Clay Nichols: Hey there! welcome back to the lab. I am daddy Clay.
Brad Powell: And I am daddy Brad, whether or not they are willing to admit it many of the expecting parent out there for whatever reason have a preference boy or girl.
Clay Nichols: And there are a lot of wide tales out there about what you can do to make a boy or a girl. We will talk about those, but what's the truth about fertility, gender and science.
Brad Powell: This week in the lab, it's all about X and Y.
Clay Nichols: This week's show is brought you by BABYBJÖRN it doesn't matter if it's a boy or a girl but very best carriers and gear come from BABYBJÖRN.
Brad Powell: So is there anything you can do to increase your chances for a boy or a girl, we ask the folks of the Texas Fertility Clinic.
Dr. Kaylen M. Silverberg: And we hear the old the joke is, if you want a boy, you have sex on Sunday, alright. Didn't work.
Brad Powell: Even days, odd days.
Dr. Kaylen M. Silverberg: Nope, even days, odd days, the whole purpose behind the even, odd I think is that if you are trying to get pregnant, it takes a while for a guy's sperm to regenerate. So we advocate sex every other day.
Clay Nichols: Sexual position.
Dr. Kaylen M. Silverberg: No difference. The whole theory there is gravity, the X containing sperm is heavier because the X chromosome is larger than a Y chromosome. So the X chromosome is heavier therefore theoretically the sperm with the X is heavier. So positions in which sperm get the deposited lower and the cervix is lower theoretically will lead to girls but it's never been proven to be true.
Clay Nichols: There are also a lot of at home kids techniques and websites, to purport that to choose the sex of your baby. Most of these depend on the theory that boy sperm swim faster and girl sperm live longer. Now by carefully monitoring mom's temperature, you can predict the movement of ovulation and if you quickly time the sex at exactly the right moment then that allows for the right kind of sperm to arrive onside at the right time.
Dr. Kaylen M. Silverberg: Myth, not true, theoretically they are faster because the Y sperm -- I mean the Y chromosome is smaller. So therefore that sperm maybe a little bit faster.
Brad Powell: But scientist in UK claim to found a genetic link. They say that boys that have lots of brothers tend to produce sons and boys that have lots of sisters, they tend to produce daughters. Now they figure this out by looking at countries where the male population is estimated by warfare. Then they found that there was a big male baby boom following. The genetic blood lines that tend to produce boys survived, the others not so much.
Dr. Kaylen M. Silverberg: I haven't seen any really scientific validation of that, I mean I read about it I saw it, but I haven't seen any scientific validation of it.
Clay Nichols: But there is one sure fire, lock way to get the kind of baby that you want and that is to adopt. So how about your daddy Brad, you have a big strong preference boy or girl?
Brad Powell: No, I have got one of each. So number three, doesn't matter either way. How about you?
Clay Nichols: Well, with the first one I definitely wanted a girl. I don't why I felt like that, the easier or that be sweeter or something like, I got a boy. Then second one, I definitely wanted another boy, got a girl. Then I wanted to be finished and I got another boy. So I never got what I wanted but I got what I wanted.
Brad Powell: Yeah, that's the magic of it. You think you know what you want, but you don't and it doesn't matter boy or girl, you are going to love them.
Clay Nichols: I think that if you -- that's why this whole notion of paying thousands of dollars to determine boys or girls or whatever it's nuts, nut sounds crazy stuff.
Brad Powell: That's so pathetic Clay, it makes sense for some families. Think about if you are the house of two.
Clay Nichols: If succession is an issue, I understand but otherwise if you are not ready to have a boy or a girl regardless of what it is and love completely then I just don't think you are ready to be a parent.
Brad Powell: Well, it's not always that simple Daddy Clay.
Dr. Kaylen M. Silverberg: Now we get two different populations of patients, who come in requesting sex selection. We get a population of patients in here that's something called an x-linked disease. Okay, so certain types of hemophilia, certain types of muscular dystrophy. They know that if they have a male child that child is going to have a specific disease. That's life threatening. And then we get another population of patients who were interested in what's called family balancing. They got two girls, they want a boy. They got two boys and want a girl. They just for whatever reason want a boy, for whatever reason want a girl first okay. We don't do that because we think that there are ethical issues involved and we really subscribe the theory that you either want a child and you want to have a family or you don't.
Brad Powell: If you have got an opinion about choosing the sex of your baby before you have it, go to dadlabs.com and join the discussion.
Clay Nichols: And we want to thank BABYBJÖRN our sponsor for this show, you know the nice thing about baby boy, baby girl, BABYBJÖRN doesn't matter, boy or girl, all works, all designed perfectly. Take this really cool plate and spoon set, it doesn't matter, it goes in the mouth, boy's mouth, girl's mouth. So thanks BABYBJÖRN , we will see you next week.
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