How to find out sex...

[Snowdrift]

Ok, so I'm the first to admit I'm really not aware of the various tests involved in medicalized prenatal care, but my MIL insists that there's a blood test that can be done (on me, not some weird amnio-type thing) to identify the baby's sex. I really, reallly want to know but don't want to get U/S. Is this true? Anyone know what it's called? And is it mixed up with all kinds of other tests? Really don't want to know aobut an 'elevated risk' of trisomy issues or other high false-positive things.

[NurseLaurie]

I had never heard of such a test using maternal blood so I did a google search. This is what I found. I'm pretty skeptical of the accuracy claim. I couldn't find any hits for an "in office" test. Perhaps ask your MD/MW if they have heard of it.
http://www.pregnancystore.com/baby_gender_mentor.htm

[Spring Sun]

I am trained as a doula and have not heard of this test. But imo, if she is just taking your blood there is no risk involved, other than maybe buying too much pink and needing to take it back!

[BabyHoosier]

The test is called Accu-Gen, and it's failry new. I guess the theory goes that a woman's blood reacts differently to male and female fetuses. It has been right for several people, but there are others that are extremely upset with their experiences- ie, they were sent other genetic results that they weren't aware were even being tested. (This has not been confirmed, and we all know how the internet can be.)

I think the test is $25, but to get the results is $200.

Not worth it, IMO!

[ThatLinGirl]

If you have had other recent pregnancies - young (male) children, miscarriages, etc, that can affect the results you get from this test. The idea is that some of the baby's dna is released into mama's bloodstream, and they check for Y chromosomes. Apparently those Ys can hang around for some time after pregnancy/birth, so it works best for first pregnancies/women with daughters/ women with older (aged 2 or 3+?) sons.

Some women are saying none of the above factors applied to them and they were still given incorrect results. I don't know how common that is. Most of the women I've seen who have been given wrong results have had a boy or a miscarriage relatively recently. I think there was a story on NPR about it - you might want to do a search if the test is something you're considering.

[NurseLaurie]

I agreement with the previous poster... I just read that if you have never been pregnant, and have never had a male child then a positive male test using Acu-Gen is 99.9% accurate. According to this review, that is the only time when it is 99.9% accurate. Seems like a hefty bill for a small window of accuracy.

[radicalmama]

NPR STORY on this test!!!

I was listening to NPR maybe a month or so ago and they had the folks on who make this test and are BEING SUED LEFT AND RIGHT.

Their spokes person was absolutely ignorant, and just kept saying that she believes in their product even though the interviewer pressed her to reveal that there has actually NEVER been any real clinical data or study proving its effectiveness. :