Crap, told the wrong gender!!

[allisgood1]

We were told we were having a girl and I went for a scan this morning (36 weeks growth) and it's a BOY!!!

We have 2 girls, so this is a huge shock! We have nothing boy sorted!! What do I do (other than beg friends for clothes!?). Emotionally it's fine, I am so happy it's a happy healthy baby so gender is fine. But we know about girls! How are boys!?

[Floop]

Congratulations!

The only thing you can't use that you have already is the name! Get thinking!

[trikken]

Boys are lovely. Yes point willy down. Many times I forgot and he managed to pee in his ear.

[zumby]

I'm from a family of all girls; nieces, aunties, female cousins. I didn't find out gender of second child as was sure it would be a girl like dd1. Only he wasn't! I was terrified.

He is now 18m. Has more interest in balls and cars, but otherwise exactly the same! Poor soul wears dd's dressing up clothes and uses pink scooters and bikes much to my mother's horror! (It'll make him gay you know!)

I also dressed him in dd's sleep suits, but I did cut off the bows and frills as I felt that was taking it too far

[allisgood1]

Right, willy down. Must remember this. Sonographer said to grab a wipe and put over willy first thing to prevent wee going everywhere

He's apparently smaller than my previous 2...anyone had the same?!

Will have to buy a few bits and already have found someone local selling loads of stuff for £20!

[atos35]

I have two boys and another on the way!! As babies they didn't seem any different to my friends girls the same age but I think they were a little more boisterous from about 8 months on but that might just be them. In terms of sleeping ds 1 was a rotter who barely slept a wink until he was 3 but ds 2 was a dream, sleeping really well with long daily naps from day 1. Looking forward to my number 3. Boys have endless energy but are , so much fun and very loving and cuddly. Congratulations!

[Pico2]

Imagine that you hadn't known in advance. You wouldn't have bought anything and would probably just take the most gender neutral babygros with you to dress your baby in when it arrived. You are more or less in the same position, but with a bit of a hiccup on the journey.

[BakingBunty]

Before I had DS, I was convinced that differences in gender in terms of behaviours and interests was mostly nurture rather than nature. Fast forward three years and I've completely changed my mind... I'm amazed at the differences I see amongst the boys and girls in my friendship group, all with broadly similar upbringings. DS adores anything with wheels and likes nothing better than making traffic jams (!). I love having a boy. A huge generalisation but think they can be very straightforward and somewhat less, um, dramatic!

[Willdoitinaminute]

DS is nearly ten and still loves cuddles ( not in public so much now though). He was originally supposed to be a girl until 28 week growth scan revealed otherwise. Dsis gave me all her baby stuff ( she had two girls) apart from the obvious stuff he wore all their baby grows. We reserved the pink ones for our eyes only and Dsis wasn't keen on girly stuff anyway.
Since your DS will be a winter baby you can recycle lots of your girls stuff such as vests, they will be hidden under layers of clothes. I would just invest in cheap long sleeve shirts and dungarees for when he's out of baby grows. You can even reuse tights they are so much easier to keep on than socks!
I'm sure you'll get lots of boy stuff as gifts. Dsis was delighted she could buy blue stuff after 4 years of pink.

[Willdoitinaminute]

Oh and on a more practical note remember to point his willy down when you put a nappy on. And when you take it off leave it over their front until you are ready to put new one on. It won't be just your baby you have to wash and change!

[ColdTeaAgain]

This is exactly why I always tell my patients that we can never guarantee we are always right about the gender.

So glad you are fine with it OP, unbelievably there have been cases where people have tried to sue sonographers for getting it wrong (obviously not a hope in hell of winning the case but puts the sonographer involved through a shitload of unnecessary stress).

How exciting! Better get thinking of boys names

[JennyBlueWren]

The nurture vs.nature thing is very interesting to me. I'm not keen on clothing babies by sex. Was telling my dad that if I have a girl she will not be in frilly pink dresses and he said that despite my fairly neutral upbringing with hand me downs from my brother I showed a greater interest in dolls and at the age of 3 told my brothers that they weren't allowed down an aisle in toys r us as it was for girls only!

[SantasLittleMonkeyButler]

I have 2 DSs and a DD. Behaviour and sleep wise - each baby is different irrespective of gender. DS2 was a brilliant sleeper - straight through the night from 6 weeks, great at self-settling etc. etc. DS1 & DD were both very poor sleepers who would need to be cuddled/held to sleep and would wake numerous times per night!

[enriquetheringbearinglizard]

Don't panic OP, back in the olden days we coped without knowing the baby's gender until after delivery.
As it happened I had two of the same, but you'd have thought they were different genders because they had absolutely no similarities at all.
Relax, take things as they come and go with the flow - wipes at hand obviously

[HauntedNoddyCar]

My ds cares a lot less about stuff being right than dd ever did. He used a Fifi toilet seat and makes people jump off the top of the pink dolls house.
He does need a lot of exercise though

Look on fb selling pages - people are desperate to sell clothes.

[GingerRodgers]

Op would you mind if I asked about your initial scan where they told you the sex? Did they show you a picture or anything? totally crapping myself that this dc is not what I've been told either

[allisgood1]

Thanks for all the reassurance. I am sure everything will be fine. Big sisters are looking very forward to having a baby brother!

I bought some clothes on fb tonight as they happened to pop up...advertised and told 0-3 months...went and collected and nope! 90% of it "newborn". Feel like I've just wasted £20 on clothing that he will wear for 2 weeks if that!! So no more buying anything online, will stick to people I know and new. Will have a look at the girls things and see what I can get away with. I know he won't care...

[allisgood1]

Oh and ginger, they didn't give me the potty shot!

[PrimalLass]

Just get sleepsuits. My boy looked scrumptious in nice sleepsuits. You'll get given loads anyway - I loved an excuse to offload baby clothes to someone else.

[ColdTeaAgain]

We can never 100% guarantee the sex ginger

Factors involved are :

Position of baby
Mum's body type - the bigger patient is, the less clear an image can be
Boys can hide their willies (oh yes!)
Cord can be between legs, could potentially be mistaken for either gender depending on how it appears on scan.

I always tell patients I can never be 100% and to keep all their receipts

[allisgood1]

And to be clear...I am a size 10 (at least I was!). Clearly baby was "hiding".

[GingerRodgers]

Oh god, I'm sitting here looking at our 'potty shot' and wondering if it's just hiding!
I've washed everything now so it'll just have to wear what it's got and look pretty in it

[ColdTeaAgain]

He wanted to give mummy a surprise!

Have only ever had to 'change' the gender at a growth scan a couple of times. So far all parents have been shocked but happy :)

[ancientbuchanan]

Boys are ace.

The ones round us are

More destructive
Noisier
More active
More sensitive
Less socially adept
More in need of cuddles for longer

Than their sisters.

But they are great. V funny. And as said above, easy to please with fart jokes.

Enjoy.

[allisgood1]

Ancient, I feel like you just compared dd2 to dd1

Perhaps she was preparing me for what is to come...

[omama]

Ooh er mee too Ginger! I was convinced this one was a boy, to my surprise scan revealed girl, sonographer seemed quite sure & showed me the 3 lines. Really hoping she's not got it wrong as I've just about sold all of ds's baby/toddler clothes & there were some bloody lovely ones too & have started buying a few girl bits already! I've got another scan at 34 weeks so hopefully we can check then.

OP - I have a ds & it is wonderful! Yes he is lively, with endless energy & rarely sits still. And he shouts most of the time too! But he can also be gentle & loving & is definitely much less dramatic than girls!

I second the tips re nappy changes but also wanted to add - don't whatever you do, leave baby's clean change of clothes right next to the changing mat. We learnt from bitter experience they are likely to get showered if you do!