Life has thrown many curve balls at Maggie and Brendan Mann since 2016.
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However it has also blessed them with wonderful gifts, none more so than their beautiful daughter, Chloe Jane Mann, who was born at Ballarat Base Hospital on June 20, 2018.
It’s safe to say relaxing on the lawn in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens with their firstborn is not where the young parents saw themselves a handful of years ago.
But when a 22-year-old Maggie was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016, long term plans were brought to the fore, and Maggie and Brendan asked doctors about their future chances of conceiving.
See the Ballarat Babies Magazine here.
“They didn’t talk to us a lot about fertility, it was mainly because we brought it up right at the start that we were able to do an IVF cycle and freeze some eggs,” says Maggie.
After completing her cancer treatment in mid-2018, fertility doctors in Melbourne told the couple they had almost a “zero chance” of having a baby, and to go home and start thinking about using the eggs immediately.
“At 24, we weren’t thinking about this (getting pregnant) until after we were married,” says Maggie.
“But we thought, ‘That’s ok, we’ll have a go now before our wedding (which was already booked, the couple marrying in late October last year)’.”
Amazingly, the couple conceived naturally and Maggie enjoyed a “pretty cruisy” pregnancy until the final weeks, when preeclampsia resulted in an induction at 37 weeks and two days.
“That’s why she was so little (2.8 kilograms),” says Maggie.
“It was a bit of a complicated birth, so she had a short stay in special care, but she’s kicking goals now.”
The family enjoy taking walks together with their pet dog Bear, and Chloe loves to watch television and spend time in water, be it the bath, or the pool where she does swimming lessons.
Maggie and Brendan’s top tips for new parents:
- Go with your gut. You know your baby the best, so go with what you feel - you know more than you think.
- Try and take lots of photos, especially when they are so small in hospital.
- Don’t overcomplicate things.
Chloe was the only name they both agreed on (“The key criteria was a name we couldn’t shorten,” says Brendan), while Jane is both Maggie and her mum Rosie’s middle name.
“She’s so happy, and very cheeky,” says Maggie. “She’ll poke her tongue out at you and pulls faces.”
“Everyone tells you all the horror stories, but it’s easier than we expected,” says Brendan, Maggie adding that Chloe is sleeping a lot better than they anticipated.
“She’s perfect, so that makes it really easy.”
Having earlier resigned themselves to the fact their path to parenthood was going to be tough, the couple are thankful for how lucky they’ve been.
“We never really saw an end in sight and thought that was where we’d be going for a while,” Brendan says of their quest to start a family.
“Now we’re married, we have a kid - happy days!”
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