Kristina Mitchell is infinitely patient with her two sons, Richard and Merrick, but, patience she didn't have when it came to finding out the gender of her babies before they were born.
"I wanted to get that nursery decorated. I wanted to pick a name. We were not the kind of couple that wanted to wait until we got to the hospital to name the baby," Mitchell said.
Mitchell found out she was having boys two months before the sonogram confirmed it. She found out by taking an over-the-counter test developed by two equally curious Plano mothers who couldn't believe no one had developed a test before.
"In fact, in the 17th century, the way that they found out if a mom was pregnant was to have her, I'll use the word pee, on wheat and barley. If neither one grew, she wasn't pregnant, but if the barley grew she was having a boy, if the wheat grew, she was having a girl. If neither one grew, she wasn't pregnant...but if the barley grew, she was having a boy. And-if the wheat grew, she was having a girl. So, we were like, aha, there is a difference," explained entrepreneur Rebecca Griffin.
Neither Griffin nor Teresa Garland is a scientist, so they hired one to help figure out this mystery. Thus, "Intelligender", the first in-home gender prediction test was born. How it works is a secret, but the idea is much like a pregnancy test.
"It comes with a syringe that's used to insert the urine into the test and then you swirl the test, set it on a flat surface and in five minutes it's either going to match the orange for girl or green for boy," said Griffin.
These "mompreneurs" claim their gender test is about 80-percent accurate, as early as ten weeks into pregnancy. However, that isn't their only thought about women and conception.
"If you're a mom out there and you've got an idea and you want to try and make it happen, go for it. There are lots of resources out there to help along the way. We found some and here we are," said Garland.
Now, they haven't made enough to send all seven of their own kids to college, but "Intelligender" is now sold in all major drug stores.
That will make it convenient for Kristina Mitchell should she ever be expecting a sibling for her two sweet boys.
"I would probably cross my fingers that I'd get a girl result, but I'd be happy with either one," said Mitchell.
For more information, visit www.intelligender.com.
