If you had a 20-week ultrasound and did NOT want to know gender...

[pollyanna123]

Were you still able to watch the ultrasound at all? This will be the first pregnancy that we intend to wait for a "birth surprise" but I really want to be able to watch the u/s next week. It would be a bummer to have to just sit there the whole time and not see the screen. That said, I don't want to risk finding out by accident and I do think I would recognize those parts if I looked at the wrong time.

What was the experience like for you?

[woodchick]

We did not find out gender before either of our girls were born. I ended up having a few ultrasounds due to some cyst issues and I always told the tech "we do not want to know the sex". Every tech I saw said, "No problem! I don't have to look there unless you want me to." I watched the whole time and the techs were true to their word. We saw hands, faces, feet, whatever, but nothing between the legs

[MaerynPearl]

Make sure the tech knows...

if you know you will recognize without them telling, look away when they place the wand on and ask them to let you know if its safe.

then, have them warn you if they get near the genitals.

However, I have had several ultrasounds and for the most part I can recognize faces/hands/feet but the shapes can be confusing until they tell you this is the genitals and THEN you can guess what it is.

I would have sworn by what I was seeing on the ultrasound before she checked gender that my daughter was a son because I swear I saw a penis more than once but well... no.

[macandcheese]

Tell the tech and ask them to warn you when they'll be looking at mid-baby. My DH and I didn't want to know and the tech was great about not saying anything, but we are pretty sure that we both saw a flash of boy bits. We are still going to be surprised since neither of us are experts at reading an ultrasound—hopefully we misinterpreted a hand, umbilical cord, etc.—but it would have been ideal to not be wondering about it at all.

[MegBoz]

We wanted to know, the tech told us, showed us, and printed out pictures that included arrows pointing to his boy bits. I STILL didn't see how it looked like a penis! Seriously, it just didn't look like that too me or DH. So, IMX, it's just not very obvious. So if you tell the tech you don't want to know & they warn you if they're near genitals, you should be fine watching the US without seeing the sex.

[finnegansmom]

I told my midwife first we didn't want to find out. Then I told everyone at the US place before any shirt was lifted and gel was applied. This is my 3rd and I have had a few and couldn't see a penis to save my life. When the Dr came in today after my US (I have my 18 week level II today) I actually asked him if they check for gender routinely and he said NO unless there is a genetic issue that is sex related (like something that is passed down to boys only....) He said they don't even look there, that they might see something but don't write it down or take note of it.

Also, as I left I saw my folder and it said in big letters..."Client does not want to know gender". I guess they knew before I got there and they write it on the folders as precaution.

And yes I watch the US intently and totally try to see if I can see anything and I never do.

I have great pics of my other sons and still don't see any penis so I don't think it's always obvious (or I'm just dumb).
LOL

[WifeofAnt]

We did want to find out and our LO really wanted us to know, lol. We could tell from every angle that he was a boy, I didn't need the tech to tell me. 5 seconds into the ultrasound and BAM I was staring at a penis.

[Aliy]

lol i could barely tell anything on the ultra sound

[Stitches]

I told the tech we didn't want to know and she said she'd steer clear of that area, which she did so were able to watch no problem.

[Smokering]

I was paranoid about this too, and told the tech; she was nice and said there was no real need to look there anyway. We actually got the anatomy scan on DVD and I got nervous again when my mum watched it with us - she's an ex-midwife, so I was hoping she wasn't picking up on anything we couldn't see! But she didn't (or if she did, she kept very quiet about it!). I found I could "read" the ultrasound better on repeat viewing - at the time the tech was saying "Here's the head" and I couldn't see anything, but later at home I was like "Ohhh, that's the head". It was neat. But she didn't focus on the genitals at all, so... no big deal.

[mija y mijo]

We were surprised with both my pregnancies. During the ultrasound the tech knew we didn't want to find out the gender and she had us look away while she focused on that area. And none of the photos they printed off for us were of the genitals.

However, DD wasn't cooperating for the tech and the ultrasound took a ridiculously long time. While the tech was trying to get all the needed photos she muttered, "I can't get HER to move." In the beginning of the ultrasound she told us she would refer to the baby as "He." I remember DH and I both looked at each other like, "Did she just say what I think she said?!" Even after that we still didn't know whether it was a slip up or what. We didn't put too much thought into it and we were both still surprised on the day she was born.

[trimestersdoula]

We aren't allowed to watch the ultrasound here so it was a non-issue for our first pregnancy when we wanted it to be a surprise. They do the scan with just the mother in the room and the screen is turned away. Then when they are done they ask the husband/partner/mother etc to come in and they give them a 'tour' of the baby. The second baby we asked to find out the gender and I basically had to beg her to print me out a picture of his boy bits. She told me she's not allowed to, but she was nice and printed one out with and arrow and told me (when DH was in the room and didn't know still), that such and such was his foot
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[dakotablue]

We had a GREAT tech, we told her when we walked in and talked before I get sat down to make sure we were on the same page. She just turned the monitor away when she got to the lower region.

I 'knew' it was a boy and refereed to ds as him, she was very noncommittal in using any gender (she would only say 'the baby' never he she or it)

I'm a little concerned about this time around as we are going to a different place.

I could tell pretty much everything from the ultrasounds I've seen. I was with my sister when she found out about my niece. She watched and the tech wrote it down so she could open it with her DH, but yeah I could totally tell. I guess it could also have to do with the resolution of the ultrasound...

[dmpmercury]

I was able to see most of the ultrasound but she turned off our screen when she got to the lower region. She doesn't look for gender herself when parents don't want to know so there was nothing on the report either because she didn't see when she was measuring the legs.

[SumnerRain]

I had a 20 week and I told baby not to open his/her legs and baby listened. LOL No way could I see anything, and I am not sure we could have found out if we wanted to, baby laid facing us the entire time and the tech even had a hard time checking the spine because of baby's position. That being said, I don't think I could have found out with DS3 or DD if we were not looking, like the tech told me, you usually don't see unless you are looking... which I have to say is NOT always the case, my nephew was supposed to be a surprise but he REALLY wanted to show off his boy bits and my sister knew right away despite the tech trying to avoid that area.