Boy Or Girl? Family With 12 Sons Awaits Baby 13
ROCKFORD, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - A western Michigan couple with 12 sons is expecting baby No. 13 and they say they'll be surprised if their all-boy streak is snapped.
Jay and Kateri Schwandt's baby is due May 9 and they plan to follow their tradition of not finding out whether it's a boy or girl in advance.
Kateri Schwandt said she's not sure if her brood of boys would welcome a little sister, but she would love it.
"If we were to have a girl, I think we would go into shock," she told the Grand Rapids Press. "It would probably be disbelief."
Jay Schwandt said he would love to have a girl, but they're just "hoping for a healthy baby." The proud papa said he has to wonder what it would be like raising a little girl. In the past, he's imagined what a daddy-daughter dance would be like, or walking his princess down the aisle on her wedding day.
"I've experienced all the boy stuff," he said. "As long as we are having all these children, it would be really neat to experience the other side."
The couple welcomed their twelfth son, Tucker, to the world on Aug. 4, 2013. Their oldest son is now 22 years old.
"The stuff that goes on in this house is all-boy -- roughhousing and wrestling," Jay Schwandt said. "If there was a little girl in there, I assume it would be different."
Kateri Schwandt, after being the sole female in the family for more than two decades, said she would lean toward having one more boy.
"A little girl would be neat to have in the house, but a little boy kind of takes the pressure off," she said. "We know what we are doing. Why change things up?"
The Schwandts, who live Rockford, which is north of Grand Rapids, consider themselves devout Roman Catholics and don't believe in using birth control. Kateri Schwandt comes from a family of 14 kids. She said she is feeling well.
"I love being pregnant," she said. "I've spent half of my life being pregnant. It's very neat and very special."
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