Photo: Don Arnold/WireImage
Ellidy Pullin, the widow of Australian Olympic snowboarderAlex “Chumpy” Pullin, is a mom!
Sharing aset of photographsof herself and the newborn on Instagram, Ellidy detailed that her daughter was born on Monday and has been named Minnie Alex Pullin.
Ellidy previously announced that she was pregnant in June, writing on social media that she and Alex had been “dreaming for years” about having a child together.
“With a heart wrenching plot twist in the middle, I am honoured to finally welcome a piece of the phenomenon that is Chumpy back into this world!” shewroteat the time.
Ellidy recentlyopened upabout her pregnancy in an essay forVogue Australia’s September 2021 issue, calling the experience “bittersweet” as she and her late Olympian love had been trying for a child nine months before the spearfishing accident that took his life.
The model became pregnant after undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) using sperm retrieved from Alex shortly after his death — which is permitted under Australia’s Queensland guidelines when the deceased’s immediate family give their consent, among other strict regulations.
The process, according to Ellidy, involved “a host of signed legal documents, coroner’s approval, and the cooperation of a fertility doctor from an IVF clinic,” something that she now understands was an “enormous amount of effort my family, friends, lawyers, and doctors put in, in those critical hours after Chump passed away, to give me the opportunity to continue our dream of starting a family.”
Ellidy started IVF treatments in December. Though the first embryo transfer was not successful, she was able to conceive on the second try.
This past July, Ellidy marked one year since Alex’s death with aheartfelt tributeto the athlete. “Our hearts bleed. May you glimmer under the sea forever, your favourite place,” she wrote. “Bubba Chump and I promise to carry on your legacy and make you proud every single day.”
source: people.com
