How soon do you notice the sex of the baby?

[Quickening]

I've noticed in the homebirth stories that I've read that most don't even think to check the sex of their baby until minutes later whereas in other births the sex is usually announced within 30 seconds!

My mum was surprised that nobody thought to see what sex DD was for like 5-7 minutes! It was the last thing on my mind too, I was so wow'd by the sensation of birthing her and finally getting to hold my baby in my arms!

Anyone else notice this too?

[indigolilybear]

W/both our births, I was told what the sex is. (W/the second, I told dh not to tell me, but knew he'd be too excited/overwhelmed not to, LOL) NEXT TIME!!! I want to find out myself in my own sweet time. I don't think I would've looked for a while either. I didn't ask w/dd even.....I was told a few minutes after the birth by dh. W/DS, same thing....maybe sooner.

TBH, I don't think I"d think of it if no one mentioned it, for probably around 15 minutes. Just an educated guess. I does take a while just to get over the shock that it's over and looking at this beautiful new person!

[momto l&a]

With our first dd I picked her up from the bed and layed her on my tummy as she was still attached and announced her gender. I was so awed by this little person and after having carried this little person for 40 weeks I coudnt wait to see if it was boy or girl.

With second dd I saw as soon as I picked her up after she shot outa me in the tub. I then chose her name, we had two girl names and one boy. I was so sure she was a boy and she kept me waiting for two extra weeks! SUSPENCE!

Often wonder if the mw kept quite about the genders till mom or dad could check and announce the sex.

[moonglowmama]

I've often thought that one really neat thing about homebirth is no dooctor or nurse saying "it's a boy/girl" as if they can somehow take credit for it.

With ds, it was several minutes before I checked, after his first nursing in fact. My memory of nursing him that first time is of him being a girl, that's just what I thought, without knowing. I think dh said "look and see!" and so I checked his sex and announced to MIL and midwife his name.

When people ask "Do you know what you're having" and I say, no, we like to wait to find out, they always think that finding out the sex is the biggest thing that happens after birth. But, to me it is rather irrelevant at first. I just feel full of love for that sweet baby and bond regardless of sex, without its preconceptions.

[Dodo]

It took us a while to check. I did want to know, but felt as though I should have known intuitively, without checking. Weird.

[lilyka]

I had to know right away! I had waited 40 weeks to find out and I wasn't going to wait a minute more. I guess it took a littlem inute with all of them because my children don't like to breath and the first and third cameout blue and floppy, so, that was taken care of and then we looked to see who we had and then worked on the breathing some more . . Also I didn't care who looked or who told me. with Madeline the midwife told us to check (of course she knew already) and with the rest i think I remember screaming it because I was so happy to have more girls.

[DancerMom]

My midwife won't tell the parents, and intructs any others attending the birth not to shout it out. She thinks the parents should discover it themselves in their own way.

That said, when I gave birth it was the first thing I thought of because I was SO convinced it was a girl (and had been for three months) but was afraid I'd be wrong and could never trust my intuition again! (Nothing like birth hormones to make something so little seem so big) Anyway, the umbilical cord was so short and between the legs and we couldn't move it for a bit, and I remember being so relieved and happy when I saw she was a girl!

[laurashanley]

I remember reading a hospital birth story once where the woman wrote that after the birth she "looked at the baby and thought it was a boy but didn't really believe it until the doctor said 'It's a boy!'" I guess some people go overboard in their trust of the medical profession (and their lack of trust in themselves)!

Here's a nice quote from a story on my site.

From "Peaceful Surrender" - http://freebirth.com/stacy.htm

I woke up at about 1:15 a.m. and had a rush of tingling all over my body, then the shakes, followed by about 10 contractions and she slid out into my hands before I had a chance to even call anyone. It was fantastic!

I had never turned on a single light in the house. She was born into perfect darkness and we didn't turn on a light until at least one hour after her birth. I did not look for her sex for that long either. I just rested with her in my arms saying, "thank you, thank you, thank you," and "I love you baby." She nursed beautifully in the darkness.
--------
Laura

[Czen:)]

With my 2nd baby my oldest DD was right beside me during the birth and she was the one to tell me the sex, another wonderful DD. I am planning for the same thing with this baby. It was a very special tie for her and I. I loved it and it gave her a special role in her sisters arrival.

[Czen:)]

And I forgot to add, she checked and told DH & I right away!

[khrisday]

Like Dancermom, my midwife wanted us to discover it by ourselves. I also was really convinced she was a girl and checked right away. I was right.

[JesseMomme]

With ds1, I didn't know what the sex was before hand and when he was born it was one of the first things I noticed through my fog -hosp birth.
With ds2, we knew it was going to be a boy via u/s. I like it being a suprise better. I don't think the dr announced whether or not it was a boy/girl, since I already "knew" I didn't think to look for a minute or so - another hosp birth of course.
With my third, I just felt so fantastic with everything that the sex was the last thing on my mind. 2? minutes after wards I unwound the cord from him and admired him for another 5? minutes. I remember it "dawning on me" to look when dh was getting me some blankets and I felt and looked, thought it was the cord for a split second and then looked a leetle closer and said "We have another boy!"

[cottonwood]

At my last birth, we did not look for several minutes. She came out face down (relative to me), and I held her stomach down on my lap (to assist draining.) I rested, rubbed her back, and came back to earth before I thought to turn her over and check.

[Sustainer]

I waited AT LEAST 15 minutes before I checked. I could tell that my mother, who was present, was going CRAZY but to her credit she didn't say anything.

[bloodrayne]

We didn't find out right away.

I don't know exactly how long it was, but he had been up on my belly covered with a blanket for at least a few minutes when someone said, "wait! do we know whether it's a boy or girl?" and we all kinda went 'oh crap!' and laughed, then pulled up the blanket to see that he was a boy. It was pretty funny.

[Evergreen]

I remember bonding with Dylan not even caring what sex she was, just looking into those big blue eyes. I guess my mother must have seen, because she accidently said, "Dont you want to know what she, oops, I mean it is?" She didnt mean to slip and say she, and mom felt badly about it. I laugh when I think about it, because I secretly wanted a girl the whole pregnancy, and so did dh, but neither of us said anything because we knew we shouldnt have a preference. However, once the baby arrived that was the last thing on either of our minds.

[kama'aina mama]

My cord was so short that themidwife had to hand me the baby tail end first. I was upright, on a birthing stool, and she helped me lay the babe across my thigh. My right thigh. Then she looked up at me and asked "What did we get?" Well, the "we" bugged me a tiny bit, but I looked down, from sort of above and behind and said "It's a boy." Dh and and I wept and kissed, then she wrapped the baby up. They helped me to bed and I snuggled in and started nursing right away. About an hour later my midwife suggested it might be a good idea to get a diaper on... and hey! What do you know! It's a girl! I girl with a fair bit of swelling, but definetly a girl! We were so glad we hadn't made any phone calls yet!

[annakiss]

It took us just a minute to check (not sure on exact timing), but it wasn't right away the way that the hospital births are on tv. My mom likes to let the parents discover it for themselves. She also let me discover his cleft lip for myself, even though she (and some of the others at the birth) saw it when his head turned before his body came out. At first I said, "It's a baby!" Then I asked, "what's wrong with his face?" My mom said, "she just has a cleft, it can be fixed." Then I said, "What's the sex?" and she lifted the towel and unraveled him from his umbilical cord which was around his shoulder, and we saw that it was a boy. I said, "I told you."

[MamaMonica]

With both mine (both were home births), my midwife announced it right away as the baby was put on my chest.

[LuvMy2Kidz]

DS was a hospital birth. I don't remember if the dr. announced it or not :LOL DD was a homebirth, and we knew she was a girl from u/s(friend is a technician got to video tape it and everything, but she was only 18 weeks gestation?) so she was laid on my stomach and covered up. After a few minutes I asked, "did you make sure it was a girl?" so we had to look and make sure