Texarkana business offers blood testing that can identify gender of baby at seven weeks

4D Peanut Gallery's sonogram examination room. (Staff photo by Junius Stone)
4D Peanut Gallery's sonogram examination room. (Staff photo by Junius Stone)

TEXARKANA, Texas -- The 4D Peanut Gallery, a sonogram clinic in Texarkana, has been offering its services to expectant mothers for about 10 years. Owner Amanda Adcock says one of its more popular services is called "DNA and Donuts," where a pregnant woman comes in and has some blood drawn by a phlebotomist. Then, the sample is examined and through the examination, the sex of the child is revealed.

"Basically, it is genetic testing," said Adcock. "Through this procedure, you find out the gender of your baby at 7 weeks. Our phlebotomist draws the sample. The sample is then overnighted to the lab, and they have the results to us as soon as the next day."

Normally, 4D Peanut Gallery gives ultrasound examinations, but when Adcock found out about this technique, she incorporated it into her practice.

"It was a new technique to introduce to the local clientele," she said. "It was another thing we could add to our clinic's offerings. People now want to know what sex their babies are. Gender reveals are a big thing nowadays. People usually become more bonded to their babies the more they find out about the child."

The number of women that come in each week for the procedure varies each week, ranging from a couple to up to ten.

"Ten is the maximum we can accommodate each day we do this," she said. "And our guests and their retinue varies. Sometimes it is a woman by herself. Sometimes she is bringing other children with her. And sometimes, husbands come along."

Adcock found out about this business when she was pregnant with her second son.

"I wanted to know his gender before he was born," she said. "I wanted to know before the regular 20-week mark when an ultrasound is usually first employed. I found a clinic in Austin that did this procedure. The woman who ran the clinic told me about the business and I realized I wanted to do this, too. Besides, going into business for myself has allowed me more schedule flexibility, and has enabled me to be there more for my sons and their activities."

(4D Peanut Gallery is located at 4112 McKnight Road, Texarkana, Texas. You can find them on Facebook.)

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