It’s been over a year since the tragic death of Olympic snowboarder Alex “Chumpy” Pullin and now, the late athlete’s partner Ellidy Pullin has welcomed their first child into the world.
The podcast host announced her beautiful news via her Instagram page on October 28th.
Ellidy welcomed her baby, Minnie Alex Pullin, on October 25th.
“Our girl, born 25th October 2021,” she wrote alongside an image of herself with the baby.
The arrival of the couple’s first child is no doubt a bittersweet milestone for Ellidy and Chumpy’s loved ones but a welcome miracle nonetheless.
Ellidy, who co-hosts the popular podcast Darling, Shine! with her best friend Chloe Fisher, announced she was expecting her late partner’s child in June after retrieving his sperm just hours after his untimely passing in July 2020.
Prior to Chumpy’s death, the couple had been trying for almost a year for a baby and were contemplating starting IVF.
However, when the talented snowboarder died in a freak drowning accident in Palm Beach on the Gold Coast last year, Ellidy was forced to speed up the entire process.
“In the weeks after [his death] I had hoped to god that I was pregnant. I just prayed for this little miracle. Everyone knew we were trying so hard for a baby and had been trying for ages and had started to talk about IVF,” she explained to 7 News.
“Luckily the days after – we’re going to talk about sperm retrieval. Up until 36 hours, I think the legislation is in Queensland, you can actually retrieve sperm from a deceased person’s body.”
“We were able to hustle – Chumpy’s parents were in town, everyone was signing court documents, legal documents and dealing with the coroners and the lawyers and the doctors,” she revealed of the sperm retrieval process.
“I know a lot of widows haven’t had this opportunity and I want to spread awareness on this. Not a lot of people know about sperm retrieval.”
The 28-year-old revealed it took two rounds of IVF to fall pregnant with her late partner’s child.
Despite taking on the enormous challenge of being a single parent, the Gold Coast-based beauty says she has “never been more certain or excited about anything in my entire life.”
“I’m not saying it’s going to be easy or a walk in the park. I have a lot ahead of me, I’ve got big shoes to fill,” Ellidy admitted on her podcast of raising a baby solo.
“I’ve got to be a dad and a mum in one, and not just any dad, I’ve got to be a Chumpy dad. I go through a lot every day and I will forever grieve, that never leaves you, but I was always so sure of one thing – that I was always going to have this bub.”
Throughout his successful snowboarding career, world champion Chumpy represented the nation at three Winter Olympic Games and was the Australian flag-bearer at the Sochi Olympics in 2014.
This article first appeared on our sister site, Now to Love.
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