When Stephani Lohman got her first look at her newborn in the delivery room, she playfully hit her husband, Eric, on the arm. She made a flustered comment about how ultrasounds could get the sex of the child wrong. The next few days were filled with extensive tests and examinations until the doctors were finally able to make a diagnosis. Rosie had two X chromosomes, and so was considered to be female, they said, but she had salt-wasting congenital adrenal hyperplasia, a severe form of a condition called CAH for short.
Three days after Rosie was born in an Ontario hospital, Eric and Stephani were invited to a meeting with specialists to discuss steps. They recall walking into a room with more than a dozen medical staff: pediatric gynecologists, geneticists, pediatric urologists, endocrinologists and a social worker.
"It was probably the most intimidating room I've ever been in," Eric said. Rosie's parents said a pediatric urologist presented them with two options only: They could reduce the size of Rosie's clitoris and create a vaginal canal, or solely do the vaginal canal surgery.
He recommended that Rosie have both procedures done simultaneously at about 6 months old, and preferably not much later than that. The argument was that the younger Rosie was, the faster she would heal, and she wouldn't have to experience looking physically different from other children.
After thorough research, Rosie's parents knew that they didn't want either procedure.
To their dismay, not having any surgery was never presented to them as a possibility, Eric said. And when he brought it up, the doctor said that was a choice he wouldn't recommend, due to the risk that Rosie might eventually experience psychological trauma from not looking like other girls.
The rest of the staff stayed silent, Stephani said.
"It would have been nice to think that we had one ally in there, but we didn't," Stephani said. Read more via CNN