What was the earliest in your pregnancy you found out the gender?

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

18 weeks at the first ultrasound... Also when we found out it was definitely twins (though it was suspected).

 

[SirDuff]

How would a finger prick blood test of the mother tell the gender of a baby?

It picks up fragments of DNA from the placenta (baby's DNA). I don't think that it can differentiate the fragment DNA from mom's DNA, but if they find any Y chromosomes, you know that the baby is a boy*

Apparently, some chromosomal abnormalities can also be picked up (screening not diagnostic) this way.

*Yes, I know that the whole gender thing isn't as simple as XX is female, but I think that most non-XX female are likely infertile (and if they are pregnant, this test won't work for them).

 

[ronandannette]

I had amnio, which I think was around 14 weeks. Can't remember for sure. That was the gold standard when I was pregnant for determining sex. Probably all changed now, since that was about 20 years ago (mine turn 19 in two weeks!).

Mine is 22 and I'd say I didn't "actually" find out until he was born. At that time there was only 1 ultrasound done for uncomplicated pregnancies and although the technician did say she thought it was a boy, there was no way to know for sure. We sat on pins-and-needles because we really, really wanted a boy - right up to the last second I wasn't sure.

 

[22Tink]

With our first DD we didn't find out before but the next 3 pregnancies it was around 16-18 weeks at my routine US. Girl, boy, girl!

 

[ramee]

I found out with both at the routine 20 weeks scans. But looking back, I had a feeling of what they were before the scans.

With my first, I went shopping for bigger shirts for myself around 15 weeks and noticed I was picking a lot of pink tops. I was not partial to pink before that and never owned any pink clothing.

Before I even knew I was pregnant with my second, I all of a sudden wanted to take up crotcheting and was drawn to the green and blue yarn.

I just knew or 50/50 odds aren’t bad and it worked out in my favor

 

[aprilchem]

Pretty early with my first - there was a very high chance that he had a potentially fatal genetic abnormality, so we did an amino and found out through that. I think it was around 9-10 weeks.

For the second two we found out at the 20 week anatomical ultrasound.

 

[Hrhpd]

9 weeks (early CVS) - had results back in a day

 

[mom2rtk]

Around 18 weeks with our boys. 15 weeks with our daughter since I had an amnio. I knew I'd find out when the results came back, but didn't expect it the day of the procedure (because of the U/S). I didn't think they'd be sure enough yet. It was a fun surprise that sure took my mind off that big needle!

 

[pezgirlroy]

Due to my age I had the Harmony testing done and would have known at 12 weeks, I had them hold onto the information.

 

[smiths02]

With DS-11...it was at the routine scan u/s around 20 weeks.

With my twins (6), I had detailed u/s more often...I think it was around 14-15 weeks when we found out one was a boy and then it wasn't until the next one (20 weeks) when we could confirm the other was a girl (although the nurse thought she was at the earlier scan)

 

[Skellingtonj]

Not until birth.

Drats!!!! I missed out on having awesome over-the-top gender reveal parties.

Have them now. Call it a post birth gender reveal.

 

[Skellingtonj]

Curious for a personal reason. My youngest is 18yo, I don't remember how far along the gender can be determined.

At birth with both.

 

[OhDannyBoy]

My wife didn't want to know before birth with the first (therefore WE didn't want to know) and it looks like we are doing that again for #2 in March.

 

[trip]

Birth!

Me too. Mine are 43, 41 and 33.

 

[poohs_hunny]

The day I found out I was pregnant (4 weeks exactly). Although it was because we had been going through fertility treatments and had IVF done, as well as genetic testing of all of the embryos before transfer. So technically we could have known before that, but we wanted to wait until a positive test to find out. How special to be able to announce to our parents that evening that they were going to have a grandDAUGHTER!

 

[MrsDuck]

I wanted to pay for the blood test but hubby and my doctor talked me out of it. But, we wound up seeing his gender around 12 weeks. Nothing was confirmed until our anatomy scan at 20 weeks but every ultra sound I had between 12 and 20 weeks, he was very bold about showing off his man parts.

 

[kidshop]

11 weeks 3 days with my dd by ultrasound. the tech said she could tell by the direction the 'nub' was pointing. She was right in this case. it was about 12 years ago during the nuchal screen.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

I have 3 kids and found out at the anatomy scan which was at 19-20 weeks.

 

[gotomu212]

How would a finger prick blood test of the mother tell the gender of a baby?

To answer the question, I never found out the gender. I had amniocentesis on all my pregnancies at around 20 weeks and that had the information in it, but I told the doctor I didn't want to know.

A somewhat common test, especially for older moms now, is the NIPT. They take a sample of mom’s blood (from the arm like any other lab draw) and within mom’s blood can pick up DNA from your placenta that are circulating in mom’s blood. They piece those together and can screen for a variety of chromosomal defects. They also look for Y chromosomes. The test is usually done between 9-13 weeks and is greater than 99% accurate since it’s not based on a visual review of developing anatomy (for gender, there are different accuracy rates for different other issues they are screening for). It’s also 100% safe for mom and baby unlike amino.

You can be expensive (our dr had it as $600 if paying out of pocket) but many insurance plans cover it for mother’s over 35 or with other risks for abnormalities. It’s really impressive how far genetics have come.

 

[mumto3girls]

I had ultrasounds at 20 weeks with all 3 of mine and found out the the oldest and youngest were girls. With the middle child, she was not being “cooperative” enough for the technician to tell her gender or a bunch of other things they were screening for and did another u/s a few weeks later at which time we learned she was also a girl.