Wondering whether to paint that nursery pink or blue?  You may not have to wait so long to find out, thanks to a maternal blood test.

A recent Norwegian study published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology found that a special maternal blood test was 100% accurate in determining a baby’s sex in 200 different pregnancies.

Most parents who want to know the baby’s sex have to wait until the second trimester, when an ultrasound exam can tell if you’re carrying a boy or a girl. 

According to a WiserPregnancy survey, 81% of women have an ultrasound.  Although ultrasound exams are often part of routine prenatal care, 51% of these women have an exam specifically to learn the baby’s sex.   

However, the blood test in the Norwegian study could be particularly valuable for parents who have a family history of a sex-linked genetic disorder,  such as hemophilia or Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Being able to learn the baby’s gender sooner could help parents and doctors make important decisions about managing the pregnancy.

If this test becomes publicly available, it could offer an alternative to riskier prenatal tests such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS) in evaluating the risk of a genetic birth defect. 

Do you plan on learning the baby’s sex before delivery?  Why or why not?

If you’re expecting, you may have already had one or more prenatal tests such as amniocentesis or a triple screen.

But sometimes it can be hard to know which test to get and what the results mean. Here’s a brief guide.

Pregnancy tests can give health care providers and parents information about the baby’s well-being and the pregnancy’s progress. They can show whether you are carrying twins or if your baby has a birth defect.

There are two types of prenatal tests: screening tests and diagnostic tests.

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Ultrasound exams are now standard procedure for prenatal care.  According to a WiserPregnancy survey, about 80% of women have at least one ultrasound during pregnancy, and nearly all women have very positive views about ultrasound. 

The non-invasive test uses high-frequency sound waves to generate an image of the developing baby.  Ultrasound is used to see how your baby is developing, determine its age and gender, identify potential fetal or maternal complications and prep for a different diagnostic test, such as an amniocentesis or CVS.  It also gives a woman her first glimpse of her baby. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cautions parents to avoid nonmedical ultrasounds, stating that they are unapproved, inappropriate and possibly risky.  Ultrasound does not involve radiation and studies across the last 40 years have shown that ultrasound exams are safe when a trained medical professional does them.  Enjoy seeing your baby on the screen in your doctor’s office, ladies, but avoid keepsake ultrasounds just to be on the safe side.

We know why doctors do the exams, but why do moms-to-be respond so favorably to ultrasound exams when other diagnostic tests such as amniocentesis cause quite a bit of anxiety?    

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