Still Hope?

So I went into the ER yesterday for spotting at 17 weeks. All is fine with baby, it was probably just a popped blood vessel in my cervix because I've had a bad cold all week and have been coughing a lot.

The good news is we got to see the baby on the ultrasound. I was sure that we'd be able to find out the sex, but the tech, who wasn't an OB tech but a general radiology tech, was reluctant to check, and when she did her reaction was "umm....I don't really want to say, there's a cord in the way...I'm not sure if I can tell for sure." When pressed, she admitted she was leaning boy, but not to take her word for it.

I swayed girl after two boys and have really felt this could be a girl -- mostly from silly OWT's like the Ring Test, Cherie the internet psychic, constant nausea I didn't have with my boys, the Chinese gender chart (which was right with my other two), and also the fact that I had a pretty good sway. However after the U/S I felt like maybe I've been overly optimistic and this might actually be a boy after all (who I will love, but still, it's not my DG).

My question is -- do you think the tech, since she's not trained to do OB ultrasounds, even had a good idea what she was looking at? At 17 weeks is it possible to not be sure if it's swollen girl parts or boy parts? I was craning my neck to get a look at the screen and I didn't see anything really obvious like I did with my other two boys -- who looked like two little turtles with the heads sticking out -- at their anatomy scans.

What do you think? I'm trying to get used to the idea of a third DS but is it too early to give up hope of a DD? My anatomy scan is in two weeks, so naturally I am going to be :nails: until then.

TIA for your advice...

PS they wouldn't print any pics for me to keep :( Stupid ER radiology...

I think if she didn't know what she was looking for i'd take it with a grain of salt, yes maybe be more open to the fact that it may not be a girl (and i only say this as i was sure ds3 was a girl and it was such a high place to fall from) but def don't convince yourself its blue. Things are still really small at that stage and yes girl parts can be swollen. Over here NHS techs won't sex before the 18-22 week scan however much you push them, although this can be done by experienced techs from 16 weeks on potty shot

Have you posted a nub shot, that would probably give you a better indication than a guess from someone unexperienced

There is def still hope so don't worry.

Glad everything was ok with the baby and you got a sneak peak. x

I posted a nub shot a while ago and got all girl guesses but it was 11 weeks 4 days so it was too early to say for sure.

Hard to say... Boys are obvious at that stage. You would hope that the tech was really really inexperienced to not be able to tell.

Trying to peek around a cord is never a sure thing, images get distorted and the view was possibly never even that great.

I would certainly "prepare" for a boy, given that the old wives tales, psychics (Cheri told me my second was a girl), and Chinese gender chart (which was right for my first two and wrong this time) are far from accurate methods. But I certainly wouldn't be giving up all hope for a girl.

I have heard that most US techs can tell at 17 weeks, no matter which field of ultrasound they are in, given they have been trained extensively and know what they are looking at. BUT, that is with a GOOD shot, not a peek with the cord right there. I would not put a lot of stock in that guess at all.

I would probably begin mentally preparing for a boy, but I wouldn't give up hope at all! 17 weeks is good for gender ID- but you want someone experienced doing it. If there was a cord in the way, that doesn't seem like the best guess. I would want clear evidence to be sure!

I had my first u/s at the ER due to extreme dehydration, and was super sad that they didn't print any pics out :-( In fact, I barely got to see the little one! (my DH got a great view though!)). Our tech didn't seem the most experienced either...

I wouldn't lose hope but prepare yourself for a boy just in case. at 17 weeks it should be pretty obvious but with inexperienced techs you can't be sure of anything.

At my NT scan, the tech didn't want to say anything at ALL about gender or anything else really lol- but after she was done they had a trainee resident come in to experiment with the machine. From the start of my U/S I was smiling because (obv cause I could see baby but) I could see the nub was flat!! But when the resident started up the screen she spent about 10 minutes just trying to get ONE CRL shot.. then she said she could see a penis and that it looks like a boy!! lol. I guess she doesn't know about the nubs, but I'm glad I did my google research beforehand!