After a whirlwind year in 2011, the Strudwick family was finally getting into the routine those two babies only few months apart in age demand.
“We had just settled into the rhythm of our two ring circus, and the third ring decided to jump in on its own,” Schoena Strudwick said.
Indeed, after years of failed fertility treatments, attempts at in-vitro fertilization, a miscarriage and two cycles of donor eggs, Schoena became pregnant, naturally.
“She told me she was pregnant and I couldn’t believe it,” Jason Strudwick said. “I was just shocked.”
It was a pregnancy that caught literally everyone involved in the Strudwick’s medical history baffled.
“In all my years of reporting, I’ve interviewed a lot of doctors,” Carrie Doll said. “And it’s the first time in my entire career that I’ve heard this word used.
“I said ‘How do you explain this baby?’ and he said ‘It’s a miracle, science does not explain this’.”
“It’s a miracle, her chance of having another child is that same miracle, it doesn’t increase,” Dr. Tarek Motan said.
Doctors had told Schoena that she had a 5 percent chance of getting pregnant naturally.
“Just before they leave I said ‘I’ve given you the best that science has, but don’t forget miracles happen, don’t you stop trying’,” Dr. Motan said.
Finally, on March 2 at 1:48 a.m., Drew Presley Strudwick came into the world – completing their family.
“It was the third ring in our circus, and as Jason calls it the Gordie Howe hattrick,” Schoena said. “The third goal, of our amazing little concoction of children.”
Dealing with outside opinions
Despite the happy and remarkable journey the family took to reach their goal of having three children, the couple is aware of how their family might appear to others – and for Schoena, it’s a constant struggle.
“I’ve had people say to me, are you so excited to have your own,” Schoena said. “I get so offended.
“I have two of my own, there is nothing different about this baby than there is about our other two children, all three are our kids, and DNA doesn’t make your child your child, and genetics doesn’t make a child your child, and I say we have two beautiful children that have no part of me other than my love.”
“When we go walking down the street people will wonder why all our kids look different, but you know what? It doesn’t matter for us,” Jason said. “This is our family.”
Regardless, the family has other things to think about, more than a month after the birth of their third child, they’re still getting used to having three kids in the house.
“There are some days where we still look at each other and say, ‘We have three kids’,” Schoena said. “Two and a half years ago we didn’t even have one, and now we have three.”
‘We are done’
The couple always wanted a big family, and now, on an accelerated timeline, they have it – so what’s in store for the Strudwick’s in the future?
“This will be it,” Jason said, laughing.
“We just ordered bunk beds,” Schoena said. “And not for the kids…we are done.”
“They now have three babies under the age of 2, and they couldn’t be happier,” Doll said.
For the family, their journey has taught them a valuable lesson, that the definition of a true family is not confined simply to sharing DNA, it’s deeply rooted in love.
With files from Carrie Doll
