Our journey has been rather complicated. My amazing wife is an absolute trooper and the rock of our family and I am training and fundraising for her.
Back in 2019 we purchased our first home together and immediately started trying to build our little family. On Melbourne Cup day in 2019, my wife came home from work and handed me two positive pregnancy tests. I was in utter shock and she had fallen the first try and probably the night we moved into our new home. We were a lot younger and naive on what to expect and carried on with the process in utter excitement.
On the 20th of December, my wife went in for her viability scan before completing the Harmony Test. I was at work and received the phone call with my wife crying saying that there is no heart beat. In complete disbelief I left work immediately to be by her side. We were recommended to go get a D&C and I was still in complete shock that there wasn't a heatbeat so requested that they do another ultrasound with me present at the hospital. It was confirmed with no heartbeat and we proceeded with the D&C.
Fast forward a couple of months and once again my wife handed me two pregnancy tests with positive results. My reaction was, "You're kidding me!" As we had only been trying again for a month. Again, we went through the process but this time much more anxious.
We got to the 10 week scan prior to the Harmony Test and the sonographer mentioned that our baby girl has a extra thick nuchal fold which needed to be examine further. The Harmony Test results came back all clear and Mel went to do a few more scans and then we were recommended for an amniocentesis.
As we continued on our journey we continue to receive positive news and the nuchal fold had disappeared. The doctors had told us to start to be more positive that this is going to be a good outcome so we did and decided to share the news on Facebook with our friends and family, that we were expecting.
Literally the morning after we decided to share, we received a call from the Genetic Counsellor that our baby girl had a rare genetic condition called Noonans Syndrome. After visiting the Genetic Counscellor in the hospital, he handed us 4 pieces of paper which detailed everything we needed to know about Noonans Syndrome.
Our hearts dropped in our chest and we still to this day say that was the day we became adults and had to deal with adult shit.
I remember reading the stats about how 70% of children with this condition suffer from depression, let alone all the other highly likely complications associated. Me and my wife made the difficult decision to terminate the pregnancy at 19 weeks and 6 days. As the pregnancy was so far along, Mel had to give birth naturally and we had the most amazing hour with our angel baby, that time will be forever remembered in our hearts.
Fast forward 13 months later and my wife gave birth to our amazing son Benjamin. The absolute light of our lives. He is such a bundle of joy and has made our lives 1000000x better..jpg)
As of late, trying to conceive has been rather difficult. We had been trying for 9 months and started the initial discussions with IVF. Prior to starting the IVF medication my wife handed me a positive pregnancy test. Our stresses and pressure for the last 9 months of trying to conceive had been eliminated.
My wife recently went in to have an ultrasound on the 23/06/2023 and the sonographer confirmed that there was no heartbeat at 9 weeks pregnant and bubba had not grown since 6 weeks. It took 9 months to conceive and 3 weeks to lose :(
Once again we have to go through the process tomorrow at the hospital to discuss options regarding a D&C.
As you can see - a complicated journey but your page brings so much happiness to my wife and I would love to do anything to raise money for you guys.
- Blake
Blake is training for the Sutherland to Surf. Donate to his fundraiser here.