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D.C. Area Babies
Question re: gender @ 20 week scan, and elective ultrasound
Today we had our 20-week scan. During the scan, the sonographer did not seem as competent as either of the sonographers we had had previously (dating sonogram and NT scan). The scan itself was very quick -- my friends with babies had told me to expect it to last 45 minutes to an hour while they found and measured everything, whereas ours maybe lasted 20 minutes? And even the doctor seemed surprised when he went over the photos the sonographer printed out for him -- he couldn't tell what half the photos were of, and he commented that the pictures were not as good as he typically sees.
Anyway, the sonographer said she thinks the baby is a girl, but seemed to base this opinion solely on the absence of a penis. I have heard that this is not reliable (e.g. the baby could be at a funny angle so that the penis is concealed) and that you need to affirmatively see the 3 lines indicating that it is a girl. I asked her a couple times about these, but she never pointed them out. Combined with my personal impression of her skill and the doctor's comments about the photos, I don't really know if I can trust her opinion (or, perhaps more accurately, the data on which it relies) and I am seriously considering getting an elective ultrasound to see if we can confirm gender (something I had not at all considered doing previously). We asked the doctor what he thought based on the pictures, and he refused to offer an opinion on gender (I'm not sure if it is becasue of the quality of the photo or if it is something he refrains from commenting on as a matter of policy).
What do you think -- is the absence of boy parts a pretty good basis for her to make an opinion, or is the fact she couldn't affirmatively point to the 3 lines of girl parts suspect? Right now I just don't feel a high degree of confidence in her assessment, so I'd be interested to hear about your experiences to see if this is common. And do any of you have a recommendation for where to go to get an elective ultrasound? I'm in the District, so ideally it would be located here or in Alexandria/Crystal City/Pentagon City, but the places I have found thus far via Google are in Fairfax or further.
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Re: Question re: gender @ 20 week scan, and elective ultrasound
I'm new to the area so i don't have advice for where to get an ultrasound. I can tell you, however, that the absence of testicles does not a girl make. Most technicians will tell you how confident they are, especially when it comes to the difference between a boy and a girl, but if the person didn't answer your questions and you felt that quality of the scan was poor, i would consider getting another ultrasound. What would concern me more would be whether an appropriate anatomy scan was performed - 20 mn is awfully short, even for a VERY competent technician. I find it difficult to believe that they could have evaluated all that they needed to in that span of time (from different areas of the brain, to the different chambers of the heart, kidneys, liver and stomach, length of bones, etc...). I would talk to your doctor seriously about whether the whole scan should be repeated or whether he honestly felt it was sufficient for a 20 week anatomy scan.
Hope that helps!
Sorry about your situation, that stinks!
Did you have earlier ultrasounds? My 20 week u/s sounds kind of similar, but they had verified most of the measurements around 16 or 18 weeks so they were just double-checking really. The pictures were really blurry and not nearly as good as the ones we got earlier - maybe because the baby is more squished in there now?
I'm really not sure what I'd do in your situation, but starting at around 16 weeks it was REALLY easy to tell DS was a boy. Do you have any photos showing the baby's legs from the bottom (like as if he/she was sitting on the camera)? I think they take that angle to measure the length of the thigh bones. It was really obvious there because something was in between his legs. if not, we also had a really clear shot of his boy parts when the photo was taken from the side like a profile of his legs, it sort of stuck out above them.
I think you're probably safe to assume she's a girl, but I understand why you'd want to be more sure! good luck and congrats!
I would not be surprised if it was a boy! I'd ask your OB for another referral to a 20-week U/S and she can perhaps write the orders in such a way as to have your insurance cover it. So sorry it was not a good experience.
I agree it could be a boy but I'm more surprised that the doctor didn't also perform a basic sonogram hitting the high points, gender being one of them. All of my sonograms were 30-45 min and then the doctor came in and did a quick look at everything as well. Much shorter then the tech but still actually did some views.
Sorry you had to deal with incompetence. Or maybe she was just in a rush to get off work. Either way...
With my 1st daughter, my OB wrote me a note to get a follow up 20wk u/s since she claimed "baby was uncooperative and not all head measurements were there" or something that seemed pertinent. And we were able to get a second thorough one and find out the sex! worth discussing. Or maybe even you OB does u/s in office. Most have a machine to monitor high risk pregnancies.
Good Luck
Three Girls: Bits 2/08 Biscuit 10/09 & Sweet Chuck 2/12
One Favorite son: Suishy Smalls 6/14
And another Princess coming 7/16
Our ob actually does do ultrasounds in-house, and all three of ours have been done there. The doctor did not seem particularly concerned about the completeness of the scan -- although he commented on their lack of quality of hte photos, he didn't seem worried about the photos he couldn't identify, and he told us that "everything he could see looked fine." DH says that he takes that to mean that the doctor thought he could see enough to make the call that baby is healthy; I think that's probably true, although obviously I would prefer that determination off the best possible data. All that is to say, I'm not sure about the liklihood of them ordering another scan (given that determining gender isn't really the "important" part of the ultrasound).
DH agrees that we should get another ultrasound though to confirm and seems intrigued by the 3D scan. We're debating whether we should do it ASAP or give it a couple of weeks, the theory being that the baby will be better developed and things will be easier to see. Either way, I'm not thrilled with the hassle (since it looks like will indeed have to make a hike into VA/MD) or the cost (even though we can afford it), but at least there was no bad news at the scan today.