I am 16 weeks and 5 days pregnant. I had my first ultrasound 3 days ago. They said it's too soon to find out the gender of my baby at 16 weeks. Do I have to wait until I am 20 weeks or can they tell sooner?

Dear, you are going to find out when the baby is born anyway. Why would you want to spoil the fun of not knowing in the meantime? Too many ultrasounds I have heard are not good for the baby. If the baby looked okay and had all the normal features, relax. You are going to have a healthy baby. You might have a dream about the baby soon anyway and that dream will tell you the sex. I've had friends who had dreams of their babies before they were born and in all instances it was the same sex as in the dream. I dreamed about my son when I was about 5 months and he looked exactly the same in real life when he was a year old.

I understand. The doctor requested the ultrasound for the exact gestational age because I looked like I could've been further along, but I wasn't. It doesn't matter what I have. Although, for the sake of having to buy most of my baby's things, there will be a lot of neutral. That's no problem, though. However, for a while I had the feeling that I was having a girl, but I have yet to have the dream. The dreams I have had, though, are quite interesting... priceless. Thank you.

It is a myth that having too many ultrasounds is dangerous to mother or baby. It's just not so. An ultrasound is simply sound waves bouncing off amniotic fluid.

Now, while it may be possible to tell the sex of the baby prior to 20 weeks, that result would not be considered accurate.

The most accurate gestational date to tell the sex is 20 weeks or more, and remember, this is not an absolute.

My older sister found an independent ultrasound office close to where she lives. (NOT a doctors office, strictly and ultrasound office).

She had them do an ultrasound at almost 16 weeks and they were able to tell she was having a girl. This was confirmed by her OBGYN at the 20week ultrasound.

Now while it is possible to tell the gender... waiting until 20 weeks or more is more accurate and leaves less room for error.

I recently had a friend find out she was having a girl at 17 weeks.

What's the big rush? I waited until both of mine were born and it was so much more exciting having something to announce to friends and family other than how much the baby weighed!

Not to mention a chance to test your intuition (I was wrong with the first and had no clue about the second, until it hit me minutes before he was born!) My dreams were half right.

I actually had one of my "many: ultrasounds at 13 weeks and was told it was a girl, mabey it was just pure luck that she got it right but she should be here soon.
But, most doctors won't even discuss it until 18 weeks because really it could still go either way.
3-D ultrasounds are great and give you a better look at your baby but are very costly and are recommended for a little later in the pregnancy. ( You can see the babies features better)
Either way it won't be much longer till you know for sure, just relax and anjoy knowing you have a healthy baby because in the end that's all that should matter.

Too many ultrasounds do not hurt the baby. If they did then who knows what would have happened to my baby. I had a total of 18 ultrasounds. I had all the regular ultrasonds, plus one every month because of liquid in his kidneys, and then at 32 weeks till birth, I had to get two ultrasounds a week, plus a few extras in between. I found out the sex at exactly 17 weeks. It doesn't matter if your 16 weeks or 22 weeks, finding out the sex is not always accurate no matter how far along you are. It all depends on how well the baby cooperates and shows. At 17 weeks we were 100% sure my baby was a boy because he had his legs spread open and we could see everything. As soon as I got that positive pregnancy test I had a feeling it was going to be a boy. Then once I saw that first ultrasound at 9 weeks I knew it was a boy at that moment, even though he looked like a tiny teddy graham. DUring pregnancy I had dreams of having a girl, but didn't really pay attention to any of it since I just KNEW I was having a boy. If you get a 3D ultrasound you want to wait until after 28 weeks, because before that the baby does not have much fat or anything so your baby will look very skiny, even skeletal, so its best to wait until you are further a long.

They told me and a 4 month ultrasound that it was a boy, by the way my daughter is very cute, don't trust the ultrasound

It is nice to know if you do not want to buy everything last minute. But be sure the tec or Dr. is 100% sure. Tell them its OK if you don't know so they don't feel the pressure.