Conference oass::babynames

    I went through an ultrasound once.
    
    Although it is a fascinating thing, I hope you are very thirsty.  ;^)
    
    I tend not to drink a lot of ANYTHING, so when I was told that I had to
    drink (I think it was a quart; I don't quite remember how much, but it
    was a LOT), and then NOT go to the bathroom for a length of time....
    
    It is not particularly uncomfortable in any kind of painful way, but
    you don't look forward to another.
    
    At least, that's my experience.
    
    I was thankful, however, that the doc doing the ultrasound had a
    WONDERFUL bedside manner.
    
    As for the process itself, its not bad at all.  Like I said earlier, it
    is really quite fascinating.
    
    Congradulations and good luck!
    
    K.C. Fahel (back by popular demand!)

    I have had two ultrasounds so far and another one scheduled for a week
    from Friday.  I did not have to drink massive amounts of water the last
    two times, nor do I have to this time either.  I believe it depends on
    the type of ultrasound equipment the hospital uses as to whether or not
    you need to have a full bladder.  I'd check with your doctor on this
    one.
    
    Lori B.

    Well I must say I've never heard of that before, about having to
    drink loads of water!  I hope not, cos I'm finding it difficult
    at the moment as it is even to manage a few cups of tea a day - dozens 
    of trips to the little girls room being the norm at the moment!
    
    Another reason I'm really looking forward to the scan is that they
    can let you have photographs of the pictures shown up by the ultrasound
    which you can buy for a small fee.  Has anyone had this offered
    to them before?  A friend of mine when attending for her scan recently
    was told to choose, frame by frame, which photo she'd like to choose.
    She was so excited she ended up choosing 8 photos and costing her
    husband a fortune!
    
    Does anyone know whether the rate of mistakes in predicting the
    sex of the child is high?
    
    
    
    

    By the way, hope I'm not in the wrong conference for this topic!
    

    Hi, 
    
    I have only heard of one person was told she was having a girl and then 
    had a boy.  She and her husband really
    wanted to know the sex of their child so that they could prepare the 
    baby's nursery.  Well - they decorated "definately" baby girly and 
    were VERY surprised when "she" was a boy.
    
    Now this was 6 years ago - so I imagine that the ultrasound test has 
    been improved to read :more: accuratly.  Though KNOW ONE but God can 
    actually know - no matter what.  Just always leave alittle room in your
    heart for a surprise - that way it won't be such a complete shock if
    the doctor's reading is incorrect.  I would ask "your" own doctor how 
    accurate the test you will have done is these days and what the scale 
    of mis-reading are.
    
    Boys are usually more accuratly seen on the ultrasound.  and I have
    heard there is more chance of error when a girl is calculated by the 
    ultrasound picture.  I think it may be because sometimes the boy can 
    "hide" something - so they "think" they see a girl.  
    
    That was the case of the woman I know.  The boy was in a position each
    time where ""something"" was hiding.  y'know what i mean?
    
    Good Luck !  and keep us posted!
    
    

    Hi,
    
    Just wanted to let you know that there is a pretty good discussion on
    Ultrasounds and the babys sex in the Parenting Conference under note
    2204.
    
    But as for "Buying" the photo's of the Ultrasound, I have never heard
    of that.  Usually they offer 1 or 2 of them to you (free!).  I have
    had three Ultrasounds done, 2 with my second child and so far 1 with
    this baby and I did not have to buy the photos.  They just gave them
    to me.
    
    As far as drinking water is concerned, I didn't have to drink any!  As
    a matter of fact, I was asked if I wanted to use the bathroom before
    entering the Ultrasound Room.
    
    Anyway, like I said, in the Parenting Conference there is conversation
    as to determining the sex.
    
    Best of luck to you.  You will thoroughly enjoy seeing your little one
    moving around, sucking his/her thumb and so on!  It is just wonderful!
    
    Lisa

    Well, I've never had a baby, but when my (ex)sister-in-law was
    pregnant, the person who performed the ultrasound *insisted* that the
    baby was in no way a boy, but my nephew was quite normally endowed. ;-)
    That was seven years ago.
    
    Seriously, it depends on the position of the baby.  My sister just had
    an ultrasound (they were checking for twins), and it was quite obvious
    that the baby is a boy.  So obvious, that the nephew mentioned in the
    first paragraph looked at the picture, clapped his hands over his head,
    and shouted, "Thank God!  Finally a boy!  No more girl cousins!"
    
    My sister played a tape for us recently on her microcassette player,
    and I said, "What is *that*?"  To which she replied, "The baby's
    heartbeat!"  The doctor was getting such a strong heartbeat that she
    asked if she could record it!  It's really neat to listen to it.
    
    Good luck with your ultrasound.
    
    Susan

    Access the Parenting conference as someone else already suggested
    for a wealth of information on anything you can think of.
    (HELPME::PARENTING).
    
    As for the water business - I, like K.C. was also told to drink
    a lot before mine.  For some reason, I think it has to with how
    far along you are in your pregnancy.  It may be difficult to see
    much when you're in the early stages without a full bladder.  Now,
    I may be way off base here, but my girlfriend had many ultrasounds
    during her pregnancy and when she hit about her 5th month, she was
    never told anymore to drink water as she was at the beginning.
    Whatever the case, don't get your heart set on finding out the
    sex.  The technician I had said that it's easier to see around
    18-20 weeks, but then again, it really depends on if your baby
    decides to "show-off".  Mine didn't, but I was really happy to
    be surprised at the moment of her birth.
    
    I hope your ultrasound goes well and you see what you want!
    
    - Kathryn
       

    Thanks for all the replies.  Just to let you know I've now had the
    scan, didn't have to drink anything and that the technician
    couldn't tell the sex of the baby.  It was a marvellous experience
    and I wouldn't have missed it for the world; I'm not at all
    disappointed that I couldn't see the sex of the baby - I'll have
    that to look forward to at birth!  The technician said he or she would 
    probably grow up to be a ballerina because it wouldn't keep still and
    she found it very difficult to get a clear view. The other things that 
    came out were that the baby is a bit small for dates and the placenta
    is positioned rather low, so I have to go for another scan at 34 weeks.  
    
    So if anyone's wondering what it's like, be assured, it's wonderful!
    
    Alison
    

    I saw the baby through the ultrasound but not the sex which I'm
    glad for. I'm a man and I was with my pregnant girl-friend at the
    doctor to see it through the Ultrasound. It was a great experience.
    A little bit of statistics. 25% of all Ultrasounds give a wrong
    result of the sex. So if you think, it will be a girl you have a
    25% chance that it will be a boy.
    
    Stefanowitsch

    I was told to have a full bladder when I went for my Ultrasound at 20
    weeks.
    
    My doctor's office does them right there (many people I know have to
    go to the hospital).  They told me to bring a videotape and they would
    tape the Ultrasound for me.  They also gave me five pictures.  Everyone
    I showed the pictures to couldn't believe how good the quality was.
    It was very easy to make out parts.  The neatest thing on the
    videotape is watching the heart beat - you can actually see the valves
    open and close.  When the person who does the Ultrasound had their tape
    in, the baby was not moving around very much (maybe sleeping), but when
    she put in our tape, the baby started moving a bit.  She said she
    doesn't mention the sex of the baby, she let's the parents bring up the
    subject and only then does she discuss it.
    
    I wasn't going to have the tape made, but my sisters all have kids
    (oldest is 8) and I thought they might enjoy watching it.  Turned out
    to be kind of neat.  Glad I did it -- and it was free).

    The pointer to Parenting Note xxxx on Ultrasound now refers to the
    Notesfile PARENTING_V2 which has been archived on node HELPME::
    
    The Archived notesfile PARENTING_V1 was on node TERZA::
    
    The current notesfile just started a week or so ago and is also on
    HELPME::  with the same name HELPME::PARENTING.   For those who
    already have PARENTING in their notebook and haven't accessed the
    new file, do a SET SEEN /BEFORE:30-MAY
    
    To put parenting in your notebook hit 7 on your keypad

    Well, at 20 wks. the ultrasound tech said 90% girl, 10% boy, 
    based on the fact that he couldn't find any male sex organs.
    He also said that the baby was in a bad position to see, so
    he really couldn't give us a good guess.  Then, at 28 wks.
    we had another exam.  At first the tech said "still looks 
    like a girl", THEN the baby rolled over and the tech said
    "OH!  It's not a girl!!"  So, we'll see!  He said he was 
    positive it was a boy, but I won't be convinced until we
    have the little person and I can see for myself.
    
    I'm really lucky...this tech is one of my closest friends.
    We've gotton all our exams done without charge, have a video,
    and still pictures.  I love getting to see the little person
    move around.  Modern technology is great!!!
    
    We'll see if he's right!
    
    
    Linette
    32 weeks and counting....