging on the fat deposits on the body, the relative size, and the squishiness of the head. I'm in my OB rotation right now.

9/20/2012 9:03:47 PM

Quote :

" until it passes through the vagina and has the cord cut, it is nothing more than a parasitic lump of cells."

Soooo, C section babies are parasitic lumps?

Or I can stab my full term baby to death as long as I don't cut the cord?

Noted.

9/21/2012 8:53:42 AM

Failed abortion most likely

9/21/2012 9:02:34 AM

i like when they suck the brains out in utero just to make sure

9/21/2012 1:54:50 PM

Quote :

"If you have a link to the study in question I would like to read it, but otherwise I wouldn't put much stock into it."

I read it in a local paper many years ago. I can search on the internet and will post if I find it. As for the more testosterone = more male children, that was speculation on my part, as I noted. The study I read was a correlation, showing that teachers, nurses, etc tended to have more girls, and engineers, scientists, etc tended to have more boys. I will look for it.

Quote :

"i wouldn't put much stock in anything oep posts"

Why don't you go back to fishing and leave the big people's conversation to us?

9/22/2012 5:46:37 PM

9/25/2012 7:20:20 AM