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We have embarked on a life-long journey to become a family. In June 2013, we have brought home two beautiful babies. Our family is now complete and our marriage formally recognized by state and federal laws.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Is it a boy or is it a girl?

Happy New Year! What a lovely cold, but sunny day for the Rose Parade.

Anyway, it's not quite a good start of the year for my partner and me. We were both sick while on the East coast. I'm almost over it, but my partner is still not well. Oh, how I hate flying with people coughing (and not covering their mouths). I guess in an enclosed space like an airplane, there's nothing you could do really... So, while we enjoyed visiting and being with family, it's never good to be sick and for them to get sick as well. Now my partner is worried about the twins' health when we travel from India back to the USA. I guess, we'll just have to hope that they'll be fine.

The flight back to California on New Year's eve was somewhat awful. It reminded me of how much I hated flying with babies screaming on top of their lungs. My ears were ringing for most of the flight. I keep asking myself, how can the parents allow for this brat to scream and cry without regard to other passengers nearby. What's annoying is that  the baby clearly "learned" to scream and cry as soon as she doesn't get her way. The parents didn't even show any sort of consideration for other people who are likely affected by the horrible noise in the next 6 hours of flight time. She definitely trained her parents well! So, like any parents, I asked myself, would I ever become such a parent? Someone despised by others for being ignorant and inconsiderate? The answer is, I don't know... I will sure try to be considerate of others in situations like this. Karma can be a bitch!

Well, enough about my rants. Going back to the question: is it a boy or a girl? Well, my partner's colleague showed us a research on how a USG scan for the NT (nuchal translucency) test could reveal if the baby is male or female. Efrat et al. 1999 published an analysis showing that the angle of the genital tubercle (GT) at 11-13 weeks old can be a good predictor of the gender. My partner calls it the "angle of the dangle". I'm including the photo of the images below. The GT with at least 30 degrees angle from the spine would likely be a boy, while GT with 20 degrees or less would likely to be a girl (the GT being in parallel to the spine). Based on this research, you could predict the gender of your baby. One caveat is that the NT scan needs to be ideally taken such that the spine and the GT of the baby could easily be delineated.



8 comments:

  1. Heehee..Hubby and I were like you before we got our pumpkin, we hated crying babies! Even in NICU, hubby hated crying babies, but when it was fom our pumpkin, it was different! Trust me on this one, when it is coming from your baby or babies, it sounds different and less annoying!
    As for the echograph, I m sure SCI will send you a pic that you can not tell. Unless you are very experienced...and you caught your beanies in the right position, it is hard to tell.

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    1. I believe you... I think our brain is naturally in tune with own child's cry (which has evolutionary origin)... it makes sense :)

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  2. Hey guys congrats, I have a couple of weeks left, I go based on the chinese birth calender which shows I am having a boy LOL

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    1. Thanks Michael. My in-law predicts two girls, so I'm curious who will be correct in the end... Meanwhile, we are excited for you as you're very close to having your baby :) Please keep us posted.

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  3. Okay - I saw your post and, of course, had to go back a few emails to find our 12 week ultrasounds. I was going to print them out and find a ruler and other math tools - but then I realized I am horrible in math and so I "eyeballed" it. I think a boy and girl - but I wouldn't bet the farm on it - hehe! I guess we will find out in a few months!

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    1. lol... It's kind of fun to speculate. Either way, we are excited for you! Twins can be a handful, but they are great. Wishing you the best!

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  4. I looked at my photos and Im thinking boy but I dont know might have been measuring a knee. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Hi Critty, the best image indicator for the GT (genital tubercle) is that it looks like a white strip on the scan in the lower belly area, and it's either flat (likely a girl) or flat with a bit of white protruding structure sticking out (likely a boy).

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