Couple spend $50k to pick gender of their fourth child

With three sons already, Australian couple Jayne and Jon Cornwill were intent on having a baby girl to complete their “family puzzle”.

So much so that when it came to a fourth child, they decided to travel to the US for gender selection treatment — a controversial procedure banned in Australia.

“Obviously we wanted a little girl after having three boys,” Jayne said yesterday.

“We tried all the natural things, all the diets, all the positions, all the old wives’ tales, but none of them worked. That’s when it struck me the hardest, and that’s when we decided we were going to seek medical intervention.”

The pair flew to the US to undergo the procedure which would allow them to find out their embryos’ gender. The treatment, known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), was successful and, seven months ago, their daughter Emmerson was born.

Cornwill says Emmerson’s birth came after years of “gender disappointment” caused by longing for a daughter.

“It’s like mourning the death of a child you never had,” she said.

“My husband wanted a little girl that one day he could walk down the aisle, I wanted a daughter so I could have that relationship... and our sons wanted a little sister.”

The couple say they spent around $50,000 on the overseas treatment.

The treatment should be made available to all Australians, Cornwill said.