Hi Dawn,
Hope you will be back to full health very soon!

Regarding the Leprechauns. I am not sure where the story of no Female Leprachauns started. I too have read a lot of books where it is stated there are no females. I have no idea if the people who wrote the books, see or are in contact with nature spirits.
When I started out on nature spirit photography, I decided to cast the books aside and experience them first hand. I see a lot of females and children around. So I pressume they reproduce in some similar fashion to humans. Tanis Helliwell's book "Summer with the Leprechauns", is a true story of the summer she stayed in Ireland and met and interacted with a Leprechaun. He had a wife and children.

Hope this is of some help to you.

Take care Dawn