Tina & Garry, parents and positive

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 an 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