Stacey Hughes always knew she wanted to have a little girl, but her pathway to getting there was a little different.
Already a mum to three boys, in 2019 she travelled with her family to undergo IVF in the United States, where the team implanted a female embryo.
Ms Hughes is one of hundreds of Australian parents who choose to travel overseas for sex selection, a practice that is not permitted in Australia other than for medical reasons.
"I didn't want a fourth child, I wanted a girl," Ms Hughes told AAP.
"My mum passed away in 2009 so I didn't have that mother-daughter relationship anymore and I just also wanted to have a girl in our family."
Experts say Ms Hughes is not alone, with parents wanting to select a boy or a girl for family balancing reasons.
Australia previously allowed sex selection for non-medical reasons, however in the early 2000s the guidelines changed, Connect IVF scientific director Lauren Hiser said.
As a result, people are choosing to travel to nations that allow it, including parts of Southeast Asia, Europe and the US.
"The concern in allowing Australians to go offshore is that we can't control the quality of service they are going to get overseas," Ms Hiser said.
"The Australian IVF industry is highly regulated and allowing sex selection would make it safer for people to access."
Ms Hiser stressed the process was not akin to "playing God" as the embryos were made during a regular IVF process and tested for a range of genetic abnormalities which also determined their sex.
The number of people wanting to select a particular sex was in the hundreds, so allowing it in Australia would not expand boy or girl ratios in a particular direction, she added.
"The reality is that sex selection is happening in Australia already, just not in the IVF industry," she said.
"We have non-invasive pre-natal testing at around 10 weeks, so some people are getting pregnant, determining the sex and then choosing to continue with that pregnancy or not.
"Then there's the risk of people going through a termination of pregnancy with all the physical and emotional impacts that come with that."
Gender Selection Australia (GSA) is a service that helps families navigate overseas IVF processes.
The sex selection process often came with a lot of misinformation, GSA general manager Nikki Mason said.
"The majority of people want to balance out their family, it's not about preferring one sex over another," she said.
"Sex selection is not manufacturing a result, it's just revealing what (embryos) families have after a normal IVF process and then they can choose which to implant."
The IVF process is already stressful and the additional overseas travel costs make it unattainable for many.
It cost Ms Hughes and her family about $30,000, including medications, accommodation, flights and medical appointments.
While family and friends supported her decision, she faced trolling online after she previously spoke to the media about her experience.
"I don't understand (the trolling) because it doesn't really affect anyone that I've had a baby girl," she said.
"I think there's a lack of understanding of the process and people thinking that you are intervening."
