Did scan give away Gender?

[Champersandchocolate]

Hi everyone.

Our consultant did a scan at the weekend. We said we didn't want to know gender, then the consultant let out a "oh, he keeps moving" and also "look away if you don't want to know the gender."

So, there goes my surprise at birth. Or do Consultants and/or sonographers refer to babies as he/she sometimes in scans?

It's just what they say. It could be the truth or a bluff. Either way, you still don't know. I think using he or she is preferable to "it."

It's quite common for people doing ultrasounds to use either male or female pronouns when referring to the baby - the alternatives would be "it" or "they" which can seem quite detached and dehumanising.

There's still a 50% chance they'll have picked the "right" pronoun, but the likeliest scenario is that it's just been the clinican's choice of language rather than an inadvertent gender reveal.

(I'd rather that than the sonographer I had early on who insisted on saying "it" and "the products of conception" throughout - that felt horrible!).

I had this at my scan too. I asked at my consultant appointment about it, and apparently in midwifery books they usually refer to the baby as he, to avoid calling the baby it. Its falling out of favour now, but some places do still do this.

I've had this exact thing at my scan! So now I'm convinced it's a boy. I will fall over myself in shock if he is a she at the end

At one of my scans the Sonographer kept saying "she". We already knew from two previous scans we were having a boy. We had a boy. I wouldn't worry about it, they have to call the baby something!

Some refer to the baby as he as not to get confused with the mother a she...

During my son's scan, he had a very clear penis.

It doesn't necessarily mean that the sonographer had already seen a penis and was warning you, it's just that sometimes it's bloody obvious.

A sonographer won't tell you the sex of your baby without you asking. It's preferable to refer to baby as 'He/she' than to 'it'. I am a sonographer, I say baby as much as possible but sometimes a he will slip out.

It can be quite obvious when you're looking in different positions, what sex your baby is at times though. More so for a boy, for obvious reasons.

A sonographer can't tell you the gender of your baby.

We aren’t finding out the sex of the baby but I’ve had the community midwife and a consultant refer to baby as ‘he’. I think sometimes they default to ‘he’ but they prefer to use ‘he/she’ rather than using ‘it’. I understand not wanting to use ‘it’. I’ve reached a point where calling baby ‘it’ feels weird and I can see why people find out so they can use ‘he/she’ instead

My sonographer warned me before my 20 week that they referred to all babies as 'he' because it was just easier. Baby arrived and was a girl.

@nordicnorth Thank you for your reply. It was my Fetal medicine consultant and it just threw me - as well as the fact I think I can see a little boys part 😂

I'm having another in 2 weeks time as I'm getting scanned a lot in this pregnancy so I will definitely have to find out now. Haha x