Week 21 (Sex revealed!)

We had our "anatomical ultrasound" during which the technician checks out various bodily structures, screening for deviations from normal. Our baby was quite active- even kicking hard enough that the technician could feel it through the probe. At some point, it was folded in half, with its feet up by its face and ankles crossed. There was also more hand sucking (I guess this child will take after its mother who sucked her thumb until she was 8!)

This was also the appointment during which inquiring parents can find out whether to prepare for a baby girl or a baby boy. Twice I referred to this as finding out the baby's gender and twice Kyle had to correct me: "It's the baby's sex, not necessarily their gender."

Touche.

I took the opportunity to look up the definitions of sex and gender and was surprised to discovered their lack of differentiation in the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

Sex: either of the two major forms of individuals that occur in many species and that are distinguished respectively as female or male especially on the basis of their reproductive organs and structures

Gender: a: sex b : the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex

Interestingly, the World Health Organization had a great break-down on their website which I will reproduce below:

What do we mean by "sex" and "gender"?

Sometimes it is hard to understand exactly what is meant by the term "gender", and how it differs from the closely related term "sex".

"Sex" refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women.

"Gender" refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.

To put it another way:

"Male" and "female" are sex categories, while "masculine" and "feminine" are gender categories.

Aspects of sex will not vary substantially between different human societies, while aspects of gender may vary greatly.

Some examples of sex characteristics :

Women menstruate while men do not
Men have testicles while women do not
Women have developed breasts that are usually capable of lactating, while men have not
Men generally have more massive bones than women
Some examples of gender characteristics :

In the United States (and most other countries), women earn significantly less money than men for similar work
In Viet Nam, many more men than women smoke, as female smoking has not traditionally been considered appropriate
In Saudi Arabia men are allowed to drive cars while women are not
In most of the world, women do more housework than men

****************SPOILER ALERT*****************

In summary and to be perfectly politically correct: today we discovered the sex, but not necessarily the gender, of our baby. See if you can guess from the photo below (there's a hint there for you):



We couldn't really see what was going on here till we were oriented either. It's like you're looking up at his bottom from underneath. So, his sex defining parts are just to the right of the label, in the center of the image.