Family welcomes first daughter in their direct lineage after nearly 140 years on St. Patrick's Day

A family in Michigan welcomed their first daughter since 1885, a rainbow baby, on St. Patrick's Day. When Carolyn Clark married her husband, Andrew, she knew what she was getting herself into. From his father to his great-grandfather, his family has only had sons since 1885.

Carolyn did not initially believe the family story when she and her now-husband were dating over ten years ago. However, even with the odds against her, she was ready to be the first person to break the family tradition by giving birth to two-week-old Audrey, born on March 17. "It was a huge surprise for all of us," Andrew told Good Morning America.

"I'm like, 'Oh, it's a 50-50 chance every time. What do you mean?' He goes, 'No, legitimately, we have not had a girl in our direct line in over 100 years.'" Carolyn recalled of when Andrew told her about his family. "I asked his parents to confirm that information, and 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."

After experiencing a miscarriage in January 2021, the Clark family said, welcoming Audrey has been the sweetest experience. Speaking to WTSP, Carolyn shared, "When we decided to start growing our family, I just was like, 'I'm going to try for it.' "I want the girl." The pair also have a four-year-old son named Cameron, but Carolyn still dreamt of a daughter.

Despite facing many roadblocks on the second try, they did not lose hope. Fast forward to fifteen months, and they were expecting once again. "When we found out we were pregnant, we honestly didn't care if we were having a boy or girl at that point. We just were thankful to be pregnant and just praying for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby," Carolyn said.

In September 2022, the Clarks gathered with close family and celebrated with custom cookies filled with either blue or pink frosting to reveal the gender of the baby. When everyone collectively bit into the cookie, it was pink. “Everyone was just screaming and jumping in disbelief, honestly," shared Carolyn. 

"It was just icing on the cake that it was a girl," she added. The Clarks were once more in a dilemma after verifying on the ultrasound that it was a girl. They were at a loss for baby girl names because no one in their family had girls.

“It made it hard to come up with names because we’ve never thought of girl ones before," said Andrew. "We kept it a secret to ourselves as well. So I just assumed it was going to be blue in the center of the cookies and it'd be another boy in the lineage. I was shocked. I think I just stared at the center of that cookie like, it's really pink. So it was a good surprise for us."

Since their first child, Cameron was born three days before Christmas, the Clarks tried to avoid another holiday baby and chose to induce on March 16 this year.  “Clearly, she had other plans," laughed Carolyn. The name Audrey Marie Clark, meaning strength, broke the 138-year boy streak — and they think she is the "cutest little lucky charm" under the rainbow. Carolyn added, "We're so happy that she's finally here and once again, that she's healthy and that everything went well with the delivery."