...did the u/s doctor-tech let the gender slip?

[phatchristy]

During my quick u/s the other day, we had said we did not want to find out the gender etc. We did the ultrasound, and she couldn't find the bladder until she got me in a different position at the end and then found it is just fine. After I rolled onto my side at the end for that she was taking about the fact that "he" could have emptied his bladder just before, which was why she didn't catch it in the beginning (though it was a quick ultrasound, but whatever at least she found it).

Before, at the beginning, she had said baby repeatedly, and then I heard her say "he" at the end. Does anyone here think it might mean something as in she "slipped up"?

(either way it doesn't matter to me, I have both genders, just playing some games in my head. I don't think DH caught what she said either--she has a thicker spanish accent as she's from South America-- but she was right next to me) She's done the ultrasounds for each of my four babies and I never remember her using a gender pronoun before.

[sapphire_chan]

Saying "the baby" over and over is annoying, many people freak over using "it" to refer to a person, and "he" is the default for that kind of thing.

Especially for someone who normally speaks a gendered language. She may have been thinking "el ...." and translating to English the whole time.

[amydidit]

Well there's a 50% chance that she let it slip, but my guess is she was just using *he* as a way of refering to the baby. Of course if when your baby is born it is a boy then you'll never know for sure if she slipped up or not.

[mytwogirls]

Nope, my doc (whom I work for) never let it slip and he informed he was going to use the term "baby" but he had a hard time because the majority of people WANT to know the gender. When I worked L&D a father knew the sex, the mom did not and after three hours of pushing she was finally crowning and the father said "Oh I can her little head honey." I thought the woman was going to kill him. Poor thing.

[frog]

I think yes.

/me barging into a non-pets discussion! :

[grniys]

Nah, I don't think she did. "He" is the English language default to "person". At least that's what my Abeka text book back in sophmore year English said.

I find using "He" a lot when I'm not sure about the gender of a person in a situation I'm talking about.

[phatchristy]

Originally Posted by amydidit

Well there's a 50% chance that she let it slip, but my guess is she was just using *he* as a way of refering to the baby. Of course if when your baby is born it is a boy then you'll never know for sure if she slipped up or not.

I guess I'm just going to have to wait until the end of Dec to find out! Which is fine! I wouldn't mind if it is a boy, I'd love to have another intact little guy around here, and then my DS would get to have a brother. But, honestly, I love having the little princesses too, my gut instinct here is that this one is a girl based on my pregnancy symptoms! The kids change their minds nearly every day as to what they think it is, which is pretty funny!

[phatchristy]

Originally Posted by frog

I think yes.

/me barging into a non-pets discussion! :

Hey, I run into you all the time in non-pets discussions I thought!

[frog]

Originally Posted by phatchristy

Hey, I run into you all the time in non-pets discussions I thought!

Yeah, you do. I just think I'm funny.

[hislittlelambs]

my guess would have been yes, an oops slip had english not been her second language....since it is, i am thinking there was no slip. still a susprise mama! (although like another pp said, if you end up having a boy, you'll never really know anyway lol)

ours is a surprise too. we have 2 girls and a boy and i feel the same as you. i'd love another little girl, yet also would love a little brother for my son. isn't it wonderful?! it's such a win-win! : i can't wait for december to find out which you get!

[turtlewomyn]

I would guess that if they default to a pronoun for the baby, it would be "he" so I wouldn't worry about it. I would still expect a surprise, not one way or the other.

[SiobhanAoife]

Honestly, one of the reasons that I wanted to be told the gender was that I was defaulting to calling the baby "he" because we didn't know - so since my husband and I kept saying "he" I started thinking all about our son, and was surprised when the u/s showed us she's a little girl! I think a lot of people use "he" when they don't know the gender, and I wouldn't read gender into it.

[sapphire_chan]

I defaulted to "he" when talking to my mom once, so she's convinced we know and it's a boy. Then Dad misheard "your daughter blah blah blah your grandchild blah blah blah" as "your granddaughter", so he's convinced we know and it's a girl.

[~Ryleigh's Mommy~]

my u/s tech used "he" as a default as well (or at least that's what I'm telling myself!)

I learned in English class in school a long time ago, that whenever you are referring to a person of unknown gender, that you are supposed to use "he"

[phatchristy]

Just wanted to update this thread...

it seems that I'll never really know because my babe was born last week (great planned mw attended birth that wound up uc as I had about an hour of labor from mild start to finish!)...and it's a boy!

So, since I had a boy I guess I can never really know, if it had been a girl I would obviously know she didn't slip up.

[lindsayjean]

My mom once did a U/S for a couple right before birth (she's a L&D nurse) and the mom thought she saw the penis on the screen. Which of course she did see. My mom played it off way cool.... "oh, that's just an arm" hahahaha. And then they gave birth to that boy

I would guess that she just said he because it's annoying to say "the baby" and so much easier to just say he or she. But I guess you'll find out soon enough

[layla983]

I think it's possible, but not 100%. Alot of people call babies he or she anyway. My tech last time called DS "the baby" until she kinda sorta got a look at his parts then started saying "he" when talking about the baby. We wanted to know the sex, but she didn't tell us until later when she got a clear shot that she thought she saw boy parts early on but didn't want to tell us yet. But, again, I've known doctors, midwives, & techs to say he or she in general, usually I've heard "he" for whatever reason. So to me, it's possible she was just saying "he" as in the baby. But considering she just looked towards the lower half when she said it & since she's never used he or she with other babies, I'd consider it likely that she got a peak at something that made her think it was a boy. But if she wasn't actually trying to get a good view, it could be incorrect.

[MaryJaneLouise]

What is the gender of the bladder in Spanish? Maybe she was just referring to the bladder .

[lj2blessed]

Ya, you'll never know! My u/s tech called my baby "he" from the beginning, till we got between her legs! She then changed it to "she", and we were alright with that because we wanted to know!

So glad you've got a healthy baby boy! Congrats!