Skip to main content
Skip to main navigation
Skip to talk navigation

Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Unflip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Saved Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Unflip

Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

1 2

Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

Pregnancy

really pissed off with midwife

40 replies

ditsydoll · 18/04/2013 09:43

Just had a mw appointment and when she did thebabys heart rate she asked if we knew what we where having, I said no as we wanted a surprise and she told me it's a girl's heart rate. Does she not get the word surprise!
How reliable is heart rate for sexing? I'm feeling really miffed at her for even hinting at a certain sex.

OP posts:

Report

378 · 20/04/2013 13:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Rowboat · 19/04/2013 21:35

Its a load of rubbish. First time my midwife did the heart beat it was a "boy" one, the second a "girl" one. It depends whether you are hearing directly from baby (galloping horse) or through the cord (train - the whooshing being blood rushing through the cord). I had a girl by the way.

RosinaCopper · 19/04/2013 16:41

Sorry - have only read the OP, but wanted to say that my (very experienced) midwife told me that she thought my twins were b/g and when I said that we'd been told they were identical boys at the scan said 'scans aren't always right, you know!' And guess what - I have identical twin boys.

(so guessing based on a heartrate is sooo accurate, then!)

ginmakesitallok · 19/04/2013 16:26

At one antenatal check with dd2 a medical student was there. First he spent ages finding her heartbeat, when he did he said he thought something was wrong, it was the cord he'd found. Then he had a good feel, went a bit white and told mW he wanted a word in private. I was terrified, until I heard the mW say, "no, she definitely DOES have a head..."

MakesCakesWhenStressed · 19/04/2013 16:20

it's bollocks old wives tales. like people who guess based on how sick you were or the shape of your bump. ignore

HolidayArmadillo · 19/04/2013 16:16

"And I totally agree that the midwife should not have been making guesses about the gender after you'd said that you wanted a surprise, regardless of how reliable or otherwise her method of guessing is."

I actual think this is one of the most precious things I've ever read on Mumsnet.

PurpleStorm · 18/04/2013 23:52

The midwife is talking nonsense. It's not possible to tell an unborn baby's gender from their heartrate.

And I totally agree that the midwife should not have been making guesses about the gender after you'd said that you wanted a surprise, regardless of how reliable or otherwise her method of guessing is.

WitchOfEndor · 18/04/2013 19:04

We were told that our babies heartbeat was most likely a girl. He wasn't!

SourSweets · 18/04/2013 19:02

Total guess, my midwife said she thought I wa having a boy as he was very awkward and kept kicking the Doppler away. Turns out she was right, but she had a 50/50 chance! Sounds like an offhand comment to me, ignore it!

MisForMumNotMaid · 18/04/2013 17:03

My DD was meant to be a boy by heart rate and time of conception to ovulation wives tales. After two boys statistically she should have been a boy too.

She's the most girly girl I know, I'm not girly.

It's sad that this midwife caused distress by talking about and old wife's tale like it was fact.

Wishfulmakeupping · 18/04/2013 16:41

It's not reliable at all I know at least 2 people who were told the opposite of what they had

isambardo · 18/04/2013 16:40

When my midwife said this I wondered if she had some insight into these old wives tales, but I think they just enjoy guessing as much as the rest of us.
In hospital I was told it was a girl's heartbeat but a few hours later it was definitely a boy that arrived :)

ditsydoll · 18/04/2013 16:11

If she had said it was just a guess I wouldn't have been upset. I had no idea it was just an old wives tale.
She said "Do you know what your having"?, to which I replied "no we want a surprise" she then Said "it's a girl's heart rate" so I had just assumed there was some way of her actually knowing.
She didn't say it in a kind of oh well you know what they say about higher heart rates light hearted manner she said it quite plainly.

OP posts:

HullMum · 18/04/2013 15:42

She's a midwife. She knows that's just an old wives tale and sharing in the guessing and surprise with you. Feel bad for midwifes they can't win.

rrreow · 18/04/2013 15:10

Old wives tale. There's a 50% chance she got it right.

HolidayArmadillo · 18/04/2013 15:07

I think you're being a bit silly, the midwife has just made a guess based on absolutely nothing definitive, I bet other people have speculated on the sex and you haven't been this annoyed. She's got a 50/50 chance of being right, the same as everyone else.

mum2jakie · 18/04/2013 15:04

It's not at all accurate. Midwife hasn't spoilt your surprise at all. There is, after all, a 50/50 chance of her being right!

galwaygirl · 18/04/2013 15:01

It's an old wives tale and it's only supposed to be the heartrate during labour that counts anyway.
I have a DD and a DS on the way (willy clearly showing in scans) and pregnancies have been exact same for both including the heartrate which for DD was always 140 and for this baby is still always 140.

MajaBiene · 18/04/2013 14:54

Surely part of it being a surprise is people guessing though?

LemonBreeland · 18/04/2013 13:20

It isn't reliable as others have said, however I would still be pissed off. You told her you wanted a surprise and she decided to tell you her guess anyway.

ArabellaBeaumaris · 18/04/2013 13:17

She hasn't told you anything! The heart rate stuff is rubbish. Both my DDs had "boy" heart rates. Clearly they weren't boys.

YouDontWinFriendsWithSalad · 18/04/2013 13:16

It's as reliable as the prediction that heartburn means a hairy baby and craving sweet things means a girl.

ellie I'm glad to hear your DS3's head was there after all.

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Email address

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

MrsFoodie · 18/04/2013 13:15

Not reliable at all, she is just speculating.. No more reliable that you friends speculating on the shape of you bump, your pregnancy symptoms.. Babies heart rate fluctuate all the time, anyone who has been strapped to those monitors will tell you that. My midwife told me you can't tell the sex through heart rate.. Try and forget it, its not worth getting hung up on and enjoy the anticipation..

elliejjtiny · 18/04/2013 13:05

Utter rubbish. A student midwife enthusiastically told me that DS1 must be a girl despite 3 scans saying otherwise. Mind you another one said that she didn't think DS3 had a head. Thankfully I'd had several scans by this point and the "proper" midwife found DS3's head very quickly.

WentOnABearHunt · 18/04/2013 12:59

She didnt tell you anything! Unless she has X-ray vision.... dun dun durrrrrr!!! She was not trying to spoil your surprise, everyone guesses on the gender of a baby based on all kinda of stupid stuff.... in my last job a woman who was NEVER wrong guessed a girl..... oh i was so bloody satisfied when she was wrong hahah.

oh, did you know 50% of the women on mumsnet who chose a username with a 'D' at the start have a boy????? Hope i didnt spoil your surpise! :p

Unflip

1 2

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.