But having more options can complicate life. Besides analyzing information on various high-tech gender selection methods, a woman must decide if she and her family can handle the accompanying financial and psychological stress – especially if they end up not getting the gender they want. The following "tour" through the new world of assisted sex selection is intended to guide women considering the process so they can make the choice that's right for them.

Fertility Specialists
Many fertility specialists, or reproductive endocrinologists (REs), perform sperm-spinning at their clinics. The Reproductive Specialty Center, founded in 1995 by Dr. Beth Ary, is one such clinic. The Reproductive Specialty Center is one such clinic and was founded in 1995 by OB/GYN and RE Dr. Beth Ary.

The center's simplest and least expensive technique involves washing the sperm, tagging the X-bearing (girl) or Y-bearing (boy) specimens, then timing insemination according to which gender is desired. At a cost of $600 per attempt, this method yields a 60 percent chance of getting a boy and a 65 percent chance of getting a girl.

Women Talk About Sperm Spinning
*Anne Kent, a 38-year-old mother to four sons, got her long-awaited little girl with the help of an RE. She was inseminated with her husband's separated sperm. And although the procedure was relatively simple as far as high-tech gender selection goes, her first two attempts ended in miscarriage.

Besides the financial burden (each procedure costs between $1,000 to $1,500) and the devastation of weathering two pregnancy losses, Anne felt the stress of "waiting to ovulate, hoping blood counts and ultrasounds would show the best time to have the IUI (insemination) that would lead to conception." Change to: A religious person, she says "I have always had a strong sense that my daughter was there waiting to be born."

Carol Fullam, 36, is expecting her second child, a girl, in May. Carol's first child is a boy and she knew she and her husband would probably only have two. To raise the odds of getting their daughter, the couple went to the Huntington Reproductive Clinic in Fullerton, Calif., where Carol was inseminated with her husband's separated sperm. In all, she spent $1,100.

Carol firmly believes that reproductive technology empowers women. "This is my attitude: If God did not want me to do this, then He would not have created the technology," she says.

The Ericsson Albumin Method
A pioneer in the gender determination field, 65-year-old Dr. Ronald Ericsson, developed and patented the Ericsson Albumin Method of sex selection. The current success rate is 78 to 85 percent for boys and 73 to 75 percent for girls. Costs range from $600 to $1,200 per try. To date, 2,300 children have been born with Ericsson's method, which he has offered through his company, Gametrics Limited, since 1975. The technology is available at licensed centers throughout the United States and in many countries abroad. Information about the Ericsson Method is available at www.childselect.com.

The method works by layering separated sperm over human serum albumin (the main protein in blood) several times. These sperm swim downward, where they are collected and washed. During this process, most of the sperm are eliminated; the remaining sperm, according to Ericsson, "are of the highest fertility and quality." At ovulation, a woman is artificially inseminated with the isolated sperm. To boost her "girl" odds by 25 percent, she may also take the fertility drug Clomid.

On the average, women younger than 40 require two attempts to conceive using the Ericsson Method. Ericsson maintains that "there are no known health risks for women using these procedures." However, it's worth noting that Clomid, like any drug, has potential side effects. A 1994 article in The New England Journal of Medicine reported that prolonged use of Clomid (12 or more menstrual cycles) might increase the risk of developing ovarian cancer. And the book, The Couple's Guide to Fertility, states that even short-term Clomid use can cause hot flashes, migraines and decreased cervical mucus.

In recent years, Ericsson has noticed a distinct preference in the desire for girls. When asked why pink bundles of joy are so "trendy" now, he offers this intriguing explanation: "Those [women] of age to reproduce have a much different opinion of themselves and their position in society as did their mothers and grandmothers. Therefore, they are motivated to have daughters as they see a bright future for them. Many women state that they want the mother-daughter relationship that they had with their mothers. The era of wanting a first-born male is gone, not to return."

*Names have been changed for privacy reasons.

Want to see more?

• Boy or Girl: Should You Choose the Sex of Your Child?
• Low-Tech Ways to Choose Your Baby's Gender
• One and Only: How to Know When – and If – You Should Try for Another Child
• Talk about it!