The Curse of Mortimer

We have a new development in Dottie's progress, but to better comprehend how it could happen you should watch this video. Once you watch the video, continue reading below.

The video above is a test of selective awareness, where something happens but you don't notice it because you're focused on something else happening at the same time. During this past week we had something similar happen with Dottie. They did an ultrasound yesterday and found that Dottie will never be able to bear children because she is missing several key female reproductive organs like her uterus and ovaries. In fact, Dottie has none of them because Dottie is a BOY. Yes, a BOY.

How could this happen? It started earlier this week on Tuesday when the doctor asked us to meet with her in person. Dottie had a rapid heartbeat so Alisha and I were scared that they'd detected problems with an EKG. The doctor sat us down in a conference room with 2 other doctors and explained that they had suspicions that Dottie was in fact male, but they needed to do a lab test to be 100% positive. Those lab tests came back yesterday.

The doctor said that they'd been so concerned with the baby's survival and health that they totally ignored double-checking his gender. He was 3 months premature, so the parts were not as developed as you'd see on a full-term newborn. He was also about 50% the size of a similar preemie, so the parts were smaller and harder to distinguish. Lastly they said that he may have a defect called hypospadias which can be corrected with cosmetic surgery (if needed) in a few months. All of these factors were complications that prevented the doctors from recognizing the mistaken identity.

We love the name "Dottie Monroe", so Alisha plans to use it for our next child (assuming it's really a girl that time). We haven't picked out a name for the little tike yet, but we will within the next week as the legal corrections get submitted. We'll post his name here when we get it figured out. No suggestions, please :).

PS: I called this post "the curse of Mortimer" because before the 20-week ultrasound I jokingly called our baby "Mortimer" to anyone who asked. I guess constantly referring to him as "Mortimer" jinxed him into being a boy, even if doctors initially thought otherwise!