Finally! Michigan family with 14 sons welcomes first daughter

LAKEVIEW, Mich. — It’s a girl! Finally, it’s a girl.

A western Michigan couple welcomed their first daughter after having 14 sons, the Detroit Free Press reported. Kateri Schwandt gave birth to Maggie Jayne Schwandt on Wednesday night. She weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and is 20 inches long at birth.

“We are overjoyed and beyond excited to add Maggie Jayne to our family,” Jay Schwandt told the newspaper after his wife gave birth at a Grand Rapids hospital. “This year has been memorable in so many ways, for so many reasons, but Maggie is the greatest gift we could ever imagine.”

The Schwandts, both 45, began dating as high school freshmen and were married in 1993, the Free Press reported. They attended Ferris State University and had three sons before they graduated -- Tyler, Zach and Drew. Those boys were followed by Brandon, Tommy, Vinny, Calvan, Gabe, Wesley, Charlie, Luke, Tucker, Francisco and Finley, the newspaper reported.

“My parents were finally blessed with the little girl they never thought they’d end up having,” said Tyler Schwandt, now 28. “It’s been about 12 hours since my dad told us, and I still haven’t quite wrapped my mind around it.

“I don’t even know if my mom owns any pink clothing -- or anything,” Tyler Schwandt, who is engaged to be married told the Free Press.

“If we were to have a girl, I think we would go into shock,” Kateri Schwandt told MLive in 2014.

Schwandt family adds a girl In this 2018 photo, the Schwandt family poses for a photo at their farm in Michigan. Standing from left are Tommy, Calvan, Drew, Tyler, Zach, Brandon, Gabe, Vinny and Wesley. Seated, starting at upper left are Charlie, Luke, mother Kateri holding Finley, father Jay with Tucker and Francisco in the foreground. The 14-boy family has welcomed their first daughter on Wednesday. (Mike Householder, Associated Press, file)

Maggie’s gender was a surprise. The Schwandt family does not use the option of finding out each baby’s sex, WOOD-TV reported.

“It’s kinda part of the buildup for them,” Jay Schwandt told the television station in April 2014. “They enjoy it. Is it going to be a girl, is it going to be a boy? What if it’s a girl?”

The Schwandts have been featured for years every time another family member was added. They have a livestreaming program, “14 Outdoorsmen,” according to the Free Press. That name will probably have to be changed.

Earlier this year, after Kateri Schwandt announced she was pregnant, she said that “there’s enough testosterone” in the house to “fill a stadium” and that, if they had a girl, she’d be “the most spoiled and protected child her entire life, especially during her teenage years.”

That’s bad news for boys knocking on the Schwandt door years from now to take Maggie on a date.