gender wrong...happened to you or someone you know?

[YouAreTheFocus]

A friend of mine just gave birth to her baby "girl", who came out a boy! While I realize there is a possibility of human error when determining gender via ultrasound (as opposed to amnio), I've never known anyone who has actually experienced this. Personally, I would have really struggled with a gender switcheroo, so am feeling thankful that my tech got it right!

Do you know anyone who got a little (make that big) surprise?

[mommylamb]

Oh that has got to be really strange to deal with. Once you start expecting one sex or the other you just get that into your head. Maybe this is bad to admit, but it would really upset me a lot. Not to mention anything girly that was purchased. I know that's always a question if the tech tells you it's a girl, I guess. I've never known anyone who has had that happen.

[wellyes]

Once to a friend of a friend.
I've heard of girls who turn out to be boys, but never the reverse.

[lizzywednesday]

This happened to DH's dear friend with her 2nd baby, who was due a month after our DD.

They opted not to find out the sex with their oldest, but asked with their 2nd.

She even had an amnio to check lung maturity (baby needed to be delivered via C-section due to some uterine issues our friend has) but I guess they never checked baby's sex as well (IDK how much fluid they take for the lung maturity amnio) ... and SURPRISE!

They had a second DS.

And this was after she'd painted the room pink & purple and started browsing girl clothes.

Oh well.

FWIW, this happened to one of my dad's cousins in the early days of ultrasounds (they thought they were expecting a DS but apparently the tech mistook the DD's finger for a penis.)

Not an ultrasound story, but my mom went through her 3rd pregnancy insisting she was having a girl, but we got my brother Joseph instead of a baby sister.

[MSWR0319]

Yep. Our friend was told DS1 was a girl. I, too, have only heard about girls ending up boys.

[Melaine]

It is harder to verify gender for twin ultrasounds, basically because there is so much going on in there. For our 20 week ultrasound we were expecting to find out the gender of our "baby" only to be told there were two. They couldn't tell the genders then. The next ultrasound, they confirmed that one was a girl and they thought that the second was a boy. I really latched on to the idea and believed it. I was sad and surprised at a later ultrasound when I first found out it was two girls. (Of course, I quicky got over that).
All that to say, up until the day they were born I had this niggling fear that they had been right the first time and we might have one of each after all!

[carolinamama]

I know one person that was told they were having a boy and then ended up with a girl. At my 20 week u/s with DD, the tech was very careful to tell me she was pretty sure it was a girl (I saw the 3 lines too) but that it wasn't 100% until we saw it for ourselves at delivery. After having 2 boys, we wanted a girl but were somewhat hesitant to get too excited. I ended up having a later u/s where gender was confirmed and I definitely was breathing a sigh of relief!

[aa2mama]

My best friend's sister had a "girl" that ended up being a boy.

[mom2khj]

No direct experience, but they wouldn't give me firm confirmation on DD1 until I was almost 36 weeks. They said they were 75% sure, up until then. I didn't buy a single girly thing until then, and even then I had a girl and boy coming home outfit just in case. :D

[ellies mom]

My nephew and cousin's son were both thought to be girls. Well, my nephew was more of a "we think it is a girl but we really can't get a clear enough view to be certain" but my cousin's son was definitely thought to be a girl.

[Twoboos]

Happened to an acquaintance. They were told they were having a boy. They spent the next 20 weeks telling everyone how happy they were it was a boy, only wanted a boy, never wanted a girl, so relieved it's a boy, and on and on.

Then they had Elizabeth.

They are the reason I never wanted to find out at the US, if I had needed an amnio I would have found out. But I wanted to know 100% and not to find out it wasn't right after all the painting/planning/naming/buying!

[karstmama]

my mama's friend (so the generation where u/s were just starting to be used) was told to prepare for ds2 but instead had twin girls...

[TwinFoxes]

The cousin of a friend. Her baby was wearing a blue sailor, with boats and anchors outfit, and I said to my friend "that's a really cool outfit for a baby girl". My friend said "all her clothes are blue, she was supposed to be a boy". (I guess reading all the other posts, this is pretty unusual?)

She was such a cutie, I can't imagine people mistook her for a boy even in her all-blue clothes.

[smilequeen]

My cleaning lady has 3 girls. The youngest is about 9. She was told after each of 3 ultrasounds that her 3rd was a boy. She went into premature labor, had an amnio to check lungs and they were told it was a girl. So she said her husband went home and repainted the room while she was still in the hospital.

[JBaxter]

Lady who did my nails a few years ago ( when I was pregnant with Jack) had 2 girls and really wanted a boy but u/s said another girl... She went on and on about how lucky I was to have boys etc. She she got a surprise and #3 was a boy

[kaharris83]

A friend of mine was told at a 16 week u/s she was having a boy. She and her DH named him and went out and bought some things for his nursery, only to find out at the 20 week u/s he was really a she. She mourned what she had been dreaming of for the 4 weeks she thought she was having a boy. I thought it was a completely appropriate response, although some people chastised her for it.

[cntrymoon2]

I was told at both 18 and 20 weeks that I was having a boy. At a 2nd ultrasound in my 20th week (I was diagnosed with IC and became a high risk), the tech said nope it's a girl.
At 18 weeks when they first told me boy, I cried, because I was so sure I was having a girl and I was upset my first mom instinct was wrong.
I developed Pre-E at 28 weeks and HELLP Syndrome at 30 weeks so I had LOTS more ultrasounds confirming it was a little girl :)

[momof2girls]

My BFF's DD was supposed to be a DS. She had the room painted blue and just kept it that way.

[rachelh]

This happened to my brother and SIL with their first. They were told it was a girl. Coincidently, when SIL was pregnant she won a raffle with a prize of layette sets, nursery linen, etc. - of course she ordered the girl set. She had her baby at home and there was no big gender announcement - after all, they were expecting a girl. A good few minutes after the birth, my brother and her doula both pointed and said "ummm, what’s that??"

[s7714]

Yes, two people I know were told they were having a boy and it ended up being a girl.

I wanted to be cautious when they told us DS was a boy, but his parts on the u/s clearly didn't look the same as my DDs' both had.

[liamsmom]

I've known it to go both ways. It happened to a friend of mine who thought she was having a boy and had a girl instead.

Another friend said this happened to another mother in the hospital when she had her DD. My friend didn't know the gender and had brought two different outfits for the trip home. The other woman thought she was having a girl and packed a pink outfit. She had a boy instead--my friend gave her the other outfit.

I think this happens A LOT more than people realize.

[MommytoEliana]

This is making me nervous! The ultrasound tech at my 20-week ultrasound got two very clear views and said she was pretty much 100% positive the baby is a girl (which is unusual as they typically like to hedge their bets, it seems). The picture we have looks pretty certain too. But...what if it's wrong? The room is pink, the quilt my mom is making is absolutely only for a girl, as are the window treatments and crib skirt, the closet is filled with girl clothes (most of which were DDs; I haven't actually taken the tags off any of the new clothes yet...just in case).... My mommy intuition has said girl since the moment I found out I was pregnant, but I'm still a little nervous!

[AnnieW625]

Right around the time that we were thinking of finding out the sex of DD2 I knew two people at my work who had known people that had happened to within a couple of months. One was a girl to a boy, and the other was a boy to a girl. After hearing that I decided we'd just wait and see. I knew I didn't want one of the 3 or 4D ultrasounds and wasn't planning on an amnio either so I just decided it wasn't worth the chance.

Way back in the 1980s my uncle knew someone who kid was suppose to be a boy and they decked out the whole room in boys stuff and it ended up being a girl.

All of my stuff with both kids was gender neutral. All three times I was pregnant I believe I was pregnant with girls (we never actually found out with the baby we lost, but tri-18 is more common with girls and I just had that feeling) and with DD2 I almost bought her some of the girl zippers from Hanna at Costco, but went gender neutral instead.

[YouAreTheFocus]

Wow, this is more common than I had thought! I am surprised how many people know of this happening.

And I don't think there's anything wrong with being upset if you were told it is one and then out comes the other! I would not have handled it gracefully, to say the least!

[swissair81]

I had a patient in nursing school who told everyone she's having a girl & it was a boy.

My oldest 2 were surprises because the ultrasound tech couldn't tell & she didn't want to tell me without being sure.

[ilfaith]

In my first "mommy & me" class with DS1 there was a sweet little girl who was "supposed to be" a boy.

[plusbellelavie]

My best friend...her second child...she was over the moon because they told her she was having a DS (her first was a DD)...she had prepared everything! She and her DH were shocked and initally a bit disappointed when they found out a delivery that it was another DD! But now they look back at it and laugh (a lot actually) but that first week she was stressed just trying to figure out a name for her! But, in the end all it mattered to them was that she was healthy!

[ladysoapmaker]

My DH's ex has 2 boys that were suppose to be girls. DS#1 was disappointed he had another brother with the last one.

Jen

[WatchingThemGrow]

a neighbor just went to her sister's birth and the baby turned out to be a boy instead of a girl and had a birth defect involving those organs :( I don't know the sister personally.

[Cam&Clay]

It happened to me...with DS1.

The tech told us that he was a girl. For some reason, I didn't believe her because she kept saying she couldn't get a good look. I didn't buy a single piece of girl clothing, and looking back, the nursery was awfully masculine. Even though I was fine with a girl, I had always pictured myself as a mother of boys.

Needless to say, when he was born, there were many gasps (XH, my mom, MIL) when the doctor said, "It's a boy!" But not from me. All was right in the world. Somehow, I just knew.

[fauve01]

this happened to two different people i know. the first my BFF IRL. she had the name picked out, diaper bag monogrammed, tons of clothes, and the room painted! she had lots of ultrasounds and they never had a question of the sex. OOPS! her DH spend the first week repainting the nursery... :)

it also happened to a work colleague. she didn't have everything monogrammed, but she did have the big 20 week level 2 ultrasound and the tech was SURE. another OOPS! at least her DH didn't have to repaint the nursery! LOL

now when anyone i know that is pregnant tells me they know what gender they're having, i always say "did you have an amnio?" and suggest they use a neutral color to paint!

[Melanie]

Yes. I know two people and one of them it happened to twice. The other one stopped having that checked with her next children. And it was girls that came out as boys in all cases.

Dd's nursery was gender-neutral and I only took the tags off of a minimum of clothing. I thought if she came out as a boy I'd have a lot of "stuff" to deal with, the least of which I didn't want to be repainting a room!

[Melanie]

This happened to my brother and SIL with their first. They were told it was a girl. Coincidently, when SIL was pregnant she won a raffle with a prize of layette sets, nursery linen, etc. - of course she ordered the girl set. She had her baby at home and there was no big gender announcement - after all, they were expecting a girl. A good few minutes after the birth, my brother and her doula both pointed and said "ummm, what’s that??"

LOL. Dd was born in the water at a birthing center and I was holding her in such a way I couldn't tell so I told Dh to check just to make sure, then he had the midwife check, too!

[kara97210]

This happened to one of my co-workers about 4 years ago. She was expecting a boy and had a girl. She said it was really confusing for her 3 year old, who had been told she was getting a little brother. The poor kid kept asking why she had to call her new brother Natalie instead of David.

[kristac]

I was told at 16 weeks (had some bleeding) that DS1 was a girl. They changed thier tune at the 20 week ultrasound.