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At how many months' development can you make out gender, etc?
I'll delete this thread as soon as I see an answer, probably. A student showed me a picture of a sonogram of her fetus, and I'm trying to figure out how seriously to take her.
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Sometimes a tad earlier, but yeah, about 20 weeks.
And even then, it's really not going to be certain. I know plenty of stories with mis-IDed sonograms -- in both directions.
Then there are the babies who never let you get a good look. I was part of an NIH study with my eldest -- four very detailed sonograms. Never got a definitive look.
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Icarus, Are you saying that you think she is faking a pregnancy to get out of schoolwork? If she went as far as faking a sonogram I actually give her points for creativity.
If it was a "suspect" sonogram was it on camera style paper or plain paper? I'd definitely be inclined to believe the camera style paper more. But I know sometimes they do it all digitally these days and just send you an e-mail instead.
By the time she's far enough along to be able to determine the gender of a fetus through sonogram, wouldn't she "appear" pregnant?
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CT can probably give a better answer on this but from personal experience with friends it is really about 7 months when they start to pop because the babies are fattening up before being born. I would imagine a bit of a pudge but not showing dramatically at 4-5 months.
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the stature of the woman might be a factor as well. my old roommate is tiny, so she started to show very early. a bigger build may not show right away.
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I don't believe she'd be really showing at 20 weeks. She'd have gained around 10-20lbs I'd guess, but could be hiding it.
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When a woman starts to "show" varies a LOT. Depends on such factors as: pre-pregnancy weight and weight distribution; height; degree of morning sickness (I lost weight for the first 15-20 weeks of my pregnancies); style of clothes the woman wears.
Maternity clothes can emphasize a pregnant figure -- so starting to wear maternity (or deliberately wearing clothes that de-emphasize) can affect "showing" as well.
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It depends, Icarus... I started showing with both of mine pretty early on, especially with my first when I weighed less than 100lbs. A girlfriend of mine didn't ever start showing, because she was heavy to start and lost fat as she gained baby. She ended up not really changing her shape much until after the baby came.
As for your student, if she's lucky she can get the gender at 18-20 weeks. Some babies aren't cooperative though and it may be too hard to tell even then.
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I believe the earliest they can tell the gender is 17 weeks. I have heard of some women not showing until 6 months. I wasn't that lucky.
Posts: 399 | Registered: Sep 2002
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I have a friend who is 5 months pregnant and she's so skinny normally, she looks like I do when I'm bloated. You can't even tell.
However, when my mother was 5 months pregnant with me, she wrote in my baby book that she refused to have any pictures taken of her because she gained 45 pounds and looked like a whale.
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With my third we had a tech who had done 60,000 sonograms in his career, and he guaranteed us we had a girl at 17.5 weeks. We went back in at 30 and she still was a girl, as she is now. So that was an example of a very skilled tech.
Also, I had people ask me if I was pregnant for the first time- people at church who saw me every week- after I was technically overdue. If you believe the Greek folklore, this is because I had a girl and was carrying "wide". I mean, I'm a little tubby, but you never know.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I never looked pregnant with Thomas. The week before I had him I parked in the expectant mother parking at the grocery store and someone yelled at me that it was only for pregnant people. When I had my 20 week sono they could tell that he was a boy.
[ November 13, 2003, 02:23 PM: Message edited by: Arthur ]
Posts: 153 | Registered: Aug 2002
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I had my first sonogram at 10 weeks the first time. The doctor claimed he could tell it was a boy--apparently some people feel that it is possible to tell that early. He was wrong, and at 16 weeks the sonographer (and the amnio) revealed that we had a girl on the way. The sonographer told me that she had wanted to throttle the doctor for acting so confident, when in fact at 10 weeks the genitals look pretty much the same whether it's a boy or a girl.
My SIL has finally started showing, now that she's a few weeks away from her due date. I've seen people you couldn't even tell were pregnant until the last month or so--usually they are either overweight or in really good shape. But most people just look kinda pudgy in the 4th-6th months, and you don't dare ask them if they're pregnant, because they might just have gained weight. I myself start to show fairly early on, and by the end....well, it ain't pretty. Posts: 335 | Registered: Feb 2001
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A store near here has parking spots with storks on them. I'm not sure if it's more for pregnant women or women with children. I used them when I was in the 6 week post partum recovery.
Is the "Baby think if over" suit the one in 10 things I hate about you? like a Sumo wrestler suit?
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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In South Florida they had special parking at a lot of places for parents of babies and toddlers. You got a tag just like the handicapped tag. When you think about the hassle involved in getting out the stroller, stowing the diaper bag, getting the kid(s) in, especially for one parent acting alone (especially for a parent of twins!) this was really a good thing. There were never very many of these, so more often than not I could not take advantage of it, but I sure appreciated it when I could!
They expired when your kid turned three, iirc. I always felt kind of ripped off by this, because I adopted them at one, and because when they were three they were developmentally two in every meaningful sense. But I felt similarly cheated by the Publix Baby Club.
Incidentally, the person in question did not look pregnant to me before, and suddenly she very much does. Weird. It could be just a perception thing. I dunno. But I don't think so.
So, should I delete this thread? I'm not sure I've said anything objectionable, but I know that on one occasion some people felt that I should.
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I was part of an NIH study with my eldest -- four very detailed sonograms. Never got a definitive look.
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