\nMost of the time, if you’re pregnant and go in for an ultrasound, the technicians are usually pretty confident in being able to tell if your baby is a boy or girl. For this mom, the medical team around her had her convinced that they knew what the gender was of the baby she was having. She and her husband had picked out a name; they had got everything ready; and they had even told their friends and family. What they didn\u2019t realize was that their story would be an anomaly.
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\n[post_page_title]Getting ready[\/post_page_title]
\nWhen you find out that you\u2019re expecting a baby, there\u2019s a high chance that you go through a whirlwind of emotions. Your nerves might get the better of you to start with, but then the excitement might take over, and your whole life is eventually consumed with everything having to do with babies.
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\nOne of the biggest milestones of any pregnancy is learning whether you are having a boy or girl – if you even want to know at all. Most of the time, it\u2019s easy for doctors to determine which one you are having, but sometimes it things are not what they seem.
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\n[post_page_title]The mother in question[\/post_page_title]
\nHowever, to truly understand this story we need to learn a little more about the mother in question. In 2010, Madeleshia Hiscock\u2019s life changed forever. She was happily married to her husband, and they had already welcomed their first daughter into the world.
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\nThey had the perfect life in Vereeniging, South Africa, and they were quite content with their set up. Although the couple had always wanted more children, they had never actively tried or put pressure on themselves to conceive. They were simply waiting for it to happen naturally.
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\n[post_page_title]Similar feelings[\/post_page_title]
\nAlthough Madeleshia and her husband were not actively trying, she fondly remembered how she felt when she discovered she was pregnant with their first daughter. When she started to feel similar stirrings in her stomach and waves of nausea, she couldn\u2019t help but wonder if she was pregnant again.
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\nTo make sure, Madeleshia decided to go to the store and pick up a pregnancy test. She followed the instructions on the box and waited with bated breath to see how many lines would make their way onto the stick.
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\n[post_page_title]Too faint to tell[\/post_page_title]
\nSadly, the lines on the home pregnancy test just weren\u2019t clear enough for Madeleshia to make a clear distinction. Was she pregnant or was it just a false alarm?
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\nMadeleshia thought in her gut that she was pregnant, but she wanted to be 100% certain before telling her husband. So, she booked an appointment with her doctor to take a more accurate test. It was during this doctor\u2019s appointment that Madeleshia heard the news that would change everything for her and her family. She was pregnant.
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\n[post_page_title]The first scan[\/post_page_title]
\nMadeleshia and her husband were over the moon to know that they would soon be welcoming a new addition to their brood, and they couldn\u2019t wait to find out if they were having a boy or a girl.
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\nBecause they already had a daughter they secretly hoped for a boy – but ultimately they just wanted a child that was happy and healthy. Thankfully, their first ultrasound scan confirmed that their baby was growing at a healthy rate. The doctor also confirmed that the couple were having another baby girl.
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\n[post_page_title]Even more clarification[\/post_page_title]
\nThe couple were not disappointed to learn that they were having a daughter. In fact, they were excited to know that they were having another daughter! This fact was further clarified when the couple made their way to subsequent ultrasound appointments.
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\nThe next two scans confirmed that their daughter was still happy, and they even confirmed that their daughter was definitely a girl. As the weeks bore on, they became eager to meet their new addition and couldn\u2019t wait to welcome her into their home.
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\n[post_page_title]All in the name[\/post_page_title]
\nMadeleshia was enjoying her pregnancy, and knowing that she had a healthy and happy baby inside of her made her feel incredibly blessed. With confirmation that they were having a girl in the bag, the couple started to think about names.
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\nThey made their way through baby books to find the perfect name for their baby girl, and they spent hours deliberating which name they wanted to go for. In the end, they settled on the name McKenzi. Everything was in place, now all they needed was their little girl to arrive
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\n[post_page_title]The fourth scan[\/post_page_title]
\nEverything seemed to be going so well for the Hiscock family. Their previous three scans had all gone off without a hitch, and they had even chosen the name for their upcoming daughter.
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\nHowever, things took an unusual turn when Madeleshia made her way to her fourth ultrasound scan. Although they had been told that they were expecting a girl, the doctor suddenly changed their tune and told the couple that they were expecting a boy instead. The couple were incredibly confused. How could this be?
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\n[post_page_title]Accepting their fate[\/post_page_title]
\nThe doctor confessed that it is sometimes impossible to tell whether the baby is a boy or a girl inside of the womb. Instead, they make an executive decision based on all of the information in front of them.
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\nBecause of this, the doctor was able to determine that they had been told the wrong information to start with and that they would soon be welcoming a boy into the world. Madeleshia and her husband were bemused but trusted the knowledge of the doctor. So, they came to accept this new change of fate.
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\n[post_page_title]Getting everything ready[\/post_page_title]
\nWith this new piece of information in their lives, the couple decided it was time to get everything ready for their new arrival. They wanted to kit out the nursery with all new toys and decorations, and they needed to buy new clothes.
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\nAfter all, they had never had a boy before! Like many parents, the couple decided to stick with the traditional colors and themes. They chose blue clothing for the new baby, and they filled the nursery with toy cars and toys stereotypically associated with boys.
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\n[post_page_title]Telling their friends[\/post_page_title]
\nAs their due date got ever closer, Madeleshia and her husband decided to let the news slip to those nearest and dearest to them. They planned an elaborate gender reveal and told those around them that they would soon be welcoming their first son into the world.
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\nTheir friends and family were over the moon for the couple, and they couldn\u2019t wait to see the new arrival for the first time. Yet, they had no idea that welcoming this new baby into the world was going to be much more dramatic than they thought.
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\n[post_page_title]It\u2019s a boy[\/post_page_title]
\nFinally, the day came, and Madeleshia went into labor. Thankfully, the process was largely uneventful, and their baby took their first breaths just a few hours later. From first glance, it seemed as though the fourth scan had been right all along.
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\nThey had not welcomed a girl into the world because it was obvious from their baby\u2019s physical appearance that it was a boy. The signs were all there, and they had no doubts that they just welcomed a son into their lives. They were ready to take him home.
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\n[post_page_title]Casting doubts[\/post_page_title]
\nAlthough Madeleshia and her husband were happy with how their delivery had gone, there was one doctor who cast doubts over their new arrival. As they took the baby off to do preliminary tests, they noticed that something wasn\u2019t quite right.
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\nThe doctor worked with newborns every single day and could tell immediately if something was a little off. In this case, they were convinced that something was amiss. This problem could not be seen physically because the issue was with the baby\u2019s blood and could only show up on specific tests.
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\n[post_page_title]More girl than boy[\/post_page_title]
\nAs the doctor looked into the baby\u2019s blood work more thoroughly, they noticed that their new addition had more XX chromosomes than XY chromosome. When it comes to genetics, the distinction between girls and boys is simple.
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\nGirls have XX chromosomes, whereas boys have XY chromosomes. This immediately stumped the doctor. If the couple had just welcomed a son into the world, why would the baby have more XX chromosomes than XY? This would mean that their child was genetically more of a girl than a boy.
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\n[post_page_title]More boy than girl[\/post_page_title]
\nHowever, this wasn\u2019t the only anomaly that had occurred in Madeleshia’s new baby. Although the child was genetically more female than male, hormonally it was more male than female.
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\nIn fact, testosterone was hugely prevalent in its body. Because of this, the doctor confirmed that the child they had just welcomed into the world was a boy after all. The couple were told not to worry about the anomaly in their child\u2019s blood, and to go home and raise their son like any other parents would do.
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\n[post_page_title]Ditching the name[\/post_page_title]
\nMadeleshia and her husband were obviously incredibly taken aback by this new development in their lives. They had struggled to determine the gender of their child during the first few ultrasounds, and then the doctors were confused. What was going on?
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\nRather than stewing on this fact, they decided to follow the doctor\u2019s orders and take their son home. They ditched the name that they had chosen for a daughter and decided to call their new child Kenny instead. Finally, Kenny was home, and they could start their lives together.
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\n[post_page_title]Something not right[\/post_page_title]
\nAlthough the couple tried to adapt to life as a family of four, they couldn\u2019t help but shake off the feeling that something wasn\u2019t quite right.
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\nThey loved their son more than anything in the world, and they were over the moon to have him back home with them. Yet, there was a niggling feeling in their hearts that their son wasn\u2019t quite what he seemed. They knew that there was something unusual about their child, and they wanted to get to the bottom of it. They needed to know what was going on.
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\n[post_page_title]More tests[\/post_page_title]
\nSo, the couple took their son to the local hospital where they explained their situation and asked for the advice of medical professionals.
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\nThey told the doctors that they knew something was amiss with their son, and how they had struggled to pinpoint whether he was a boy or a girl while they were pregnant. Because of this, the doctors decided to run tests on their newborn. They completed a full physical examination and took numerous specimens from him to get the answers they needed.
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\n[post_page_title]A medical condition[\/post_page_title]
\nThanks to these tests, the doctors were able to confirm that there was something slightly amiss with Kenny. In fact, the baby had congenital adrenal hyperplasia. This condition means that a baby is born with abnormal levels of male hormone in their body.
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\nThis can often cause physical changes to the exterior of the body, which can often make female sufferers look as though they have male body parts. This is exactly what happened to Madeleshia’s child – who she quickly discovered was a girl after all. Within minutes, her supposed son had transformed into a daughter.
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\n[post_page_title]In shock[\/post_page_title]
\nAs Madeleshia and her husband listened to what the doctors were saying, they were in utter shock. They couldn\u2019t believe what they were hearing, and couldn\u2019t believe that it was happening to them.
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\nThey had been raising their child as a son after the initial confusion, they had named their child with a boy\u2019s name, and they were convinced that they had a son. The fact that they now had another daughter was a little too much to handle, and they didn\u2019t know what to do with themselves.
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\n[post_page_title]Changing the name[\/post_page_title]
\nAs they started to digest the news that had come their way, Madeleshia and her husband started to think about what they needed to do. For starters, they needed to change the name of their daughter.
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\nThankfully, they had already picked out their girl\u2019s name previously – so they got in touch with the local registry office to legally change their child\u2019s name from Kenny to McKenzi. However, the hardest part of their whole ordeal was telling their friends and family that they didn\u2019t have a son after all…
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\n[post_page_title]Starting again[\/post_page_title]
\nAlthough the couple were relieved to finally have the answers they needed in regards to their daughter, they felt as though they had to start again. They had to prepare for a baby from scratch because they had filled their lives with boy\u2019s clothing and toys.
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\nBecause of this, the couple had to replace all of the blue clothing with pink clothing, and buy toys that they believed were more appropriate for a girl. The whole process was overwhelming, but they wanted to embrace the changes.
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\n[post_page_title]Looking at options[\/post_page_title]
\nSadly, there is no treatment or cure for congenital adrenal hyperplasia; but it can be managed. While those who suffer from the disease do struggle with certain aspects of their lives – especially during puberty – modern medicine has allowed for new and improved ways of coping with the condition.
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\nMost notably, those with the illness can take cortisol tablets regularly, and they can even have surgery. Madeleshia has since looked into her options and opted for this surgery to make her daughter\u2019s life as normal as possible.
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\n[post_page_title]A better life[\/post_page_title]
\nToday, Madeleshia and McKenzi are living a better life. Madeleshia has since welcomed another daughter into the world, and they are now a happy family of five.
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\nAlthough they struggled at the start of McKenzi\u2019s life, her parents wouldn\u2019t change her for the world. They love everything about her, and her personality shines through more and more every single day. Now they are focusing on the future and building an even brighter life for themselves and their family. Their story is truly a remarkable one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most of the time, if you’re pregnant and go in for an ultrasound, the technicians are usually pretty confident in being able to tell if your baby is a boy or girl. For this mom, the medical team around her had her convinced that they knew what the gender was of the baby she was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":71701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n