The Sydney-based mom and dad each have a different form of dwarfism and are often exposed to public scrutiny – especially when Charli became pregnant with their first child.
After giving birth to their first daughter the overjoyed Aussie mom decided to start a social media account so she could educate people on their family life – little did she know how popular her account would become.
Now the couple have two beautiful daughters and Charli’s Instagram account has over 300,000 followers.
Recently Charli announced that she was 14 weeks pregnant with her third baby but her announcement was bittersweet.
With each pregnancy Charli has had to endure painful genetic testing. Charli and Cullen’s genetic conditions mean their children could inherit one type of dwarfism (either their mom’s or their dad’s), or they could be of average height, or they could inherit both types of dwarfism, which doctors say would be fatal.
Charli revealed the heartache of not being able to enjoy the 12 week point in her pregnancy like most other moms.
“However when most at 12 weeks are celebrating the joy of being able to announce pregnancy, I was lining up for Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS – similar to an Amniocentesis) – that’s a massive needle through my abdomen to take a sample of placenta that carries a 2% rate of miscarriage, in order to test the genetic makeup of my baby.”
Their daughters two-year-old Tully and four-year-old Tilba have one of the two types of dwarfism, so when Charli fell pregnant with her third baby they waited to find out which of the four possibilities their baby had.
Charli explained in her Instagram post:
1. We would have a baby of average height
2. Our baby would have Achondroplasia, the same form of Dwarfism as me.
3. Our baby would have Geleophysic Dysplasia, the same form of Dwarfism as Cullen.
4. Our baby would inherit both genetic variations, know as “double dominant dwarfism”, which from all professional medical evaluations would be fatal upon birth. I would have had the choice should this occur to carry on and see how things go, or to terminate the pregnancy.
Charli said the reality of their situation is she was waiting to find out: “If I can bring this little one into the world come March 2021, or if his or her journey finishes here.”
Sharing her life so publicly she has been exposed to a lot of criticism and also addresses this in her post.