boy or girl When it comes to finding out a baby's sex, people are typically in either one of two camps -- those who want to find out the instant they can; or the more patient camp of those who like to wait to hear the doctor say "It's a boy!" or "It's a girl!" in the delivery room. No one, however, expects to be in the camp in which Emma Sohrabian found herself recently -- the one in which doctors couldn't tell her the sex of her baby was until three months after delivery. 

According to ParentDish UK, the 35-year-old mother from Oxford was thrilled when she learned via ultrasound at her 20-week appointment that she was going to have a little girl. She said she told everyone, bought pink clothes, and decorated a room fit for a little princess.

Emma's birth didn't go as expected. She developed placenta previa and had to have an emergency C-section 14 weeks before her due date. Little Aolani Argyle was just 2 pounds when she was born.

Emma thought that was enough for one mother to have to go through, but was just happy that -- after a previous miscarriage -- she finally had her little girl in her arms. Then a few days after her birth doctors delivered the shocking news -- the little girl she was already in love with, might actually be a boy. 

Understandably, she was baffled. She told ParentDish:

I didn't understand what they were talking about. I was also mortified - I'd told everyone I'd had a baby girl and I'd registered her birth when she was a few days old.

Apparently the baby had signs of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, a rare condition that can be life threatening. It also causes enlarged genitals, which can make determining a baby's sex difficult.

So for three months Elizabeth and their family waited, not knowing if they were holding their son or daughter. I can only image how difficult it would be. Sure there are those people who believe children should be raised genderless, and that's fine, but most of us want to know, and plan, and imagine their lives as boys or girls. Not to mention the fact that the disease she potentially had was terrifying.

But as stressful as it was for those agonizing three months, Emma has an incredibly positive attitude about the whole ordeal. While tests did reveal that Aolani is in fact a girl (they're still waiting for results as to if she has the condition), she said it wouldn't have mattered if things went the other way.

Even if Aolani was a boy she would have been perfect to me. She's my beautiful little girl. It just took me by surprise.

Have you ever heard of this condition?

 

Image via Nina Matthews Photography/Flickr