AFL world sends flood of congratulations over news about Gary Rohan and wife Madi
The Geelong Cats player had recently opened up about his family heartache.
Gary Rohan and wife Madi have announced the arrival of their new son, sparking a flood of congratulatory messages from around the AFL world on social media. The Geelong Cats veteran posted a photo of himself, Madi and their new baby on Saturday night, writing: "Home time with our little man."
The couple had announced the pregnancy last August, sharing a photo of the ultrasound on Instagram. “Grow’n a Rohan. Our rainbow baby is on the way,” the pair wrote in the caption.
“What felt like the longest journey to hearing your heart beat, was worth every second to soon have you in our arms. We are so excited to be your Mum & Dad."
The baby boy is Gary and Madi's first together, while Gary has two daughters with ex-wife Amie (Bella and Sadie), with whom he split in 2020. Amie gave birth to twin girls Willow and Bella in 2018, but Willow died just five hours after being born. Willow suffered from a neural tube defect called anencephaly - which causes part of the brain and skull to be underdeveloped.
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Gary and Madi recently revealed that they'd also suffered a "missed miscarriage", in which the foetus is no longer alive but the body still thinks it's pregnant. The ordeal immediately brought back painful memories for Rohan.
“I lost a child with my last partner, so obviously this (miscarriage) brought back a lot of memories,” he said on the Parenthood Podcast. “Willow, she had anencephaly where part of the skull doesn’t mould together. We knew she wouldn’t have life after birth. We had five amazing hours with Willow before she grew her wings and left.”
Rohan, who has played 192 AFL games across stints with Sydney and Geelong, said he now has a very different perspective on life. “I go into scans now not hoping so much as just wanting to make sure every scan is ticked off along the way,” he said. “I went in hoping that the first box would be ticked, but obviously it wasn’t. We just needed time to grieve together, and then we went again.”
Gary and Madi Rohan's beautiful baby news after heartache
Madi said the miscarriage was discovered in a seven-week scan. “I was still growing and showing symptoms, and my HGV levels were elevating, so my body still hadn’t registered it,” she revealed. “We were told there was no heartbeat, but to still hold some hope for a scan two weeks later just in case there was something that would continue to develop.
“Unfortunately, two weeks later we had confirmation there was definitely no heartbeat. I didn’t blame myself for the miscarriage, it is what it is, but the second time around you’re a lot more mindful of the advice out there.”
The couple decided to give it another shot and are now proud new parents. “We really wanted a family, and it’s something we wanted as soon as possible, but you’re so mindful now of what could potentially go wrong,” Madi said. “If something had happened again, I probably would have blamed myself more, but I’m thanking our lucky stars everything seems to be OK.”
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