Is it possible to get an idea of the sex of a baby from a 13 week scan?

mummyroysof3

with my 3rd my scan was at 19 weeks and was told having a girl..i wasnt so if i have any more children, which im not, i would have a private later scan rather than that happen again.

fannyadams

pinkclouds wrote: »

Lugging a baby around for 9 months kinda takes the edge off the "surprise" factor... unless it turns out to be a toaster or an aardvark.

*SNORTS coffee over keyboard & screen*
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I wanted to know what sex my second child was as we have genetic issues (ginger hair) :rotfl:
So I asked the sonographer at 20 weeks and she told us. I then asked them what sex is the baby every single time I was scanned from then on (think i ended up beign scanned almost every week from 30 weeks)

fluffnutter

Gillyx wrote: »

Also I think the sex is decided by around 10 weeks, IIRC.

To be strictly accurate, the sex is decided at conception because the sperm is either X or Y. It's just that the necessary fetal development hasn't occurred before then. Embryos can be selected for gender once they reach 6 - 8 cells (although it's not legal in this country).

fluffnutter

It really divides people, doesn't it? This whole idea of whether you should, or shouldn't, find out the sex. What strikes me is that it becomes a real battleground. Quite frankly, it's an individual choice surely? Who else can it possibly affect other than the parents-to-be? I recall a thread about it in the last year - there was a right old bunfight about it with people saying 'You SHOULDN'T DO THIS' and one particular poster saying that people who didn't find out were weird and obviously weren't interested in knowing the gender even once the baby was born!

I've no idea why something so utterly personal is such a topic of debate.

RuthnJasper

fluffnutter wrote: »

To be strictly accurate, the sex is decided at conception because the sperm is either X or Y. It's just that the necessary fetal development hasn't occurred before then. Embryos can be selected for gender once they reach 6 - 8 cells (although it's not legal in this country).

This, of course, was the sad irony of the wives of King Henry VIII - in particular Catherine of Aragon (wife 1) and Anne Boleyn (wife 2) - untold suffering was dealt out in Henry's quest for a son and heir; yet it is the male's sperm which determines a baby's gender and not some sort of feminine physical or mental "deficiency".

marisco_2

We chose to find out the sex of our children at the scan. Each time we had gone along for a 4d scan that was incredible and moving and finding out the sex was the icing on the cake to a fabulous day.

As lots of mums do, I liked to talk to my baby bump. It was nice to refer to the baby by name and added to my bonding experience.

My step sister has just had her first baby and decided to keep the sex a surprise for the birth. I completed respected her choice to do this. It was fun wondering what she may have.

Each to their own, what suits some doesn't others, as with all things in life.

janninew

fluffnutter wrote: »

It really divides people, doesn't it? This whole idea of whether you should, or shouldn't, find out the sex. What strikes me is that it becomes a real battleground. Quite frankly, it's an individual choice surely? Who else can it possibly affect other than the parents-to-be? I recall a thread about it in the last year - there was a right old bunfight about it with people saying 'You SHOULDN'T DO THIS' and one particular poster saying that people who didn't find out were weird and obviously weren't interested in knowing the gender even once the baby was born!

I've no idea why something so utterly personal is such a topic of debate.

Gosh I remember that thread! Made for odd reading!

I was one who didn't find out, I wanted to be able to call people and say its a boy/girl, instead of just calling and say I've had him/her!

When I went in for my section the Doc said is it a girl or boy? He was quite surprised that I didn't know, so I'm assuming its very much the 'norm' for people to know now a days.

What put me off was knowing 2 ladies who were told they were having girls and they ended up with boys, I imaging they were keeping it hidden between their legs! They both had pink bedrooms and pink clothes, one even bought a pink pram!!

You can get lots of gender neutral clothes in Asda, they have lovely yellow and cream outfits.

dizziblonde

I'm still swamped under a tidal wave of lemon yellow hand-knitted cardies... my mum dramatically over-bought yellow and mint yarn to knit with when she first heard about the baby (like I said - we'd only ever got a "probable" gender because of Madam's antics at the scan so I wouldn't let her waste her time knitting pink)... she's still stuck on lemon yellow and mint green NOW!

pinkclouds

janninew wrote: »

What put me off was knowing 2 ladies who were told they were having girls and they ended up with boys

Possibly then only had one scan? If you just do the bare minimum of scans... well, that's really just the anomaly scan. No one can force you to have antenatal care. In fact, you can decline all scans.

I had loads of scans - about once a month and then once a fortnight towards full term. I think my OB would have noticed if he'd got the sex wrong as he spent so much time looking at my babies.

janninew

pinkclouds wrote: »

Possibly then only had one scan? If you just do the bare minimum of scans... well, that's really just the anomaly scan. No one can force you to have antenatal care. In fact, you can decline all scans.

I had loads of scans - about once a month and then once a fortnight towards full term. I think my OB would have noticed if he'd got the sex wrong as he spent so much time looking at my babies.

I think it was just the normal 2 scans that the NHS offer, 12 weeks and 20 weeks. They were both told at the 20 week scans that they were having girls, I remember one of the girls saying the sonographer was 'pretty sure' it was a girl. Not sure what the other girl was told!
I was having weekly scans from 20 weeks until I gave birth at 27 weeks and I couldn't make out the sex on the screen, I had to tell the different sonographers each week not to tell me the sex!