I’ve had four babies. In each of these four pregnancies, we were asked if we wanted to know the gender of the baby during the ultrasound. In each case, we said that we did. Fortunately for us, the technician was correct each time. We got the gender we were expecting.
During each of my pregnancies, people would ask if I knew what I was having. When I said that I did, invariably they would say something like, “What if they are wrong?” I heard story after story about friends and friends of friends who got the opposite gender from the one they were expecting. The stories started to make me nervous.
I got so nervous about these responses during my first pregnancy that I didn’t take the tags off most of her clothes until after she was born. I washed some onesies, sleepers and her going home from the hospital outfit. The rest were waiting, with tags, in her closet. If she had turned out to be a boy, I figured I could exchange the outfits.
We never had to cross that bridge, since the ultrasound was right with each of our children. In fact, the ultrasound has been correct for every child that I personally know under the age of ten. I began to wonder how often the ultrasound is wrong.
Out of curiosity, I asked the ultrasound technician how often gender prediction turns out to be wrong. She assured me that it is quite rare. Ultrasounds are right about baby’s gender in about 95% of pregnancies.
When I was pregnant with my first daughter, the technician showed me three white lines three in a row. These bones make up the labia in female babies and it is a sure sign that the baby is a girl. I saw this with my two other daughters as well. By the time I was pregnant with my third daughter, I pointed the lines out to the technician. When I was pregnant with my son, the picture was very different.
The only time that gender prediction tends to be less accurate is when the male or female parts can’t be seen clearly. In some cases, the technician may take a guess. It may be an educated guess and it may be correct. However, there is a greater risk of a mistake in this case. Ask the technician if she can clearly see the genital area. If she isn’t completely certain, she should tell you. In this case, you’ll have to wait until the birth to be sure. Just in case, keep the tags on the clothes.
Was the ultrasound right about your baby’s gender?
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