This post deals with stillbirth and may be difficult or upsetting if you have experienced pregnancy loss.
In 2012 Alex and Ben Tighe decided to try for a third child.
They had always wanted three children and after two successful pregnancies and a delightful daughter and son they were ready. But in 2008 their son, Jack was stillborn.
“Nothing prepares you for having a baby and nothing prepares you for losing a baby” Alex said.
Devastated and broken, Alex and Ben worked through their grief. After much heartache they bravely decided to try again.
Alex Tighe. Image supplied.
“There is always going to be that missing piece,” Alex says of their son Jack. “But we wanted to complete our family.”
One year later Alex was pregnant.
“We were told everything would be fine because there was no reason for what happened.
You’ll be right.
And then we lost the next one.”
She miscarried.
They tried again.
Again Alex, a lawyer from Melbourne, miscarried.
Dr Walker and a member of her team at Mercy Perinatal. Image supplied.
The shattered couple were referred to Dr Sue Walker, from Mercy Perinatal.
Mercy Perinatal, at the Mercy Hospital in Melbourne, manages women with high-risk pregnancies.
Under the care of Dr Walker Alex fell pregnant.
She miscarried again. The couple were told there were no answers, no explanation.
“And then,” Alex says, “we were pregnant again and we were terrified, but we had Sue, helping us, keeping us strong.”
Dr Walker says that for much of the time she was anxious too.
“There were quite a few times I was anxious about the pregnancy as I know Alex was. Sometimes you are outside the safe fence of evidence based medicine and you have to make the best decisions you can with the information you have got at the time.”
It was a journey into the unknown.
"It was a journey into the unknown." Image supplied.
Alex says there were many times it felt like it was too hard.
“Losing Jack was the worst by far but three subsequent miscarriages were very tough and each one hits you that little bit harder and it is that harder to get back up and say I will keep going.”
What she had by her side was Dr Walker.
“One of the un-estimated things we do is say we will hold a candle in the dark and we will journey with you to get to the other end," says Dr Walker.
Top Comments
What a beautiful story - what a beautiful ending
This story wants to make me cry and smile all at the same time!
Nothing does prepare you to lose a baby. I'm currently 14 weeks pregnant after a late miscarriage and it's terrifying. Baby Isabelle is so beautiful! <3