It's a boy! Georgia mom shocked at breaking family's 50-year streak
Dara Crouch didn't plan an elaborate "gender reveal" party. In fact, she didn't even want find to out the sex of her baby ahead of time.
The 29-year-old mom from Columbus, Georgia, who has been a labor and delivery nurse for the past 7 years, was quite sure she already knew the answer.
For the past 50 years, every baby born to a woman in her family been a girl.
So when she went into labor back in April, Crouch was thinking pink, expecting a little sister for her 3-year-old daughter, Neyland.
But when a midwife held up her newborn baby, Crouch and her husband, Eric, were given the surprise of a lifetime — it wasn't a girl after all.
For the first time in decades, her family was told, "It's a boy!"
"I really thought it was a girl," Crouch told CBS News. "But I was so happy he was here and healthy, and a little terrified it was a boy! But that anxiety left very quickly and filled with so much love for our new baby."
Photographer Neely Ker-Fox snapped some photos of the surprising moment in the delivery room, capturing Crouch's shocked expression as she saw her son, Liam, for the first time.
"When the midwife announced 'It's a boy!' the whole room, myself included, erupted into tears of joy," Ker-Fox told CBS News. "Admittedly I love shooting births when the gender is unknown. Every mother is filled with anticipation to meet their baby no matter what, but the parents that don't know and wait until the of the moment of birth, there's really nothing else like it. That's when you get moments like this captured."
Over the past six years, Ker-Fox has photographed over 100 births — but this is one that will always stand out from the rest.
"The obvious reason being her reaction," Ker-Fox said. "I capture this moment for every mother I work for. They range from tears of joy, to excitement, to exhaustion and accomplishment. And they are all genuine, every single one of them. But never have I had a mom look directly into my camera. It was such an unexpected photo to grab for me. Her face was genuine shock, which melted into pure and instantaneous love for her son."
Photos of the moment have been going viral since Ker-Fox shared a sneak peek on her photography page.
"I never expected that," Crouch said. "I'm just a regular mom, who was really surprised and shocked."
Crouch said she's happy Liam will have a chance to look back at the "iconic moment" when he gets older.
"I never expected to react like that, so it's great my son will get to see how excited we were when he was born," she said.