- A simple blood test that can determine a baby’s sex as early as seven weeks into pregnancy is highly accurate if used correctly, a finding that experts say is likely to lead to more widespread use by parents concerned about gender-linked diseases, those who are merely curious and people considering the more ethically controversial step of selecting the sex of their children.
Aug 9 2011? - See, we had the test done. Although the NYT doesn't say whose test it is, based on the date of the article and on the timing of things, it was probably Sequenom and it was probably MaterniT21. They don't even talk about sexing in the literature and it's a $2400 test. The reason we did it is "advanced maternal age" and the fact that since my wife is a healthcare provider they comped her because they want to get her clients. Interestingly enough, although the rep agreed 100% that the test will totally give you the gender of the baby the lab itself was ironclad that they wouldn't release the result. Which we found out via ultrasound (which is oh so much cheaper) a month after, so what's the big deal?
Oh, the big deal is what I had planned on adding to the post (thought I had sorry). The big deal is that these tests can also determine "problems" that once required an amniocentesis. I know the article is old, but today we heard of an acquaintance having one and it was news to me. Amniocentesis is becoming a thing of the past, which is really encouraging. We had "soft signs" for problems with our daughter but still refused an amnio because really... what can you do about it if it turns out your baby has downs when you're 6 months pregnant? Turns out our daughter is as brilliant as any two year old out there, but when a nurse refuses to comment on the image she's looking at prior to consulting the radiologist... you freak out a little. Would have been nice to just have a blood test that could tell us yay or nay. -Awesome stuff and if I had to pay $2400 out of pocket for such a test it would have been worth saving the agony of not knowing. But yeah, it's an old publication.
The harmony test gives gender and trisomies at 10 weeks it is not nearly as expensive as $2400. it counts fetal gene fragment ratio in the mothers blood.
I would have freaked out a lot, not a little. I was paranoid as a mutherfucker about my daughter and still am. My mom had a friend in San Fran. I remember two things about her daughter - 1) she was a massive David Bowie fan 2) she had this wicked scar on her temple stretching from her eye to her ear from the amnio needle they nearly piked her brain with I'd be delighted to see amniocentesis go the way of pneumoencephalography (triple word score!).