During the first prenatal examination, the doctors told the couple that they thought they were having a second daughter. Alas, Madeleshia had hoped to have a boy the second time around. She told News24:
“When the first sonar scan showed it was a girl who was very disappointed…after our daughter, Zadilicia, I really wanted a boy.”
The next two examinations confirmed the doctors’ first suspicions and everything seemed as if the two were going to have a baby girl again. Highly anticipated parents have chosen to name their second daughter Mackenzie.
But everything changed on the fourth exam when the doctors announced that it looked like the baby was not going to be a girl, but a baby boy! Instead of getting upset, the parents were excited about the prospect of welcoming a son into their home. Since they already had a daughter, Zadeleshia, the hope of the young family was an exciting young child.
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Kenny Hiscock was born on February 15, and the family was very happy, however, the question about the sex of the child did not stop at birth. After the baby was born, the doctors announced that he was born. But soon after he was born, Kenny started to lose weight, so his parents took him to the hospital.
It was then that the doctors began to question themselves after careful examination. Tests began to reveal the baby might just be a girl, but in the end doctors determined the baby was actually a boy and sent Kenny home with his parents.
While Madeleshia was happy with a baby boy, she began to suspect the doctors were right in their decision and sensed something was wrong. She told News24:
“We’re still not sure… The doctor told us she had too many male hormones. We were prescribed medication and went home not really understanding what was going on.”
Despite this, Madelicia and her husband requested that the baby be christened “Kenneth” and also kept it as an entry on their birth certificates. But after consulting a pro in May of that year, the couple got a huge surprise: Baby Kenneth was actually a baby girl! Doctors confirmed she had reproductive organs but was born with a rare genetic condition called congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH).
This means Hiscock’s baby simply had an abundance of male hormones but was actually female, according to the Daily Mail. A symptom of this rare condition is difficulty recognizing sex characteristics. In women, the clitoris can become a rudimentary type of penis
According to the CAH Living With CAH support group, the condition occurs in 1 in 15,000 people worldwide. The group aims to raise awareness and support people living with CAH. Their website explained:
“It’s an inherited condition that prevents the adrenal glands from working properly. To stay healthy, people with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) need to take daily lifelong medication to replace the hormones that the adrenal glands don’t. not manufacture.
The condition is hereditary and can occur in both girls and boys. It occurs when an enzyme deficiency leads to abnormal production of the hormone in the adrenal glands. In the most common cases, this leads to the production of the hormone cortisol. In an effort to compensate, the brain increases stimulation of the adrenal glands, but since they are unable to manufacture greater amounts of cortisol, they end up producing excess male hormones or androgens.
A Johannesburg pediatrician named Dr Segal told News24 that the condition can be somewhat dangerous in newborn babies as cortisol helps maintain salt levels in the body. he added:
“This requires lifelong treatment and patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) should be monitored regularly.”
Madeleshia told the outlet:
“I know the road is tough. I wish we had a better idea of what to do and how to deal with it.”
However, despite her unusual introduction to the world, baby Mackenzie is a happy and adorable little girl who enjoyed spending time with her older sister growing up. In fact, MacKenzie celebrated her eleventh birthday in February 2021 and she seems to be doing well.
