Do they ever get the gender wrong at 20 week scan?

[bellabub]

Hi Gals,
Just wondering if anyone out there was told they were having a boy/girl only to find out later in the pg or at birth that the baby was the opposite sex of what they were told?

At my 16 week check up with my Ob, he did a scan and we asked if he could check gender. He pointed out to us a "penis" and declared we were having a boy. As we weren't too fussed about which we were having we started planning to have our little prince at home.

Yesterday I had my ultrasound at 21 weeks. We asked the sonographer to confirm the baby was a boy. He had a look and pointed out on the screen the 3 white lines of the labia and stated it was not a boy, but we were having a girl! I asked the sonographer to check and he again pointed out the girlie bits and said he was 99% certain it was a girl. Well I almost fell off the bed in shock and now neither DH or I know what to think!

Any ideas who is more likely to be right?

[visitor2]

I would say your 20wks scan would be right.
I had a scan at 16wks and the OB doing it said he thought it was a good but too early to tell and he was right but ours was confirmed from having a amnio done.

I think someone on here got told the wrong gender at a scan. Will they be giving you anymore scans ? If yes then ask again then.
I was also shown a few weeks ago the white line that you are talking about.

[bellabub]

Thanks Michelle. Yes I think the later the scan, the more accurate it is. Our ob will do a check up scan at our next app - he has one of the small u/s machines in his rooms - and he said that we should be able to tell for certain then.

But I am worried that I will get used to the idea of it being a girl now and then might be surprised again...

[tiggy]

We were told at our morph scan that we were having a little boy back in 1998. A few weeks later, after a bleed I had another scan and we were told that our boy had changed into a girl! She came out with all girly bits intact and not a spout to be seen! Of course, technology is different today from eight years ago.

[Olive]

a girl in our antenatal group was told she was having a girl, did the room in pink bought all the pink clothes and it was a boy!!!!!!!!!!!!

[*Rae*]

Gee - how confusing!!!! I would prob go with the later scan - especially if he was able to point out the labia with accuracy - but another scan would be a good idea if you are still really unsure. Good luck

[BellyBelly]

Yes I have heard even late scans being wrong - Kelli D who used to post had 3 saying girl - but it was a boy

[Inanna]

I had an experience similar to Tiggy's. My daughter born in 1995 was a boy!!!

I would not regard the early scan as accurate. I have worked with a fetal med obs and he is outraged by the number of women told prior to 20 weeks that they are having a particular sex. It is simply not accurate.

The later the u/s the more likely that you will get an accurate result. At 16 weeks the baby is only about 16cms long so the penis if there is one is minute. Even on fabbo equipment this is extremely difficult to predict accurately.

If your u/s place uses state of the art equipment and there is a good visual of the pubic area a result at 20 weeks is likely to be quite accurate.
As Kelly says this can still be wrong - however these days the accuracy rate is much much higher than ever before.

to you with this confusion...

[Karina]

I would have thought the later scan would be able to show bubs sex more accurately.

but they do get it wrong sometimes. My cousin got told they were having a girl and they ended up having a boy.

[bellabub]

Thanks for your replies everyone. I am leaning towards it being a girl now but I think we will ask for another scan in 4 weeks time to make sure....well as sure as it could be!

[sunnymel]

i know of three people that were told girl at their 20 weeks scan only to do the whole pink thing then get a boy!!!

[min]

My sister was told at both her scans that she was having a girl, and all the way through she said she always felt like it was a boy, and when HE pooped out, he was definately a boy. From what I know, it is not possible at a 12 week scan to tell for sure if a boy or a girl, the genitals are only at a point where if examined outside the womb it could be told what they are, at that stage, on a scan a penis and and a clitoris still look pretty much the same.

I think the problem with a lot of scans is that if a penis cannot be made out, the sonographer sways more towards a girl, but bubs could just be in a bad position, or penis could be sort of tucked in between the legs. We were lukly with Jackson, we could see his bits plain as day at his 20 week scan, looked just like a little turtle sticking out between his legs, so I will be checking for turtles this time!!

[Deltadawn]

The only way of being certain is to wait until the birth - both my husband and his younger brother were supposed to be girls but then again technology back then isnt what it is today. BUT it does still happen.

[Inanna]

Min, You are very right about sex being near impossible to predict as early as 12-16 weeks. Even when babies are physically examined as early as 12-16 weeks it can be difficult to definitively tell what the sex is. When I had my Angel baby at 15 weeks the doctor was very sure it was a boy but still wouldn't be definite until the pathology came back. He was a boy but as I said these little ones are so teeny tiny...
Technology now is so very clever and with a highly experienced and trained ultrasonographer the 20week u/s is a pretty safe bet.
Telling a family the sex of their baby at an earlier u/s I believe would leave the family wide open to much confusion such as that that Bellabub is experiencing. It makes me cross to hear these things happening - I think these people need to know they have peoples emotions and dreams in their hands and they have a responsibility that comes with that.

[Angel]

I was told bub was a girl at 17w but at 19w (and every scan since!) bub has very definitely been a boy. I was chatting to my m/w yesterday and she was saying that she sees it all the time. Just recently she had a couple who were told bub was a girl the entire way through the PG, they even had a special plaque made before the birth with bub's name engraved on it and then out pops a baby boy...

[Beckibee]

*LOL* I've definitely heard of that happening. We found out at 20wks that Maddy was a girl (the sonographer pointed out the genetalia as bubs was showing it for all to see! *L*) and I was so scared that in following scans that we would be told otherwise. We had names picked out so when we found out baby was a girl, we started referring to her by name. Fortunately both 22wks & 32wks scans confirmed the gender; and then out popped a gorgeous little girl just like we had been promised!

(I can definitely see the argument for not finding out though - I think I would have been devastated had she turned out to be a boy. Not because I don't want a boy (we're hoping for our 'Kian' next time round), but because I had mentally prepared myself for a little daughter)

[BirthConnection]

Ultrasound scans are only as good as the machine and the skills of the operator. One may have a wonderful Ob but they are not necessarily trained specifically in performing ultrasounds. Anyone can buy a machine and put it in their office.

Early ultrasounds are notorioulsy inaccurate to determine gender and yes even late ultrasounds get it wrong.

[Jule]

I've heard of it happening. We have been told we are having a girl but we both know we may have a boy. We really are happy either way. We have a boys name and it will just be a matter of getting more blue clothes. We have been keeping the room unisex so we don't have to change it all over for bubba 2 if it's a different gender. Part of me would like to be certain but part of me enjoys still not being 100% certain.