Our story
The day we found out I was pregnant, was one of the best days of our lives. Both myself and Aston had been wanting to start a family for a little while so we were both filled with joy. We went on to find out we were having a baby girl. Daddy’s little princess. We had many conversations about names but we always came back to the name Ellsie.
My pregnancy was smooth and I loved feeling my baby girl kick inside my tummy. I would always cry at the thought of being able to grow my daughter and be connected to her in such a surreal way. I knew how privileged I was to experience such a feeling.
On the 28th of January, my waters broke at 1am. I quickly woke Aston up with excitement. He thought I was joking. We got in the car and went straight to hospital. There we waited until 7am the next day as I wasn’t getting contractions. The midwife’s induced me and 3 hours later our beautiful girl arrived.
Ellsie Rochelle Stark arrived in the world on the 29 of January 2024 at 12:27pm, weighing 2.5kg and 45cm in length. She was absolutely perfect. We were smitten. Words cannot describe the euphoric feelings we all felt during the first 24 hours. Our beautiful girl was finally here and our life together had just begun.
The next 12 weeks that followed were something out of a dream. Every day was filled with Ellsie’s pure perfection. Her smiles, her coos, her farts, her smell, her eyes. Everything about her was amazing. Our life was amazing. I loved every single second of being Ellsie’s Mum and Aston felt so proud to be Ellsie’s Dad.
On the 21st of April, our world came crashing down. I woke up at 5:50am and knew something was wrong straight away. Our little girl was no longer breathing. I can’t put into words the feelings, thoughts and emotions that followed during that morning. It is all just a blur. The police. The ambulance. The helicopter. The paramedics. The gut feeling I had in my whole body.
The thing that we were most afraid of happening, happened.
It still does not feel real. I still don’t want to accept that our Ellsie girl is not coming back.
If there is a chance that we can eliminate this horrible syndrome, we will do everything we can so no one has to feel the pain that we are feeling.
Tiana Norman – Ellsie’s Mum
Ellsie Rochelle Stark – 29/01/2024 – 21/04/2024
Together with River’s Gift, Tiana and Aston set up “Unite for Ellsie” in honour of their precious baby daughter, and have been incredible supporters through our 2024 Shine Blue campaign bringing together local schools, childcare centres and businesses, raising funds for River’s Gift in our combined hope of Stamping Out SIDS.
Find Tiana and Uniting for Ellsie on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/tianna.norman.52/
Click here follow Tiana’s journey on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/tiannaa.normann
Follow Tiana on TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@tiannanorman
@tiannanorman
