Girl/Boy/Who Knows

Last week I had an appointment at the hospital for some routine screening procedures. Interestingly enough, by measuring the width of fluid sacs along the baby's spine, doctors can tell if the little one is at increased risk for downs syndrome and spina bifida. They also do a fairly extensive family history interview (my favorite question: So, are you and your husband related? First cousins, perhaps?), looking for patterns of physical disability and hereditary diseases.

I asked the ultrasound technician if she could tell the gender of the baby. Frankly, it's pretty early: We were only at 12 weeks and we don't go in for our official gender-determining ultrasound until Week 20 - halfway through the pregnancy. 

The tech smiled. "Well, if you were my daughter, I could go ahead and tell you but hospital policy prevents us from sharing that information as such an early stage". 

Well, poo. 

She knew. And wouldn't spill the beans. 

I tried to decipher our images, armed with 15 minutes of internet research, but well, I'm not an ultrasound technician. I can barely tell the head from the feet.