MaterniT21 Allows You to Determine Baby's Gender After 10 Weeks

How would you like to know whether you are having a boy or a girl early in your pregnancy?

There is a new cutting edge test that can do just that in a totally non-invasive way.

If you looked at Naeko Karst, you may not even be able to tell that this mother of two is pregnant again.

She is only about two months in, but Naeko and her husband are really eager to know whether she is having a boy or a girl.

"So nervous, so excited. Yeah I think we're pretty anxious. I just like to prepare. I think there are different kinds of preparations involved for each gender, and to be honest, the main reason is I just would just love to know anything as soon as I possibly can." says Naeko Karst an expectant mother.

In the past, she would not have been able to find out the gender of the baby until she was 18-20 weeks into the pregnancy, but now there is a new test that will allow her to find out in half the time.

The test is called MaterniT21, and it uses cutting edge methods to detect the baby's gender in the mother's blood.     

"There is free circulating DNA, the fetus, some of its DNA gets into the maternal blood and we can actually detect that DNA. We can do this test around 10 weeks, so it's very early in the pregnancy, you're detecting the actual DNA and the accuracy of these tests are about 99%" says Dr. Mazin Abdullah, a reproductive endocrinologist.

The test will also detect whether there are chromosome issues early on, like downs syndrome. 

"Now it's testing for 3 major chromosomes - 13, 18, and 21, and they're responsible for a large number of chromosomal abnormalities. These are the ones that can go all the way to term, they're responsible for a high number of miscarriages, they're responsible for a number of unhealthy babies being born."  says Dr. Mazin Abdullah.

For peace of mind, the test is non-invasive.   A simple blood draw from the mother is all it takes, unlike more invasive tests that have potential for miscarriage like amniocentesis.

"Amniocentesis has a 1 in 300 chance of causing a miscarriage for our patients, they essentially worked a very long time to get to that point, and they want the least invasive process possible." says Dr. Abdullah.

Naeko got her blood test and it was time for the whole family to find out, whether the newest addition, is a boy or a girl.  

"it's a boy" "I knew it! we make good boys! (laughs) it's a boy!"