Family welcome first girl since 1885 breaking rare 138 year tradition
Jess Hardiman
Featured Image Credit: WZZM13/ABC
A mum in the US gave birth to a baby daughter earlier this year - who, believe it or not, is the first girl in the family since 1885.
Carolyn Clark, from Caledonia, was warned by her husband Andrew then they got married 10 years ago that his family didn’t tend to produce any girls.
Speaking to WZZM13, she recalled: “He was like, 'Oh, we don't we don't have girls'.
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“And I'm like, 'Okay,' like, I thought he was just messing with me."
But it turned out Andrew was very much serious, as his family hasn’t welcomed a baby girl since 1885.
Ever since then, they’ve only ever had sons - until last month, that is, when Carolyn broke the 138-year streak with little Audrey.
Carolyn and Andrew were already parents to a boy, four-year-old Cameron, but decided they wanted to expand their family.
“When we decided to start growing our family, I just was like, 'I'm going to try for it,'" Carolyn said, adding: "I want the girl."
Sadly, the couple had a miscarriage, followed by another in January 2021.
Fast forward 15 months later, however, and the pair finally received the good news that they were expecting child number two.
The couple - who were ‘overwhelmed with joy - opted for a gender reveal party with friends and family, giving out cookies filled with either blue or pink.
Everyone then did a countdown and ‘took a bite’, before looking to see what colour frosting was inside.
You’ve guessed it: it was pink.
“Everyone was just screaming and jumping in in disbelief, honestly," Carolyn continued.
Husband Andrew said they didn’t ‘believe’ it throughout the entire pregnancy.
“I think every ultrasound she was like, 'Double check that it's a girl',” he said, adding that it also made it ‘really hard to come up with names’ as they’d never thought of female versions before.
Rainbow baby Audrey Marie Clark was born on St Patrick’s Day - a lucky charm, if ever there was one.
“It was just joy, you know, just that she was here and healthy," Carolyn said.
“It made it even more special that it was a girl because it was like, you were worth the wait and all the struggles.”
She added: “I got my girl."