O, My!

Big news! Huge news in fact! The ladies from IntelliGender (I first mentioned this mom-founded company on Oct. 30 in my blog Boy or Girl?) have been wooed by none other than the queen of the talk-show circuit herself, Ms. Oprah Winfrey!

(I wrote about my experiences with the at-home gender detection test in our February issue, so, um, yeah, we scooped O … oh, yeah! Lol.)

One of the co-founders, Rebecca, contacted me earlier this month to let me know that she and her business partner, Teresa, were going to be filmed for a segment dubbed “Moms with the Next Big Idea.” A fantastic opportunity for the company and I am so thrilled for them, but in my tiny, little corner of the world, you know what the best part is? The ladies asked if they could have a “sample of my solution” to use during the taping to show how the test works. Odd request, I know … but for me, it was thrilling … this may be the closest I ever get to being on Oprah, lol.

Since my test on Halloween determined I was carrying a boy (and several sonos and another IntelliGender test have confirmed), the ladies also needed “girl solution.” The only girl mommy-to-be I could think of was the wife of one of my husband Chris’ coworkers (she’s due the same time I am).

Having only met Tonya once, I knew asking her for such an offbeat thing would be a stretch, but I wanted to give it a shot. In the nicest, most politically correct way I could (is that even possible when you’re asking a stranger for a sample of urine?), I e-mailed Tonya and explained my — ahem — needs.

She was a total trooper! By the next day Tonya had agreed (she must share my same affinity for Oprah — that or it makes a great story to tell). Our husband’s joked that their wives were going to have “famous pee pee” — boys, what can you say? =) And last Friday Rebecca and Teresa collected our donations.

Armed with the Aquafina bottle sample (that would be mine) and the Gatorade jug (Tonya’s), the IntelliGender chicas were set — well, sort of. Rebecca e-mailed on Saturday to let me know that they (thankfully) had the forethought to each take half of the samples … just in case (you know the whole flying with “liquids” thing). Turns out Rebecca’s set of samples were confiscated by security!

She wrote: “Teresa made it with both solutions safely tucked away and double bagged in her luggage. Boy, that was a learning experience. The security guys told me I couldn’t travel with a baby bottle of apple juice without the baby. I informed him it wasn’t apple juice. =) That created quite a bit of curiosity! I’m usually pretty persuasive, but I didn’t win that battle!”

The ladies made it to the Oprah taping and now it’s a waiting game … the “winners” of the Moms With the Next Big Idea won’t be announced until April 27.

Stay tuned!

-Tessa