Luke Jacobz always knew he wanted to be a dad. But he never could have imagined how hard it would be or the toll it would take to fulfil that dream. Having started dating his now-wife Raychel in 2017, the pair began trying a year later, with no luck. And it wasn’t until some years later that they decided to get some tests done.
While there was no medical reason as to why they weren’t getting pregnant. They decided their best bet was with IVF. They faced a tough process of egg retrievals, fertilisation, and transfers, with their hopes dashed many times.
Luke, 44, who played Angelo Rosetta on Home And Away and Patrick Brewer on McLeod’s Daughters, tells Woman’s Day. “You hear stories it’s possible to fall pregnant the first try and we went in there going, ‘We’re going to be the ones that create the statistic where it’s possible.’”
After suffering three early-stage miscarriages and with only one embryo left, Raychel opted for another egg retrieval. Having put their wedding off twice by this point, the couple decided to proceed with their nuptials and do the implantation. Not thinking it would stick. The last thing they imagined was that Raychel, 37, would be walking down the aisle four months pregnant!
“We weren’t expecting that, so we just lost our minds,” he recalls. “We were so close to not trying any more because it was just so hard.”
After a “pretty horrendous” pregnancy and a “really traumatic” birth, the couple resigned themselves to the fact they wouldn’t be having any more children. But the older Maisie – now 19 months – got, the more they “felt selfish” for not giving her a sibling.
Recently, they made the decision to try IVF again, but much to their surprise. The couple fell pregnant naturally with their second child!
“I jumped up and down, and lost my mind,” Luke says of the moment he realised they were expecting again.
“That we were actually able to fall naturally with number two, it’s almost like Raychel’s body was like, ‘OK, now I know what I’m doing.’ It sort of gave us that little kick.”
Already 22 weeks along, Raychel is thankfully over her severe “24-hour sickness” and since getting pregnant was such a surprise. The couple’s decided to find out what they’re having this time – something they didn’t do with their first pregnancy.
“We’re having a boy!” beams Luke. “We are just over the moon. We’re so thrilled.”
While theirs might not have been the easiest journey. Luke firmly believes their path to parenthood was always meant to be this way.
“Things happen for a reason,” Luke reflects.
“Maybe if we fell pregnant seven or eight years ago, I might not have been emotionally and physically ready for it. Whereas now I’m absolutely, with open arms, so happy that I can promise you this right now – we’re two and through!”
