Father of six, married for 25 years discovers he was a woman

A US man married for 25 years who had six kids went to the hospital fives ago with a kidney stone and left with a piece of life-changing news - he was a woman.

Now, Stevie Crecelius - formerly Steve - is sharing her story. Steve was happily married to his wife and working as a photographer in Denver, Colo., when he learned he was intersex, born with both male and female anatomy.

"I had a kidney stone and we're in the emergency room," Stevie told Fox affiliate KDVR. "The nurse is reading the ultrasound and says, 'Huh, this says you're a female.'"

Stevie was shocked, but not incredibly surprised.

"It validated everything I had always felt inside," she said.

In retrospect, the diagnosis makes sense, she explains.

"I remember wearing my mom's clothes and makeup, very secretly, not telling anybody," Stevie told the station.

"When I was 17, I was working my first part-time job at a TV station as a floor cameraman and the person in charge said to me, 'You know, you walk like a queer,'" she added.

"And I thought I was hiding who I was, and I wasn't."

So Steve decided to begin living as Stevie â€" as a woman.

Part of the process was explaining the decision to her children.

"How do you tell your kids that, well, it's no longer dad, it's dadette?" she said.

But all of them, and Stevie's wife, were supportive.

"Within a few minutes, all of them said, 'I don't care dad; I love you for who you are."

Five years later, Stevie lives happily as a woman. She takes hormones but has no plans to undergo gender reassignment surgery.

And she's still married.

"I didn't sign on for this, but who signs on for anything?" Debbie Crecelius, Stevie's wife, told KDVR. "She's the same person she was as a he on the inside."

The couple still live together.

"She relates to my heart and soul, and I still relate to hers," Stevie said. "And I think that that's the essence of true love."