Sara Fleury of Phoenix, Ariz., swears by the Chinese fertility chart. Laura Brooks and her friends in Orange County, Calif., say if you want to know the sex of your baby without an ultrasound, the pencil-on-a-string method has proven 90 percent accurate in their group. Then there's the old urine-in-the-Drano test. In fact, there are dozens of unscientific methods commonly used by expecting couples, all anxious to know whether they're having a boy or a girl.

The pencil-, wedding band- or needle-on-a-string test is among the most popular methods, says Ann Douglas, mother of four and author of The Mother of All Pregnancy Books (Wiley, 2002).

"This one is Hungarian in nature," says Douglas, who has researched the folklore behind the methods. "You put the wedding band on a string and hold it still over the belly. If it moves in a strong, circular motion it's a girl. If it swings in a pendulum motion it's a boy. It's psychological – kind of like the Ouija board. You think you're keeping it still, but there are very slight tremors in your hands that make it move. Still, it's a fun shower game."

One of the oldest wives' tales says if you're carrying the baby low, it's a boy, and if you're carrying it high, it's a girl.

"This one's pretty sexist," Douglas says. "English folklore says boys need to be more independent so they carry lower, while girls need more protection and therefore are carried higher. In reality, how you carry the baby depends on the baby's position, the shape of your uterus, your posture and the kind of shape your abdomen muscles are in."

Don't try telling that to Tara Sinclair of New York, N.Y., who is due very soon. Although she's not going to find out the sex of her baby – saying life doesn't provide many other surprises these days – she thinks she's having a boy because she's carrying very low and at the front. "The universal opinion is that means it's a boy," she says. "If you put on weight all over, then it is supposed to be a girl. This theory has held true with all of my friends."

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