Former netball star Liz Ellis, and her husband, former rugby union player Matthew Stocks, welcomed their daughter Evelyn Audrey on September 28. Evelyn Stocks was born at 10.58 pm at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital’s Birth Centre, was 53 cm long and weighed 4.03 kg. Liz did a Calmbirth course in preparation for the birth, and had a drug-free labour lasting two hours.

Liz was a member of the national netball team from 1992 to 2007, and captain for the last four of those years. She was also captain of the Sydney Swifts from 2000 to 2007. She has enjoyed a successful media career, being a popular presenter and panellist. Currently, she is a netball commentator and panellist for ONE HD. Matthew played for the NSW Waratahs.

Liz and Matthew wanted a “girlie, old-fashioned” name for their daughter, and both of them loved the name Evelyn. Audrey is Matthew’s mother’s name. They call her Evie for short. Evelyn is their first child, and the couple would like more children.

(Story from New Idea magazine, October 31 2011; photo from Sunday Herald Sun, April 17 2011)

Soloist with the Australian Ballet Company, Laura Tong, and her husband, ballet teacher Tristan Message, welcomed their son Henry during the winter months.

Laura was born in New Zealand, and began dancing at the age of four. She studied at the English National Ballet School, graduating in 2004 and then joining the English National Ballet. She joined the Australian Ballet in 2004, and was promoted to soloist in 2009.

Tristan graduated from the Australian Ballet School in 1999, and joined the Australian Ballet the following year. In 2002 he travelled to Europe on a scholarship, and was promoted to soloist in 2005. After training as a teacher, he joined the staff of the Australian Ballet School full time in 2009.

Thanks to the new family-friendly policies at the Australian Ballet Company, Laura was able to continue performing until she was 18 weeks pregant, and then put on “safe duties”, which included working in the research and public relations side of the ballet organisation. She continued to do daily ballet classes until the final stages of her pregnancy. Laura is currently on maternity leave.

Weight-lifter Deborah Acason, and her husband, school chaplain Josh Acason, welcomed their first child on September 7. Eva Acason was born at 7.30 in the evening, weighing 3.7 kg (8 pounds 6 ounces).

Deborah has won one bronze medal, three silver medals and one gold medal at Commonwealth Games, and has competed twice at the Olympics. She completed a degree in law and criminology last year, and has been awarded several honours for her community and charity work. Deborah and Josh met at their church, and married in 2008.

Deborah is taking a break from sport to make Eva her first priority, but hasn’t retired. She is still considering competing at the London Olympics next year.

Eva Acason is the second celebrity baby called Eva this year – the first one was Eva Cassissi, the daughter of AFL captain, Domenic Cassissi.

(Information and photos from The Northern Star, July 29 2011, and Deborah Acason’s fan site)

To complete the entries for Baby Loss Awareness Week, I’m going to cover those celebrities who have unfortunately lost newborn babies during 2011. As we saw yesterday, many thousands of couples will suffer pregnancy or neonatal loss each year, and fame is no protection against this heartbreak.

On January 21, the prop forward for the NSW Waratahs rugby union club, Sekope Kepu, and his wife, Anna, had a stillborn son. Sekope’s mother chose the name Wesley for him, after Wesley College, the school that Sekope attended in Auckland where he was captain of the rugby team. Anna had wanted to call the baby Israel, because Sekope’s name is the Tongan form of Jacob, and in the Old Testament, Jacob was renamed Israel by an angel. However, the couple have decided to keep that name for a future son.

The Kepus have a three-year-old girl named Faith-Rose, and Sekope felt that he had to stay strong for his wife and daughter; he only broke down when he had to share the news with his parents. The Kepus, who are a relatively young couple, gained crucial emotional support from their parents, and from their church group. They say they want more children, if that is part of God’s plan, and visit Wesley’s grave every second day; the headstone reads, “Love to Wesley”, in Tongan.

Last month, the Kepu family travelled to New Zealand to make an official visit to Wesley College, where Sekope received a hero’s welcome, made an inspirational speech, and treated them to some of his famously powerful singing.

(Stories from Sydney Morning Herald, March 12 and September 15 2011; photo of the school visit from zimbio.com)

On March 10, Olympic aerial ski-er, Alisa Camplin, and her husband, English businessman Oliver Warner, had a son called Finnan Maximus. Born six weeks premature with a congenital heart condition, Finnan endured six operations before his life ended on March 20.

Alisa and Oliver went public with their story in late May, giving interviews to Channel 9’s A Current Affair, and Woman’s Day magazine. They announced that they were setting up a charity called Finnan’s Gift, organised through the Royal Children’s Hospital, to help raise money to buy equipment to detect heart defects in other babies. They want Finnan’s life to stand for something, so that the world will never forget him, and because they don’t want other babies to suffer the same way.

Finnan’s Gift has already raised $300 000, which will be used to buy an echocardiology scanning machine. Alisa and Oliver officially unveiled the machine yesterday, October 20. Alisa says that Finnan’s Gift gave them a positive outlet for their grief, and offered them a lifeline when they were at their lowest point. They feel that the public support has helped keep them going emotionally.

Alisa and Oliver were married in January, and in July they said they plan to have more children when they are ready.

On July 25, the co-captain of the Sydney Swans football team, Jarrad McVeigh, and his wife Clementine, had a baby girl called Luella. Born with a serious heart condition, Luella passed away on August 24 at Westmead Hospital. Not only Jarrad and Clementine, but the whole team mourned the loss of Luella, and counselling was made available.

In the first match since the tragedy, on August 27, the Swans caused one of the biggest upsets of the season, defeating Geelong at its home ground, where it had not lost in 1462 days. Both the Sydney and Geelong players wore black armbands as a mark of respect.

Jarrad’s older brother Mark plays for Essendon, and the Essendon players also wore black armbands in the same round. Mark paid tribute to Luella by “blowing a kiss to the heavens” following his team’s dramatic win over Port Adelaide. Mark had a baby daughter called Ariana last March.

Their loss still recent, Jarrad and Clementine continue to grieve in private with the support of their club.

(Photo from Triple M)

Channel 7 weather presenter, Sara Groen, and her husband Clark Kirby, a corporate director at Village Roadshow, welcomed their first child on October 12; a daughter named Estelle Kathryn. Estelle Kirby’s name seems to have been chosen for its meaning of “star”.

Sara and Clark met as university students, got engaged in Paris last year, and were married in January. They live in Melbourne.

(Story and photo from the Herald Sun, October 13 2011)

A quick catch-up of some of the babies born to AFL players over the past few months. They were all first babies for each couple, and all daughters.

Scott McMahon, player for North Melbournee, and his wife Desiree, had Jayda in early July.

Domenic Cassissi, captain of Port Adelaide, and his wife Maiya, had Eva at the end of July.

Jay Schulz, player for Port Adelaide, and his partner Amy, had Halo Ava at the start of August.