Meet Tina and Garry - proud new parents of a baby boy

A miracle you might say - because Tina and Garry are officially a serodiscordant couple. (In simple terms, it means one of them is HIV positive).

Deciding to have a baby is a big decision for anyone, but for a couple living with HIV the decision is more complicated. Tina and Garry today join the growing numbers of seroconcordant couples in Australia who have successfully given birth to healthy babies.

Mother to child transmission of HIV is rare in Australia and usually only occurs when the woman doesn't find out she's HIV-positive in time to take precautions to prevent it.

New advances in treatments

Thanks to the medical treatments now available, HIV positive people have a better quality of life, and that’s why it’s common for many couples in this position to consider the possibility of starting a family.

New advances in life insurance

And thanks to the specialty life insurance advisers at unusualrisks.com.au HIV positive people and diabetics can now also qualify for high-quality life insurance too. This was something that for many years was simply impossible.

Getting ready for getting pregnant

Tina and Garry wanted to become pregnant and decided they would learn everything they could before they become pregnant.  As part of their plan, they discussed their dream with their GP who also referred them to a HIV specialist. Tina had questions about whether the antiretroviral meds would have an impact on her fertility and found that for a healthy person with an undetectable viral load gives them the best chance of success.

After many long conversations, they eventually decided to use some reproductive assistance to help them navigate through the process to reduce the risks involved. After a couple of false starts, the good news arrived: they were pregnant.

Ask any new parent (or parent to be) what’s high on their list of priorities and they’ll mention protecting and providing for their partner and their new family.  That’s where the peace of mind or having your own life insurance policy in place comes in – just in case – because we all have someone special to protect and provide for.

Tina’s tips for other serodiscordant couples starting a family

"Sometimes you feel overwhelmed with advice but these are the 4 key things for our family".

• Get as healthy as you can and get happy.
• Speak with your GP and HIV specialist before you get pregnant.
• Where possible plan ahead and get your life insurance sorted before you get pregnant (it’s just easier that way and whatever you can do to feel better and safer is a good thing.)
• Learning about how to look after yourself and keep the baby safe are more complicated for a woman living with HIV. This adds to stress during the pregnancy and afterward so try and build yourself a support network for you, your partner and the baby.

“If you’re already pregnant – Congratulations!  Get your life insurance sorted. If you don’t do it today it can get lost under a pile of other things you have to do and slip your mind.  For us, it was more about feeling and being responsible and the habits of good parents I suppose” – Tina and Garry

Meet Lisa. She's a procurement manager for a busy national corporate and there's nothing she can't find when she puts her mind to it

But when it came to life insurance for somebody with diabetes, that proved a bigger challenge.

Last year while on holidays, Lisa's partner Sandra had to go to the hospital after a problem with her diabetes medication.

Meet Jennifer and Amber - partners for life.

Jennifer has spent the last 8 years climbing the corporate ladder in a busy city law firm and made senior associate last Christmas.

Her obsessive attention to detail means she's particularly good at what she does but the possibility of having to work through the fine print details of a life insurance policy is not something she's looking forward to.

Jennifer enjoys learning about products and services in her own time, doing her own comparisons and research and then preparing her list of hard-hitting questions, before talking to anyone about them.

Meet Terry - a skilled fly-in fly-out mining professional who looked for unusualrisks.com.au

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'My name is Terry and I'm 37 and I married my childhood sweetheart. A few years ago we decided as a family that the only way we could get ahead and save a big deposit for a house, was for me to go work in the remote mines of Western Australia or Northern Queensland. The plan was to work hard for 5 or 6 years and use my high income to save a healthy deposit'.

Meet Ethan - a sensible and available guy

"Why I took out life insurance at age 24"

Everyone’s personal situation is different.

I’ve been out of university for just over a year now and have a list of ‘first’ experiences: my first real job; my first apartment (ok I share that with mates); my first official tax return and my first life insurance policy.

I’m now officially a 24-year-old single guy with no financial dependents (other than my dog) and a life insurance policy owner. WooHoo!

Meet George - logistics co-ordination ninja

He spends most of his work day chasing boxes, deadlines and freight companies running late.

His partner is the love of his life (and drives him crazy at times). George has a stepdaughter who he adores and a well-earned reputation as a bit of Weekend DIY Tragic, relentlessly renovating his townhouse.

George’s shift-work is often unpredictable, so living closer to work and cafes makes his life easier.

Lately, here's beeing thinking about the hard emotional decision, How much is enough?.

How much is Life Insurance enough?

Meet Naomi - nurse, single and super mum

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Naomi is an experienced accident and emergency nurse with more than 5 years experience working in the surgical wards and in and around potentially dangerous medical workspaces.

She is used to managing chaos and moody teenagers; she has two of her own she's hoping to put into private school next year for their senior years before they hopefully go to university.

Meet Dave - life of the party

He's a big fan of the party life and 'works hard so he can play hard'. If you ever got into a serious conversation with him, he's an open-minded no-labels kind of guy.

His work ute looks as good as he does and he's in high demand on Saturday night - and always swipes right - if you know what we mean.

Meet Donna and Jade - caterers to the stars!

Donna and Jade run a busy catering business with 2 full-time staff and a half dozen casual contractors. Donna is the company advertising and paperwork wiz and Jade transforms food into art you can eat. They're both company directors and each own 50% of the company's shares.

Meet Leanne and Jenni - experienced professionals

Leanne and her partner Jenni are corporate professionals working in HR and Town Planning. They've been together in a de facto relationship for over ten years now and worked hard to establish their careers and their family.