Wrong sex?

[KrissyMB]

I had a scan due to some complications, being 13+6. The scan picture was sitting on the table and the consultant in the morning was standing near to my bed/table and saw the scan photo from the previous evening and said 'oh a boy, baby is okay when they scan yes?'...i was speechless as we were keeping the gender surprise....I didn't know what to say, so when the junior doctor came back in i explained i was a bit upset, she tried to say he may be mistaken. Any thoughts on this? Is it likely a consultant could tell that easily standing about a metre away from the photo? Could he still be wrong?

This is bizarre. It's too early to tell for sure.

I think it's too early to tell, maybe he presumed you were further along and just took a quick glance and just assumed?

That is really upsetting, hope you're okay op x

Was the scan a side on view like the standard scan picture? If yes, I would be amazed if they were able to tell at 13 weeks.

Not very professional of the consultant, I must say! I'd be fuming too!

13+6 is really, really early though so I would take an early guess with a pinch of salt. There are lots of theories for guessing at that stage but, the reality is, the genitals only start developing after 14 weeks and most sonographers won't perform a 'gender scan' until over 16 weeks as the room for error is high the earlier you are.

Even then, with all their training and expertise, they can still be wrong. My friend was told girl at 2 separate scans by 2 different sonographers then gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy and there have been countless threads on MN where people have been told the wrong sex.

He has a 50% chance of being right.

I'll see if I can post the photo! I was really going through a pretty rough time of it, and for me it was that little bit of control I wanted as everything else seemed so out of my control, and felt it was taken away from me when he said :( x

This was the scan

There’s not even a nub in that picture which is what people use to guess the sex at your gestation. I really don’t think he has anyway of telling if it’s a little boy or girl from that picture so try not to worry

It's a side view still image where the leg is in the way of anything else for a start.....do you think he was trying to be funny?

There's a thing called nub theory, but I can't see any nub on there. Then there's skull theory.... they're just fun theories though, not a serious way of predicting the sex.

Thank you. I'm trying to convince myself that he was just guessing or language barrier perhaps. He was an older doctor which made me think he was very experienced so he must have known. I just want to keep telling myself that I still have that element of surprise ❤

I'm a sonographer. I don't have a clue what your baby's sex is from that one pic. (I generally don't even attempt to work it out at 12 weeks either, even if the parents are keen to know). Bit difficult to put his words out of your mind now, but I can definitely say it's still a surprise!

@KrissyMB even sonographers get it wrong and they're looking at scans of babys genitals day in day out! I just went for a scan at 31 weeks and the sonographer took time to explain everything she could see and what it meant and she still wouldn't commit 100% to the sex.

He may be an experienced doctor (or not, who knows?) but i bet he's not performing many scans. He glanced at that picture from a distance, it can't be anything other than a weird, inappropriate guess!

Babys bits are developed iv had a miscarriage at 13 weeks passed a clearly obvious boy testicles and penis were clear. Looking at that picture I would assume a boy as at first glance you can see the testes. However that may just be shadow. Good luck

The genitalia isn't formed at that gestation. Foetuses only have a nub which will become male or female genitals over the next month.

At my 12 week scan, the experienced sonographer told us that she would be really surprised if the baby wasn't a boy. Guess what...? Wish I could have gone back and told her.

Thanks @overwork that has made me feel a bit better 🥰

@Tiffany67 not really helpful when the IP doesn't want to know!

Even a sonographer has posted above saying they can't tell from that pic!

@AllRainbowsAndUnicorns oh wow! I always wish I had said something to the consultant at the time but this is giving me hope that it might still be a surprise! I will be happy either way, just so long as healthy but I just wanted the element of surprise x

Are you sure he didn’t say “oh boy” not “oh a boy”?

@yummyveggie unfortunately not...he said "oh a boy" and I even replied and said 'oh I didn't know that, and yes baby is fine" which he then glossed over. Like I say perhaps it was a language barrier but I was so wiped from a pretty hellish night I didn't want to confront it, and also If I did I was scared he would go onto confirm why he said that, if you know what I mean. X

@KrissyMB
Some people call babies boys before they know the sex (or girls). I guess I’m just trying to say he won’t have known so maybe it was a language barrier or a thoughtless joke

Impossible to say looking at that scan pic. If baby does turn out to be a boy it was just luck - after all the consultant does have a 50% chance of being correct.

Impossible to say looking at that scan picture but genitals are developed at this gestation, not sure why people think they’re not. They are just not always able to be seen on scan.

You absolutely cannot see testicles on that image. I was once threatened by a woman's partner and her mother, both bending over over me pointing at the screen, slamming their hands on the bed, trying to pull the probe from my hands, completely insistent that we do know the sex of baby's at 12 weeks and I wouldn't tell them simply because I was a bitch. I still couldn't make a guess and I could actually see between the legs on that scan.

The earliest I’ve seen clearly formed genitals (not on ultrasound) where it obvious what sex baby is was at 9 weeks gestation.

He might have said it without thinking- rather than using the term baby or ‘it’ or ‘he or she’
I had regular scans with my twins - I was told that I was expecting 2 boys initially, then as the weeks went on- it was clarified i was carrying 2 girls. It can be difficult to tell early on. I would try and put it out of your mind.

Are you a medical professional @LesbianMummies?

I am not so stand corrected if wrong but everything I've read and been told says that boy and girl genitals look pretty much the same until 14 weeks+?

Here's just one of many, many web links

www.babycenter.com/0_fetal-development-your-babys-genitals-and-urinary-system_40005752.bc