‘Christmas came early’ for the Hansen family
NEW ARRIVAL: Daughter of former Paralympian gives birth after grieving loss of stillborn son in 2015
Rick Hansen has a grandson. The B.C. Paralympian took to social media over the weekend after his daughter Emma gave birth to a boy Friday night.
“I’m so happy and proud to announce the arrival of my little grandson Everett Henry VandenBrink last night,” he posted on Facebook.
“Amanda and I are so happy that our daughter Emma and baby are healthy and doing well.”
This is the best Christmas present the family could ever get, Hansen told Postmedia in an interview on Sunday.
“Christmas came early for the Hansens,” said the beaming grandfather.
The joyous occasion comes after Emma gave birth to a stillborn son in April last year. Both Hansen and his daughter openly talked about their loss on social media.
“I know his little brother is looking over,” Hansen said.
His wife Amanda is also celebrating their special Christmas gift.
“Amanda is just over the moon to be there with Emma every step of the way,” said Hansen.
The baby is set to be home with his parents on Sunday.
“The last couple of days we have been on cloud nine,” said Hansen.
“What an unbelievable contrast to Good Friday last year.”
Following the loss of the baby last year, Hansen paid tribute to his daughter and husband Aaron.
“Sending all my love to my daughter Emma and her husband Aaron, who have shown incredible strength during this heartbreaking loss,” Hansen posted on Facebook at the time of the loss.
“Our family is so grateful and touched for all your support.
“Little baby Reid will be loved and remembered forever.”
In an April 13 blog post, Hansen’s daughter Emma revealed her son Reid Richard VandenBrink had been “born still.”
Hansen, a wheelchair athlete known for his Man in Motion World Tour, openly grieved after his grandson died in the womb on April 4, 2015 — a day before the due date.
“This is not the story I had been drafting in my mind over the weeks leading up to our due date,” Emma had then blogged. “I was imagining excited phone calls, a joyous labour and my crying baby on my chest at the end of it all. But this story still needs to be written and shared.
“For though he was born still, he was still born. This is for you my darling Reid.”
According to her blog, she noticed something was wrong and then needed hospitalization.
After rushing to B.C. Women’s Hospital, she was hooked up to a device that detects the heartbeat in the womb.
“I watched this nurse’s face the entire time, all the while clutching Aaron’s hand, and her expression went from fresh and confident to very panicked during those 60 seconds. I knew something was wrong,” she wrote.
After learning of being pregnant again, Emma wrote on her blog about her emotional ride.
“Finding out we were expecting another little boy was one of the highlights of this pregnancy so far. We opted to pay privately to get the NIPT testing done primarily to rule out the need to worry about any trisomies that might result in us having to deal with stillbirth or neonatal death. And since the NIPTs are 99.9% accurate, we felt really good about this decision — though statistics still don’t provide me with the same reassurance that they once used to,” she wrote.
“I went in for the blood test at 10 weeks and 4 days on June 10th and was told we’d hear back within 7-10 business days! I texted my OB on June 22nd, business day 8 (because she’s incredible and lets me text her when I start to go crazy), and she texted me back saying that she would hunt down the results and let me know as soon as she saw.”