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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Think we might have seen the sex of baby at 20 week scan

33 replies

Mog · 27/04/2004 17:12

I went for a 20 week scan today for my third pregnancy. This scan seemed much clearer than with the other two babies and the baby obliged by clearly opening its legs. I was sure I saw 'boy bits' quite clearly about 4 different times. When we got out my husband said he'd seen it too.
The policy at our hospital is not to tell the sex and I like not to know as it adds to the excitement of labour. Feel a bit disappointed that we saw this - is there a chance we could be wrong? I would imagine it would be more difficult to be wrong about a boy than the other way round, IYSWIM.

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beansprout · 27/04/2004 17:17

Sympathise Mog, as we don't want to know either.

There are lots of examples though where the professionals confidently predict and then get it wrong, so you never know!

Was everything else ok? Hope so.

Original poster

Mog · 27/04/2004 18:11

Everything was fine beansprout and it was lovely to see such a clear picture of the baby. Though if I'd known we'd be able to see the sex I think I would have looked away.

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smellymelly · 28/04/2004 12:52

Are you not pleased it could be a boy???

Glad everything else was ok, surely that was more important??

beansprout · 28/04/2004 13:07

I'm sure it is SM, as of course, the most important thing is that everything is ok, but we really don't want to know before the big day, and I guess it would just be like unwrapping the Christmas present of your life on 1st December - fantastic and brilliant, but you just wanted to save the surprise, that's all.

Not trying to speak for you Mog, just thinking how I would feel (in 3 weeks - eek!)

motherinferior · 28/04/2004 13:13

Yes, I'm a no-shower IYKWIM. Sadly, I think you may have spotted a willy...mind you, it may amuse you to know that when my second baby emerged I thought (in crazed entonox manner, admittedly) 'oh, a boy, testicles - oh, no, where's the willy?' The swollen labia of a newborn girl are VERY odd looking

motherinferior · 28/04/2004 13:13

Oh, and BS, say firmly you don't want to know!

Tissy · 28/04/2004 13:14

and the umbilical cord dangling between the legs can look very willy-like, I'm told

jenthehen · 28/04/2004 13:20

We were also convinced that we were expecting our second boy following the 20wk scan. However, we were completely wrong and now have a gorgeous 4 wk old daughter!

fisil · 28/04/2004 13:25

I was going to say umbilical cord too!

I was in a similar position to you - I was being scanned for an ovarian cyst when ds was c. 21 weeks. As the doctor tried to find the cyst he went past my womb and immediately said "oh, you know what you're having don't you?" I said no, and I didn't want to know, and he went very embarassed - so I concluded he had seen male bits (surely you wouldn't respond so quickly to girly bits?) He did turn out to be male - but then I had a 50% chance!

beansprout · 28/04/2004 13:27

Lol at your process of elimination MI!!!

motherinferior · 28/04/2004 13:34

Oh, I'm an old slapper, me, can't fool me when it comes to spotting a willy

Original poster

Mog · 28/04/2004 13:38

My disappointment was of course in finding out, not in the sex. I know the risk of mistaking the umbilical, but this seemed to be a round sack with a little pointy thing at the end, and clearly not attached at the other end. Feel pretty sure, but could be wrong.
Also thought I'd let people know about this as the thought of seeing it for myself never occured to me and I think if there is ever a next time I will look away.

OP posts:

beansprout · 28/04/2004 13:43

I appreciate the warning Mog, very timely for me. Not sure what to look at instead though - it will be like when someone says "whatever you do, don't think about pink elephants"!! I just know that I will inevitably be drawn to that area...!

MI - your willy spotting/hunting skills are legendary!

bunnyrabbit · 28/04/2004 14:21

MI, should we call you nursey??? After all, you did have a boy without a willy!

sweetkitty · 28/04/2004 15:25

I am one of those people who just had to know the temptation of having someone know what you're unborn baby is and not asking was too much for us. Anyway I knew she was a girl all along. When you did look you could tell, like a hamburger was the description. Although a friend of mine said she was told there was a hamburger there and it was a girl and it was born with a willy.

Natt · 28/04/2004 15:31

I had a very detailed scan with a consultant on DS2 due to some possible abnormalities which weren't amd he said "do you want to know the sex?" and i couldn't avoid seeing distinct willy shape on the screen. I also wanted the surprise and spent ages looking at scan photos on the internet to try and persuade self it was ambiguous really - having said that the scan pcitires of girl bits on the internet looked a lot like willies to me! If you do a search, you should be able to come up with some and they do show it's hard to tell...

Twinkie · 28/04/2004 15:36

2 friend shave both seen and been told that baby is a girl and out popped boys both times so you may be wrong if even the sonograpers get it wrong sometimes!!!

elliott · 28/04/2004 20:51

with ds2 I had a late scan and though I told the sonographer I didn't wnat to know the sex (and actually spoiled the scan for myself by not looking, I thought it would be pretty obvious at 36 weeks!), she managed to give it away in the way that she spoke to me (her:'what have you got already?' me:'a boy' her: complete silence). Another friend, like fisil, also twigged she was having a boy by the way the sonographer said 'woops' and quickly moved away from the offending area.
I think sonographers should be made aware how easy it is to give the game away by verbal and non-verbal cues as it really does spoil it when you want a surprise.
I also know several people who have seen very clear 'boy bits', though personally to me it always looks like a grainy blur at 20 weeks.

Original poster

Mog · 28/04/2004 22:17

Have to say Elliot that my scans for previous pregnancies were grainy and there was no way I saw anything to detect the gender. I don't know why this one was so much clearer.
And I agree about the sonographer's giving the game away. When she first viewed the lower limb area she made a little noise as the appropriate bits came into view - which further alerted me.

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prettycandles · 29/04/2004 15:03

You could well be wrong, Mog! We saw a beautifylly clear set of boy's bits several times during a fairly detailed scan at about 35w - and I gave birth to a perfectly formed girl.

Original poster

Mog · 29/04/2004 18:24

Could you tell me what you saw prettycandles - I'm starting to doubt myself now!

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Hayls · 29/04/2004 18:35

Mog, my 20 week scan suggested it was a girl (by sonographer) but I then had a scan at 34 weeks and dh was absolutely convinced he saw boy bits. I got in a bit of a panic because almost everything we'd bought was pink but bang on 40 weeks out popped a girl (well I wish she'd just popped out

prettycandles · 29/04/2004 20:57

Imagine the baby is sitting, like an adult, in an invisible chair, and you are lying underneath looking up at 'its' bits. That was the angle we were seeing the baby from. I can't remember why, but the sonographer was scanning up and down, taking a cross-section view through the body IYSWIM from about knees to waist, so we got several close views of the bits. What we saw IIRC were two blobs with a longer third blob inbetween and forward. Exactly what you might expect to see if it was a boy (and we didn't expect anything). We also thought we saw the umbilical cord separately.

Without any discussion, we were both convinced we had seen a penis and testicles, but I imagine what we must have seen were the labia, plus a loop of umbilical cord!

Original poster

Mog · 29/04/2004 21:01

What I saw was a circle with a thin, short pointy thing on top. Only time will tell

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SoupDragon · 29/04/2004 21:05

So you'll still have that "is it, isn't it" moment when your baby is born

I found out DS2 was a boy at 37 weeks with a clear shot up between his legs. Also, the sonographer started referring to "the baby" as him which was another prety good clue!

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