“Are you finding out what you’re having?”
It’s not an issue I covered in the FAQ because it honestly didn’t occur to me it would even be a question. But friends have asked and cripes, yes, definitely, we are finding out the genders, tout suite. The births day will be insane enough without throwing Dancing With The Stars-style reveals into the mix.
The gender-unveiling could happen as early as a few weeks from now and we’re beyond anxious. We’ve heard stories about modest fetuses that refuse to let their parents know, ultrasound after ultrasound. Fingers crossed for three little exhibitionists.
Anyhow, I started doing a little math, because I’m a sucker for things like odds and research. So here goes:
ASSUMPTIONS
- All three babies will survive delivery and beyond
- The triplets are not identical
- Gender-bending oddities like hermaphroditism has been discounted
- Ratio of boys to girls under normal circumstances = 1:1
Okay, that said, odds of a single-child pregnancy (you know, the way normal, sane people do things) is pretty straightforward:
Non-identical twins. Slightly more complicated, but not much:
Triplets? I had to grab a pencil and paper for this one and break down each possibility, of which there are 8. As follows:
That said, we have 4 basic combinations with odds that look like this:
Chances of at least one girl: 87.5% At least one boy: 87.5%
The odds seem to sharply favor a combo, but I guess we’ll see. It’s what Carey prefers (her ideal is 2 boys, 1 girl). Me, I don’t know. I suppose I’d like to have a son somewhere in the mix. I think we’re in agreement that all three being the same gender (25% chance) probably isn’t what we’d want most… though, I’ll admit it, when we first got the news, all one gender was my preference. “Stick ’em all in one room through high school. Boom, done.”
But here’s where we do our classic parent-to-be refrain (I think they take away your permit if you don’t repeat it at least a couple of times a week). All together now, people:
WE DON’T CARE WHAT THEY ARE, AS LONG AS THEY’RE HEALTHY.
(But c’mon, Jesus, do us a solid and throw a boy in there for us, would you?)
Tips On Triplets 
You know, I wanted a mix too, but when we found out they were all the same sex, I got excited. As someone said to me, it kind of accentuates their tripletness. And since I’m an attention whore, I like the attention. What can I say?
I love the breakdown! I’ve been wondering what your “odds” are of different scenarios–love the graphs. I agree that a mixed gender group is the way to go–sanity wise. But let’s be honest, these little peeps clearly are bucking the system statistically speaking already. We’ll see if they continue to defy the odds…
Well Jer it’s actually up to you and your ‘y’ so I guess you”ll know soon. I’m about to have our 3rd boy anytime now and I LOVE having boys. They are nuts and they are so fun! I’m sure girls are great too. If it’s 3 boys…start stocking up on bandaids and soap now!!
Love the graphics! Finding out the gender is huge! Somehow it made things even more real for us. We could assign names and they were no longer just blobs on an ultrasound, they were teeny tiny people.
I looked back at earlier posts–Wow! What a crazy ride! And it’s going to get even crazier!! Good luck, I’ll be following along.
This is so exciting. WOW! I love the ultrasound.
I found your blog on M&M. I saw that you’re in L.B. We live in Torrance, and delivered our triplets at LB Memorial. It’s a great hospital (if that’s where you guys will be…) with an excellent NICU (hopefully you don’t have to spend much, if any, time there), and staff. Congratulations!
Come check out my blog at http://threelittlechicklets.blogspot.com/
We are expecting triplets, we find out Monday 7/25/11 what we are having!!! I’m praying for at least one girl since it will be a cold day in hell before we have anymore children.
Your site was informative thanks for the info ! 🙂
I’m really sorry for your loss and I wish you all the best but I just need to say that “gender-bending oddities” is extremely offensive. Perhaps you should edit that.
shut it bitch