Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

The newborn baby who got a mysterious sex change

41 replies

mrsbertiewooster · 16/05/2012 23:44

Our receptionist at work, who we all know quite well, has been looking forward for months to the birth of her 5th grandchild, her son's wife was due a baby this week. She said she'd love if it was a girl but of course would be delighted either way.

On Monday, said daughter in law was brought into hospital to be induced and every morning this week, all us work collegues said 'any news?!' when coming in the door to work.

This morning, on my way in to work at 9am she said that she had news!! A baby boy, just under 9 pounds, all great! She even showed me his picture on facebook that her son put up, under the photo, her son wrote (this babies father, it was his facebook page) something along the lines of 'Introducing baby (name), born by c section, (weight) and mammy taken away to be minded', etc, etc. The photo was of a cute baby, with a blue hospital blanket and about 70 comments by other friends and family members on the 'beautiful boy', etc

So far so good.

However, at 11am break today, said receptionist came up to announce that she just found out that it was actually a girl!!! We were all like 'what?!' Looking totally confused. She said something about as her daughter in law had a c-section, the baby was wrapped up so they didn't know?!! How could the father just assume?? I think TBH she was a bit embarrassed really. And she seemed very worried actually in case there's anything wrong with the baby's genitals.

Does this not strike you as bizarre!! Is this not the first question (apart from saying the baby is healthy) that the doctor confirms!!???

Confused anyone?!

Sits and waits for reactions with Brew

OP posts:
MousyMouse · 17/05/2012 11:17

when dd was born I was convinced she was a boy. no way that these great bollocks were girl bits Blush
had to ask the midwife a few times if everything was ok. I really thought she might be a hermaphrotite.

she is a proper girl, though, just very swollen bits at birth.

OxfordBags · 17/05/2012 11:22

There was an episode of One Born Every Minute where a baby was delivered by CS and the father watching it emerge and shouted "IT'S A BOY!" and, TBF, I thought, as a viewer, that it was a boy too, but no, it was a girl with very swollen labia. This happened to my friend's daughter; her labia and clitoris were so swollen for the first 3 days of her life that they thought she was a boy. Luckily, this was before the days of FB and so on, but there was still a lot of family and friends to explain to and her poor old Grandmother kept calling the baby by the boy's name they'd chosen for ages, as she was going senile.

Agree with other posters wondering WTF the father was playing at, posting on FB when his child was just born and his wife had just had major abdominal surgery Angry

squoosh · 17/05/2012 11:22

Yes maybe the child is intersex/indeterminate sex, pretty rare but does happen and is obviously a hugely upsetting and sensitive issue.

I wouldn't question her too much in case it's something like this.

IsSamNormansDad · 17/05/2012 11:49

I was told. Dry excitedly that DD was a boy - very swollen labia and dangling cord. Wasn't until MW checked her over and said no its a girl, so I had 2 DSs for about 10 mins. He had already texted our parents and brothers that we'd had a boy...he was so embarrassed Grin

IsSamNormansDad · 17/05/2012 11:49

*DH told, not dry

Kitchentiles · 17/05/2012 12:07

I'm a bit surprised that anyone would attach any importance to the colour of the blanket the baby is wrapped in when it's handed over. Do we really think the staff in an NHS operating theatre have the time or inclination to colour coordinate blankets?!

BreastmilkDoesAFabLatte · 17/05/2012 12:22

Poor family... what an overwhelming time. I think it's a bit unkind for people to condemn the dad for posting on FB. For a lot of people, it's a real support system. The DH of a friend who has particularly difficult labours has FBed through all of them on his mobile just as a way of coping, and of attracting messages of support and prayers from friends.

kickingking · 17/05/2012 12:40

My first thought was 'that can't be right!'

But then I remembered that DS2 was born two months ago by elcs and whisked straight off to special care as he wasn't breathing. I saw photos of him within half an hour, with a nappy on. I went up to visit him in special care 10 hours later, he was still in a nappy. I didn't really see that he was a boy til more than 24 hours after we had told everyone he was a boy and his name.

If somebody had made a mistake in theatre before he was whisked off, it could well have been a day before I knew.

kickingking · 17/05/2012 12:46

Re-reading that - did the father actually say it was a boy? Was it a gender neutral name and a blue blanket and assumptions were made?

elliejjtiny · 17/05/2012 13:29

We were told DS1 was a boy at the 20 week scan and then confirmed at a growth scan at 35 weeks. When he was born I didn't bother checking until the midwife asked a while later so it could be put on the notes. DH had already announced his name to both sets of grandparents on the phone by that point. It's a good job the scans were right! I felt a bit daft for assuming afterwards but it's so easily done. DS was a waterbirth and had his legs crossed with the cord tangled loosely round them so it wasn't obvious.

slug · 17/05/2012 14:15

DH was holding his newborn son and cooing to him for a good 30 minutes before the midwife the baby was, in fact, female.

She had been a traumatic birth and had only been on my stomach long enough to cut the cord before they ran off with her to resuscitate. It was the swollen genitals that confused us. DH's comment was "I have biology degrees and have worked in hospitals for 15 years and it looked like a pair of bollocks to me".

This is one of the reasons DD's name is the feminine form of the boy's name we had picked out and not the one I had chosen for a girl

Hulababy · 17/05/2012 14:24

To be fair to the dad we have no idea how soon after the birth he posted on FB, nor how/where/when he did it. Via a mobile it would take only 2 minutes to post, and he may well have had to leave the room anyway - I know DH had to at a couple of points after my cs. DH went and called our parents, etc in that time. He could have done the FB at such a time, taking no more time than a quick call anyway.

SCOTCHandWRY · 17/05/2012 14:58

When my cousin was born, her mum, an experienced midwife had to discuss her DD with the MW assisting at the birth and have a bloody good look before deciding it was a girl with swollen bits! All normal within 3 or 4 days.

porcamiseria · 17/05/2012 15:07

maybe baby is intersex?

CovMum · 17/05/2012 17:20

DD1 was born by emergency ceasarean and the student midwife announced she was a boy. It wasn't until they did the agpar checks they realised she was wrong. I was out of it so wasn't really aware but it was confusing for DH.

misslinnet · 18/05/2012 09:03

One of my (male) family members was wrongly assumed to be a girl at first.

His father had put the birth announcement "Mr & Mrs x have a beautiful baby daughter!" in the local paper before they realised the mistake Grin

New posts on this thread. Refresh page