Not telling baby sex in Hertfordshire hospitals...

[emmaelzer]

Hi, would you consider to write up or sign any petition for disagreement with decision not to tell baby sex in Hertfordshire hospitals?
Were u, or are you upset about it?

Think I read somewhere that its because there is no MEDICAL reason for people to know.
Frustrating for some, but I can see the reasoning.
If people are that bothered they can have a private scan, but I think most people just want to know their LO is healthy.

So, in answerr to your question, no I'm not upset by it.

I'm very upset. My ds has ASD and will not handle it if the baby is not a girl like his sister unless very prepared, and he will certainly not handle 'maybe'.

I am extremely stressed about what life will be like in the early weeks with 3 preschool children and an aggressive ds towards the baby and me.

I have given birth in one hertfordshire hospital already, and using another for dc2 and both hospitals are willing to tell you the sex so I don't think this is true of all hertfordshire hospitals?

Oh. Watford and ST Albans are not telling. Do you know which ones are, or how you can make a case for a medical need?

Qe2 in welwyn and lister in Stevenage tell you, and I had my 20 week at hertford county and they offered to tell me too

I think there are bigger issues in Hertfordshire NHS hospitals. I would rather the money was spent on reducing waiting lists or helping people with real problems.

StarlightMcKenzie, surely an ASD child will struggle when a baby is born whether its a boy or a girl. Its a massive change for any child. I suppose you can ask for an exception to be made if you feel it would help your son.

yes. no reason to scan for extra time looking to see what baby is. a lot I hospitals now refuse due to some ethnic origin people wishing to terminate of its the "wrong" sex. it is all some
people are interested in sadly :(

yes the Council of Europe is considering a guideline to stop all european hospitals telling parents the sex of their baby because of a rise in selective abortions. If this guideline is adopted, only cases where there are medical reasons why sex is important will be considered. Watford General is probably not telling sex for other reasons though: they must have had so many staff cut they can't afford the time. Which worries me, not because I want to know the sex of my future baby (we didn't want to know with DS) but because I'm thinking what else might they miss... These are truly grim times for the NHS. Unfortunately now the cuts are in force even a change of government is unlikely to reverse all the damage they've done and going to do yet.

Back to the point though, to be fair, it's not always possible to tell what sex the baby is anyway, sometimes they lie in such a way the sonographer just can't see between their legs! Sometimes they'll see a bit of the umbilical cord and think it's a penis. Etc. etc. I've known several ladies who were told one sex at the 20-week scan and then got a big surprise at the end of labour!

No I wouldn't.
They do it because there are a high percentage of Asian families that find out the sex of their baby and then proceed to terminate if it is a girl .
If people want to know the sex , pay privately , like my sister did .

Hello, I was advised the other day by my midwife that they are now telling the sex of the baby at Watford if you want to know, they've only started doing this in the last couple of weeks apparently as I had my DD in 2010 and they didn't tell me then and now I'm pregnant again they said they can tell me, they have always told parents at Stoke Mandeville so it's very inconsistent. Hope this helps.