Do sonographers use generic term "he" in scans?

[munchymoo]

I'm currently 27 weeks pregnant with DC2. We already have a 3 year old DS. We had a scan yesterday and told the consultant right before the scan that we didn't want to know the gender. She said no problem, but during the scan she definitely said "he's moving around".

I know this sounds so silly but I really, really don't want to know. I feel awful saying this but I'd love a daughter and this will be my last pregnancy for various reasons mainly age; we had 2 miscarriages last year and I have many friends who can't conceive and I feel so terribly guilty for worrying about something so meaningless and unimportant! Of course I will be besotted with DC2 when s/he arrives and won't care about the gender - part of the reason I just didn't want to find out during the pregnancy.

Anyway DH reckons that yes she might have slipped up and let the cat out of the bag but unlikely as she is such an experienced consultant, he thinks also possible some of them may use "he" as a generic term as nicer than "it"..... has anyone had a scan and this happened and then went on to deliver the opposite gender to the one referred to in scan??

I’m a midwife and tend to call all baby’s he as a habit. Sounds a lot nicer than it. I’d take it with a pinch of salt and enjoy the rest of your pregnancy

The sonographer called mine 'he' and yes he did indeed turn out to be a boy. I hadn't wanted to know either. I suppose the thing is you still don't 'know' as the sonographer may be using 'he' as a generic term, you just don't know.

It's only a choice of two so I guess some would say he, others she. There would be more complaints if they used 'it'.

When I went sonographer just called baby a he so not to call baby an it. She would switch between baby and he though.

I thought it was fairly widely accepted that they use 'he' often to distinguish the baby from their mother who will always be 'she'.

With my second we just assumed that we would be asked if we wanted to know the sex like we were with the first who was only 15 months older. When the sonographer finished and hadn't said anything we asked what the sex was and she said she didn't know they didn't look didn't care unless asked.

So there's a high chance the consultant doesn't even know and just used he as a default.

I usually refer to most living things as he automatically until I know otherwise..

Okay thanks ladies, am v grateful for your replies! I feel so superficial for being upset about this when we are lucky enough to have a healthy baby in there. Will try to put it out of my mind x

At my scans the sonographer said she and I had a girl

At our 20 week scan the sonographer called baby "he" - turned out to be a girl.

Ours referred to baby as "baby" and "he" - we don't know yet what we're having but the songrapher said he when he'd only just started the scan and couldn't have known so I think it's generic?

I said I didn't want to know the sex and the sonographer said 'he' and quickly corrected herself to 'baby' but I definitely heard it!

PS I wanted a girl too but now love that little boy so much I wouldn't swap him for a thousand girls!

I secretly wanted a girl after my first boy but ended up with two boys. I love my little gang. Don't worry- you'll love whatever you have.

Sonographer used “he” for a girl (she didn’t even look for the sex til we asked as we thought she had already let the cat out of the bag). Are you sure you wouldn’t find out now if you have such a strong preference, so there’s no risk of disappointment on birth?