Hello Berries,
Yesterday, I found out I was expecting. This is my first baby, so I have many many questions! [name_f]One[/name_f] of my major questions – when can I find out the gender of the baby? Some people say that if the baby is positioned right, then you can find out as early as 13 weeks. Others say you can’t find out until 20 weeks.
From your personal experiences, when did you find out the gender of your child? Thank you! : )
My sister raves about her OB because he does an ultrasound each month or something (he’s also my gyn so he’ll be my OB when I have kids, but I’m not there yet so idk how it all goes), which I guess is less commonly done. He could tell the sex at 14 weeks.
My other friends/family go to different OBs and most of theirs never give more than three ultrasounds for the entire pregnancy, and they can only find out the sex at 20 weeks, never earlier. It’s weird cause my sister is 14 weeks along right now and knows its a girl and she has friends that are further along whose doctors are telling them it’s still too early to see.
You typically find out at your 20 wk ultrasound, which is done between 18-22 weeks.
However, one of the early chromosomal screenings, I believe the materniTI21, but I’m not sure, can tell you at 12 weeks. It’s fairly reliable and can tell if baby is definitely a boy or most likely a girl.
I found out around 18 weeks, when I went in for my 20 week ultrasound.
An Amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS) can also tell the gender but these are generally reserved for situations where there could be a genetic disorder or chromosomal abnormality.
Before 18 weeks, the organs of a boy and girl tend to appear similar so it can be very, very difficult to accurately guess the gender.
If you get an ultrasound between 12 and 12 weeks, people can guess the gender based on the nub theory, but I wouldn’t take that as truth, more as a fun way to guess until you can actually see the gender shot at an ultrasound.
Like pp said, MaterniT21 can detect presence of Y chromosome way early (10 or 12 weeks?).
Ultrasound, I also know plenty of people who found out at 13-14 weeks, most were correct, but a few got a guess that turned out to be wrong at a later scan. My tech at 13 weeks told me it would be a total guess at that point and I found out at the 20 week scan.
I found out at 19 weeks.
Like others said, before that it is possible for a tech to take a guess, but there’s a pretty big margin of error until further along.
We found out at 11 weeks with a MaterniT21 genetic screening that was offered by my midwife. It takes a sample of mom’s blood and analyzes the fetal genetic profile for things like Down’s and can also check for a Y chromosome.
[name_m]Hi[/name_m] there,
I was absolutely desperate to find out our baby’s sex as early as possible so i totally understand how you feel! I’ve always dreamed of having a baby girl so it was killing me to not know. When I went in for the 12 week ultrasound, I flat out asked, “Can you please try to guess?” The ultrasound tech flat out said no. She said it was just way too early to guess and she wouldn’t even humor us. I was super disappointed! So it partly depends on your ultrasound tech whether or not they’re willing to play along too. I know some people have been told that early but not us.
We paid out of pocket (yep, I’m that impatient) and went to a stand-alone 3D/4D ultrasound place in town at week 16. She told us within a minute that it was absolutely a baby girl. It was a really fun and wonderful experience and I’m happy with how it went down. We spent that whole afternoon smiling and calling people and just enjoying the moment.
I did a little investigating about that test a couple of the pp’s have mentioned (the chromosome test) and I got myself really excited thinking about having it done. Then I found out that many, many insurances do not cover it unless there’s absolute medical necessity for it (and even then, some still don’t). And it costs thousands of dollars. So I just don’t want you to get your hopes up about that like I did, just to be disappointed.
Hopefully you’ll have a fun, nice U.S. tech who will at least guess and talk it over with you. Until then, try to just enjoy the time and know that soon the suspense will be over and you’ll know and be able to rest easy about it. Good luck!
Thanks everyone!
I’m definitely going to look into that MaterniT21 thing.
EDIT: Googled “MaterniT21” and it said I could get accurate gender results at 11-12 weeks. Woo Hoo ! Definitely going to ask my OB/GYN about that. : )
Where I live (Vancouver [name_f]Canada[/name_f]) the government facilities are legally barred from telling us the gender until you are in your 3rd trimester. It is a recent change in legislation due to high numbers of female abortions in our soaring ethnic populus.
Here we can go to a private clinic and pay to find out earlier, and even there the earliest they will tell you is 18 weeks.
My understanding is that usually they can detect gender around 16 weeks if the fetus is in the right position.
[name_m]Just[/name_m] do yourself a favor and check with your insurance BEFORE you have that MaterniT21 test done, or you could end up with a surprise bill in the thousands. Unless you have that kind of cash laying around, then I guess go for it! 
The MaterniT21 test was NOT covered by insurance for us. They attempted to submit it, it was rejected, and they discounted it for us and we got a bill for about $275.
On materniT: Some insurances will cover it if you’re over 35 or high risk or any of your other scans come back off (so you hope you don’t need it for that reason!)
My insurance covered most of it, but there was also a $235 cap in place at that point… so def do your $$ homework, but I’m a huge fan of the test.
With both our girls we found out at my 20 week U/S. This baby however did not cooperate so we weren’t able to find out the gender. Instead we will be having a surprise in [name_u]November[/name_u], which I am both excited and annoyed about. I really hate surprises, haha.
I had a cvs test with my second and knew her gender before 12 weeks. I’m in the UK and you would only be offered this test if there is a reason for it plus there is a miscarriage risk. Generally most people have to wait till 20 weeks although some hospitals refuse to tell you. With my son I only had a 12 week scan so his gender was a surprise.
I second what CVDutch said. My doctor laughed in my face when I asked about the blood test to find out baby’s gender. Insurance won’t cover it if you live in the U.S., unless there is a sex-linked disorder you could be passing on to your baby. Also, my doctor said 20 weeks was the earliest they would do an ultrasound b/c that is when the major organs can show signs of developmental problems, which is what my doctor is really concerned about, not baby’s sex. However, we are paying out of pocket and having one done at 16 weeks to find out the gender. I’ve also heard you can tell as early as 14 weeks, but baby has to be sitting just right. We don’t want to chance it, especially because we are paying out of pocket. Good luck!
Thanks everyone. : )
Since I am over 35, hopefully I’ll at least be able to get a discount of the MaterniT21 test. I’m going to call the insurance and see what the deal is. Thanks again! : )
Update: My OB/GYN gave me the okay to have the test done when I reach 11 or 12 weeks! The cost doesn’t really bother me. DH and I decided it was worth it to take a bit out of our savings acct. So happy it all worked out! But I still have to wait a while…I don’t know about you, but I sure hate waiting ; )
Yay i’m so happy for you that it all worked out and you get to find out so early!!! In saying that though, i’m about to hit 30 weeks and can’t figure out where the time has gone, so if you did have to wait a bit longer you’ll find you’ll be amazed with how fast time passes…