Finding out the sex of the baby

[El77]

Hey, I have my NHS anomaly 20 week scan in a few weeks and I want to find out the sex of the baby. I think they do it at this scan?

Would they put it in a envelope for me rather than tell me or would I have to pay for this privately?

Thanks so much for your help!

Some do, some don't. Ask them and if they will great!

If not it's not the worst thing! You could always refuse then pay for a private scan.

The anomaly scan is to ensure baby is healthy, some won't even tell you the sex (both of mine did!).

I hope all goes well op!

I don't mean refuse the scan I mean refuse to find out the sex.

Just ask them. It's possible they won't be able to tell, depending on the position of the baby.

With my first two toward the end of the scan they were like ‘oh is there anything else you’d like to know’ which was my cue to ask about the gender, this time round the technician just asked if we wanted to know. Not sure if they write it down because they probably don’t want to commit 100%

It depends on the nhs trust/board. Theres a list online somewhere of which will or wont tell!

My trust wouldn't write it down.

Our NHS trust will tell you but will not write it down, if you want it to be put in an envelope you’ll probably have to go private.

Ours wrote it down for us and put it in an envelope. We opened it in the car park.

It seems uncommon that they write it down as they might be wrong. Telling you the sex is just an extra some do so they don’t want to make it official by putting it in writing.

It doesn’t hurt to ask them and if they say no then just find out sex at private scan where they do the surprise reveal stuff. Obviously bring the paper, pen, envelope yourself to nhs. I’ve read post asking if they provide them.

It depends on the trust, ours refuse to tell you the sex or even confirm the obvious ones as part of their policy. There are signs in the waiting room stating "don't ask because we won't tell" though so I'd look for those before asking.

I’ve never wanted to know so can’t comment on whether they’d write it down or not, but before starting all my scans from 20 weeks on in both pregnancies the sonographer has asked if I want to know the sex of the baby. Partly it’s so they can tell me when to look away (if it’s a boy it can apparently be very, er, obvious!) but I also got the impression that any one of them would have been perfectly happy to tell me.

It really depends. The scan is a very serious medical procedure and some sonographers won't help with any 'fun' gender reveal type things. Some also don't like to write it down in case they are wrong.

Some trusts won't tell you the sex either.

By all means ask, if they say no then just say you don't want to find out and book a private scan.

FWIW I didn't find out with either of mine through choice. My second though, curled herself into such a tight ball that they couldn't see half of what they needed, including her genitals.

I had my scan at 21 weeks (3 weeks ago) and whilst they would tell me the gender verbally, they said due to covid they wouldn't write it down and hand me paper. My trust are still using paper notes and wouldn't even take those from me due to covid risks they said.

Had ours recently, she asked if we wanted to know then pointed the scanner for a "potty shot", which made his gender v clear. Don't see how she could have done it without us both seeing, given that we're looking at the screen for all the rest of the scan. I suppose you can close your eyes at that moment if you like and ask her to write it down - but it seems more natural to just look with her while she looks.