A couple who had IVF to try for a daughter are suing their fertility clinic after welcoming a baby boy.
Heather Wilhelm-Routenberg and her wife Robin (Robbie) sought out a fertility clinic in New York to have embryos implanted - and had used the process of gender selection to ensure they had a girl.
Speaking to the New York Post, the couple explained they chose to use Robbie's egg and donor sperm to create the embryo, which was implanted into Heather's womb.
But after growing attached to their baby girl in the womb, who they thought would be a "tiny Robbie," they received a shock when they went for a 15-week scan.
As the sonographer checked the gender of the baby, she explained the couple were having a boy.
“Our jaws dropped to the floor. I was convinced it had to be someone else’s result," Heather said.
The pair then became convinced Heather had been implanted with someone else's embryo - with Heather describing it as like having an "alien" inside her.
The couple booked in for a second scan the following day which confirmed Heather was carrying a boy and the clinic began an investigation to find out if the embryo belonged to the couple at all.
Heather and Robbie were then subject to a painful seven week wait while the investigation was underway - during which time Heather admitted she had "no connection" to the baby growing inside her, because she didn't know if it was hers.
But when it was confirmed the embryo belonged to the couple, they felt a sense of "deep betrayal."
Heather said: "We had a healthy baby, but I had no emotional connection and now I had to wrap my head around having a child forever that I wasn’t planning on."
She added she hated the idea of not being able to connect with the baby inside her and described the pregnancy as a "terrible experience."
When he was born in December 2020, she struggled to breastfeed him and began to suffer severe anxiety and suicidal thoughts - and was eventually diagnosed with complex postnatal depression.
Heather stressed she didn't want to sound ungrateful as now their 18-month-old son is "full of magic."
However the couple have decided to sue their fertility clinic for the error, citing medical malpractice and battery.
While Heather is now recovering from postnatal depression, she says she feels "immense guilt and shame" over not being able to bond with him in the early months of his life.
She said: “He’s an innocent being, he didn’t deserve any of this. The clinic messed with something so integral: our baby’s first formative years. That’s the reason I am doing this – because I love my kid so much. We think our son deserved that bond from the start.”
