A family in Michigan have revealed that they’ve welcomed their first baby girl in over 138 years on father Andrew Clark’s side of his family.
Andrew and his wife Carolyn opened up about welcoming their daughter Audrey on 17 March during a recent interview with Good Morning America. Andrew claims that the records from his side of the family show that Audrey is the first daughter that they’ve welcomed since 1885.
Carolyn said that when Andrew told her that the people in his family have only given birth to boys, she didn’t initially believe it.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s a 50-50 chance every time. What do you mean?’” she recalled. “He goes, ‘No, legitimately, we have not had a girl in our direct line in over 100 years.”
Carolyn added that Andrew’s mother confirmed the family’s history.
“They’re like, ‘Oh yeah, no, we haven’t had a girl in our direct line.’ He’s had uncles and cousins that have had girls but in his lineage, there has not been a girl,” Carolyn explained.
Speaking to The Independent, Carolyn, who also has a four-year-son with her spouse, explained why her daughter is her “rainbow baby born on a lucky day”.
“We had a miscarriage in January 2021 and it took 15 months after the miscarriage to become pregnant with Audrey,” she explained. “She was definitely worth the wait. She was born on St Patty’s Day, March 17, 2023. She is our lucky charm! Her big brother Cameron is so in love with her and he is doing a great job as a big brother.”
Carolyn told GMA that she wasn’t necessarily concerned about having another boy.
“We just were thankful to be pregnant and just praying for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby,” she said. “It was just icing on the cake that it was a girl.”
The two parents said that they first learned about their baby’s gender in September 2022 during a gender reveal party surrounded by close family members. The event included decorative cookies filled with pink frosting.
Andrew said that once he discovered his child’s gender, he was “shocked”.
“We kept it a secret to ourselves as well. So I just assumed it was going to be blue in the centre of the cookies and it’d be another boy in the lineage,” he explained to GMA. “I was shocked. I think I just stared at the centre of that cookie like, it’s really pink. So it was a good surprise for us.”
Speaking to WZZM 13, Carolyn recalled the “countdown” that she and her family did before taking a bite out of that cookie. Upon eating, she recalled the joyous response everyone had in the moment.
“Everyone was just screaming and jumping in disbelief, honestly,” she said.
After noting how difficult it was for him to “come up with names” for his daughter since his family has always raised boys, Andrew said his feelings of disbelief stayed with him throughout his wife’s pregnancy.
“I think every ultrasound she was like, ‘double check that it’s a girl. I don’t believe in it,’” he said.
Carolyn emphasised how happy she was about the newest addition to her family, telling GMA: “We’re so happy that she’s finally here and once again, that she’s healthy and that everything went well with the delivery.”
