RADIO COUPLE’S BABY MIRACLE
Wedatfirst sightand nowabub!
Marrying a complete stranger is no easy task, but staying wed has been an even bigger challenge for Sade Peel and Aaron Schuurman, who together have faced everything from infidelity to infertility.
The pair tied the knot in 2015 as part of The Edge’s Strangers and a Wedding radio contest when they met for the very first time at the altar. Now the Kiwi lovebirds have revealed to Woman’sDay that, in July, their family is going to expand with the arrival of their first child.
“Finding out I was pregnant was the best moment of my life,” beams Sade, rubbing her blossoming baby bump at our photo shoot. “I’ve been wanting this ever since I was 15 years old!”
As she leans over to give her husband Aaron, 34, a quick kiss on the cheek, the pair look blissfully happy, but things were very different this time last year when Sade was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
“We had been trying for a baby for six months and nothing had happened, so we decided to get checked out,” explains Sade, 29. “When I found out I had PCOS and that there was a chance I wouldn’t be able to conceive naturally, I was depressed for an entire month.”
PCOS is an incurable hormonal disorder that causes cysts to develop on the ovaries and, if left untreated, can also lead to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and endometrial cancer.
For Aaron, it broke his heart watching his wife go through depression.
He recalls, “She’s always wanted to have a baby, and she just lights up with all her nieces and nephews. She felt like she’d failed as a woman.”
But a few months later, the couple reluctantly decided to try fertility drugs and much to their surprise, they fell pregnant almost instantly.
“It felt like an absolute miracle,” gushes Sade. “When I saw those two lines on my pregnancy test, I fell to the ground and cried for half an hour. It was just overwhelming and the best moment.”
Makeorbreak
The couple are now living in Sydney after Aaron got a job there as a commercial diver, but things haven’t exactly been smooth sailing throughout their three-year marriage.
Not long after they tied the knot, Sade discovered Aaron had been unfaithful to her, finding a collection of texts and online messages to other women on his phone. Although his affairs were all digital rather than physical, it still hit Sade hard.
“There was definitely a time when I wanted to call it quits,” she admits. “During that turmoil, I wasn’t thinking about a future and a family. I was just thinking, ‘Can I get through this? Am I capable of forgiveness and giving this man all my trust again?”
It took them a year to work through their issues, with Sade relying heavily on her family and friends while also writing her first novel about the relationship journey of marrying a complete stranger.
“That was very difficult for me, to find those kinds of things on his phone with other women and for him to also stop doing that was a huge deal,” she explains. “I’d always been ready for marriage, but he was just a bachelor right up until getting married, so he had a bigger adjustment than I did.”
Despite the heartache, Sade has been able to forgive Aaron and since moving to Sydney at the end of 2016, their relationship has flourished.
Aaron tells, “I’ve become a more mature and responsible person since those days. I’m also more understanding of Sade’s feelings and her needs in our marriage.”
Despite his newfound maturity, Aaron admits that
he was shaken when Sade first told him he was going to be a father.
“I felt pretty scared and shocked at first, to be honest, because all of a sudden I have the responsibility of raising a kid,” he reveals. “It’s a scary moment for any guy.
“But I’m excited now and looking forward to my kid looking after me when I’m old!”
On their unconventional relationship, Sade explains, “Marrying a stranger was exciting at first – there were all these possibilities. But once we got over that honeymoon phase, it was just like every other relationship with ups and downs. We fought so hard to keep our marriage.”