A ring. A string. A mystery.

There is an old wives tale that if a ring on a string is dangled over a pregnant woman's stomach, the ring will reveal whether she is going to give birth to a boy or a girl. If the woman is having a boy, the ring will swing in a circular motion; if she is having a girl, the ring will swing back and forth. The ring test held true for Ari, Emilie, and Piper. We did the test on Angela a few weeks ago, and it predicted a boy; sure enough, Angela's ultrasound confirmed she is having a boy.

When we did the test on Angela, Ari wanted us to try it on him; so he laid down and I held the ring over his stomach. Nothing happened. I tried it on Valerie, nothing happened (thank goodness). I then tried it on Angela again. I held the ring perfectly still right over her stomach, and sure enough, is slowly started to swing in a circle all by itself.

I was intrigued. Why is this so? Why does the ring swing over a pregnant stomach and not another. Does the baby emit some sort of energy that is lost once it is born? Does the mother? I scoured the internet to find the answer only to come up short. Unfortunately, I still do not know what exactly makes that ring swing. I was, however, able to discover if the ring would swing over a person who is not pregnant.

Determined to find out what, if any, part of the body made the ring move in a non-pregnant person, I volunteered Ari to be part of my experiment. He happily laid down on the floor as I dangled the ring over his stomach. Not surprisingly, it stayed perfectly still. I moved the ring over his head, nothing happened. He then got antsy and started batting the string around while I was trying to hold it still, so I had to find another volunteer. So much for having a three-year-old as part of my experiment.

Valerie reluctantly agreed to be part of my madness. I think she may have been a bit intrigued, too. I first had her hold out her hand and dangled the string over it; nothing happened. She laid down and I held the string over other areas of her body. Did the ring move over her head? No. Chest? No. Stomach? No. I moved the ring further down the length of her body to over her female area, and viola! The ring started to move back and forth. I then tried it on Ari in the same area of his body, and it swung in a circle, they tried it on me and it swung in a circle, too. We couldn't get Emilie to hold still long enough to try it on her, so we couldn't make it four-for- four.

Mystery solved! Well, one of the mysteries at least. The ring can move on it's own over a non-pregnant body as long as it is held over the right spot. Sure enough, the right spot is an area on the body that distinguishes gender; so that makes it a very valid test for pregnant women with consistent results. I still do not know why the ring swings one way for males, and another for females. If anyone knows the answer or has any theories, I'd love to hear them.