Female foeticide may be rampant in India, but there are families where baby girls are longed for. Model Helen Brodie Lind talks of the joy she felt on having a baby girl.
Model Helen Brodie Lind and her husband John Michael recently welcomed another little addition to their family…baby girl Jasmine, now five months old.
“We’re over the moon!” Helen’s joy is unrestrained. “I love my boys, but it’s a different feeling with a girl — it’s just such an amazing feeling.”
Helen should know. When the lithe, phirang-accented Janam Samjha Karo music video girl left the glitter of the arc lights for motherhood some years ago, she had not anticipated the arduousness of the process. “I wanted a baby. I never realised how difficult it would actually be.” When Helen’s hopes of a natural conception were dashed, she turned to IVF (in vitro fertilisation). “It is a tough thing to go through,” says Helen. “But I’m a strong person, both emotionally and physically.”
She would need a lot of that strength — the process failed four times. “I was told, by a doctor in the US, after the first two times that I would never conceive on my own. I should search for a surrogate.” She could have succumbed to depression, but she didn’t. “The important thing is to keep positive. I had an insanely good doctor, Dr Firuza Parikh. And I had a very supportive husband.”
The fifth attempt brought them their little Jaden, now six and a half. “People give up when the attempts fail. One needs the means of course, but also a deeply positive mindset.”
Then came baby Jordan, unplanned, and happily unassisted. “He was a gift,” laughs Helen. Despite her boys, Helen longed for a girl. “My mother told me, “Your family is not complete till you have a girl. Now, I feel lucky and blessed.” Jasmine was conceived once more by IVF and this time Helen was first-attempt lucky. “We longed and hoped for a girl, our prayers were answered. It was totally unexpected, that it happened on the first attempt. God always has a plan.”
Her babies keep her happy and busy, Helen will return to the glamour world only when “something interesting appears; I’m past the modelling stage.” Meanwhile, Helen and her husband spend time on their not-for-profit effort aimed at providing low cost healthcare access for the poor, through their foundation Access Health Initiative.
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