It's been over a year since Aussie snowboard champion Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin died in a freak diving accident.
The 32-year-old Winter Olympian was pulled from the water after he was found unresponsive while spearfishing in the Gold Coast last July.
Now, his girlfriend, Ellidy Pullin, has welcomed their child together, who was conceived through IVF after his death.
The swimwear model and podcast host shared the news on Instagram today, announcing she had welcomed a baby girl.
"Hello, I have a baby!" she said in a video on her Instagram Story.
"And we have been a lil busy and tired."
Ellidy later shared a photo of her daughter, who she welcomed on Monday this week and named Minnie Alex Pullin after her father.
"Our girl, born 25th October 2021," she captioned the post.
She also posted a video of the couple's dog, Rummi, with the caption, "Big sister".
Ellidy first announced she was pregnant with Chumpy's child back in a "heart-wrenching plot twist" back in June, after successfully conceiving through IVF.
"Bubba Chump coming this October. Your Dad and I have been dreaming of you for years little one," she wrote on Instagram at the time, alongside a series of photos of her bump.
"With a heart wrenching plot twist in the middle, I am honoured to finally welcome a piece of the phenomenon that is Chumpy back into this world!"
She went on to share that the pair were hoping to fall pregnant the month Chumpy died.
"When my love had his accident, we all held onto hope that I’d be pregnant that month. We’d been trying for a baby. IVF was on our cards but it wasn’t something I ever imagined I’d be tackling on my own. Bittersweet like none other, I’ve never been more certain or excited about anything in my entire life."
Ellidy also shared a photo of her and Rummi at the time.
"When you do a pregnancy shoot with your dog instead of your person. All of the feels," she captioned the post.
Chumpy, who competed at three Winter Olympics, drowned in what was believed to be a shallow water blackout at Palm Beach, Gold Coast, on July 8.
That morning, he was found unresponsive on the ocean floor of an artificial reef by a local snorkeler.
Lifeguards rushed to help before paramedics performed CPR for 45 minutes. However, the 32-year-old could not be revived.
Speaking on a recent episode of Darling Shine podcast, Ellidy opened up about "grief" she feels for Chumpy who's missing out on fatherhood.
"I see dads with their babies knowing how good he would have been," she shared.
"Every day I go to the beach and I see guys walking along the beach with their chicks and the guy is carrying the baby in the carrier on his chest and the girl’s got the dog."
"When I see a dad with a baby it f***ing kills me, and I am so happy for that person, it’s not a pity party here."
Ellidy went on to share just how "bittersweet" the experience has been.
"I’m having a baby which is going to be the most beautiful thing ever and bittersweet in that it’s almost going to create more trauma here and there," she said.
"It’s really hard to swallow the fact that he’s missing this, he deserves this time, he wanted this, he would have been the best dad."
Earlier this month, Ellidy shared a letter she wrote to her unborn baby "in the midst of turmoil last July" after Chumpy passed.
"I just knew I was going to have our kid. It’s like my head was strangely so screwed on then, but simultaneously when I think back to that time everything is dark and foggy," she captioned the post.
In the letter, Ellidy wrote to her baby saying, "I love you so much and you aren’t even here yet".
"Your dad is a warrior. He is absolutely beyond this world. He will be teaching you and guiding you. I may be the portal for which you learn from him," she continued.
"We need each other. Chump is taking us for a ride! An adventure. Truly magical."
"This was part of his soul contract. You and me baby, we live for him, through him, with him. Love Mum," she concluded the letter.
In August this year, Ellidy recalled the moment she found out Chumpy had died, after her neighbour told her that a man was pulled unconscious from the water at Palm Beach earlier that day.
"The man would, in fact, turn out to be my partner of eight years... who, just an hour earlier had kissed me farewell on the driveway of our home," she wrote in a piece published by Vogue Australia.
"I remember the pin-drop moment when the policeman asked me whether my partner had tattoos, to which I answered, 'Yes, an axe on his chest,' and his eyes spoke the words he couldn’t deliver. I remember fumbling with my phone as I tried to call Chumpy’s parents, not entirely grasping what I was supposed to be telling them."
Ellidy went on to recall texting her friends that "Chump passed away".
"In those immediate days after losing Chumpy, and oftentimes now, I feel like a fly on the wall to my life; a witness to my own grief, but somehow not the main character."
In an episode on her podcast earlier this year, Ellidy explained that the pair were trying to conceive in the eight or nine months before Chumpy's death. She later fell pregnant after sperm was retrieved from his body.
"In the weeks after (his death) I had hoped to god that I was pregnant. I just prayed for this little miracle. Everyone knew we were trying so hard for a baby and had been trying for ages and were starting to talk about IVF," she shared.
"Luckily the days after - we’re going to talk about sperm retrieval. Up until 36 hours, I think the legislation is in Queensland, you can actually retrieve sperm from a deceased’s person’s body."
"We were able to hustle - Chumpy’s parents were in town, everyone was signing court documents, legal documents and dealing with the coroners and the lawyers and the doctors."
In her piece for Vogue, Ellidy wrote that the first embryo transfer wasn’t successful, however, two months later she tried a second time.
"When the first embryo transfer wasn’t successful, it was a fresh blow, but knowing I had another embryo on stand-by, I decided to try again two months later. As soon as that embryo was transferred, I had a gut-feeling it was the one, and at the time of writing, I’m waiting for his or her safe arrival earthside, in the coming months."
In June, Ellidy shared a post on Instagram to mark the 11 month anniversary of his death.
"11 months today. Still so unbelievable to me. I miss my person, my everything," she wrote.
The couple started dating in 2012 after they hit it off at a birthday party. They had known each other 10 years earlier through mutual friends.
"We just started talking, and I called her out for a dance," Chumpy explained during a 2016 interview with Buro.
"[It was] heaps old school... Dragged her out on the dance floor."
Speaking about her pregnancy on the podcast, Ellidy said, "It’s a complete emotional rollercoaster, but this is my greatest gift."
"It didn’t unravel the way we planned, life is literally crazy, but we’re having our baby. It’s so unreal and so emotional."
This article was originally published on June 28, 2021, and was updated on October 28, 2021.
Feature Image: Getty/Instagram@ellidy_/Mamamia.
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