Joel and Brit Selwood reveal why they feel like the luckiest parents
Brit and Joel Selwood feel like the luckiest parents in the world. Ahead of Mother’s Day they reveal their joy welcoming baby Joey.
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Brit and Joel Selwood never lost hope over the past three years.
Through a rollercoaster journey to becoming parents the couple remained positive and committed to their dream.
You would expect nothing less from 34-year-old Joel, the 355 game Geelong superstar who retired after leading the side to a premiership last year – his fourth as a player.
Brit too, a special needs teacher, has a will to nurture and strive for success.
Speaking for the first time about conceiving through IVF, the Selwoods are filled with joy, pride and an overwhelming sense of appreciation.
“It has been a dream, it’s probably been more than I thought it would be,’’ Brit says of motherhood.
“It was a good nearly three years of trying. We finally got there; so many people out there who are on the IVF journey, it’s not a nice thing to go through, and I sympathise with everyone on that journey at the moment. It’s not easy, you go through many different stages and it really is a rollercoaster.
“I was always pretty positive and thought we would get there, but there were some tough times in that period, too.”
It was late February when the Selwoods welcomed their “miracle” bundle of joy, a son named Joey Victor Selwood. “We just loved the name,” Brit says, adding that Victor is after Joel’s late friend Vic Fuller, a long-serving volunteer at the Cats who died in 2021.
When they announced in September they were expecting, their thoughts were also with others doing it tough.
A touching Instagram post alluded to their ups and downs with Brit saying her heart would break every time she saw a pregnancy post.
“You’re always happy for people at the end of the day but I just had to focus on my journey and look after myself,’’ she says.
“I really focused on work; work was my biggest priority. I loved working and being around the kids. It was one thing that brought me so much joy, it still does, but not too much now. I focused on being the best teacher I could be and being the best role model for my students. It was something I look back on and I’m just incredibly grateful I had a job I loved so much because it really did bring me happiness during those times.
“I just can’t believe it’s actually happened for me. It’s important for people to know that it is tough but good things do happen and try and be hopeful.”
Brit and Joel, who married in January 2020, opted to keep their experiences private while they supported each other.
They went through IVF with Melbourne Fertility Specialist Dr Lynn Burmeister, known as the fertility queen.
“She is amazing, I loved doing IVF with her,’’ Brit says.
“It’s not a nice process but if you can have it done it was lovely to have it done with her and go through the process with her, they’re all so supportive.
“We are quite private. There are a lot of people who do like sharing their journey and a lot of people who are going through IVF really benefit from hearing other people’s stories. I know I did at the time but I wasn’t strong enough to share my story. And I just wanted to deal with those moments by myself and with Joel.”
After they announced their pregnancy joy with a sweet picture holding a Geelong jumper with Joel’s No.14 on the back, they could never have scripted what was to come.
A flag gave Joel the fairytale farewell – his fourth after 2007, 2009 and 2011 – and then a fairly seamless pregnancy and birth.
Now Brit is preparing for her first Mother’s Day as a mum.
“It was a pretty special year,’’ she says.
“To find out we were pregnant and to have the success Joel did and the Cats did, it was really something special. We really thank our lucky stars that everything aligned. We honestly can’t believe it’s such a fairytale and it doesn’t happen often.
“I’ve loved every minute of being a mum to be honest, loved all the late-night feeds. There’s nothing I haven’t enjoyed. We’re at the stage where he’s smiling now and that is just so precious. It’s such a beautiful thing to be lucky enough to be a mum and to have this soul that is so precious and you are keeping them alive and you are their everything really … it’s been just so incredible to enjoy those moments.
“Joel has been incredible, too, he’s still had to work a lot but not the pressure of his body being his job, so he’s able to be up late at night and he’s been able to help me with feeds and settling Joey back to sleep.
“With Mother’s Day coming up I am mindful with things going on around Mother’s Day and those messages because it is an incredibly tough time for a lot of people. People who have lost their mums and are on the IVF journey. It is important to highlight that for a lot of people it is OK to not feel great on Mother’s Day and to let them know we’re thinking of them.”
Brit will spend her first Mother’s Day at home in Barwon Heads with a low-key picnic and visits from both Joey’s grandmothers.
She is part of Chadstone Shopping Centre’s Mother’s Day “Make Her Day” celebration and the couple spent one of their first nights away with a getaway to Hotel Chadstone and then a convenient first shopping day with Joey and Brit’s mum. Brit used to work at Chadstone and treated herself to an early day out.
Joel says Joey is showing signs of having the same patience for shopping as his dad – not much – but he’s definitely a mummy’s boy.
So far this year Joel has relished a new environment working at Melbourne Storm as leadership coach and he still dips in to lend a hand with the Cats.
His compassion and care for others has always been evident but it also provided the most memorable moment of the season when he ran out on grand final day with Levi Ablett, the son of Gary and Jordan Ablett.
It was also apparent when he proudly cradled his son for a lap of honour at the MCG as Geelong began its premiership defence in March, and recently at GMHBA Stadium when the flag was unfurled.
In between being celebrated for his achievements and working, he is an adoring dad and husband at home and is currently helping Brit prepare for their first overseas trip together, a European holiday, for which they’ve just sorted Joey’s first passport.
There may well be some footballs in the home but it’s not the priority – Joel is simply in awe of his little family.
“He’s been a bloody star,’’ Joel says of Joey.
“Brit has been, as well.
“It was a bit of a choice (to keep things private), to be honest we just wanted to be there for each other. We were well supported with each other we felt. We believed in the group we were with and we were able to get a bundle of joy. All the time that felt like forever, feels so little now in the scheme of things.”
Joel also adds that he’s thinking of others who will do it tough on Mother’s Day.
“We’ve wanted to be parents for a long time so now that we are, probably makes it even more special,’’ he says.
“You do think about those ones like us who were trying to get there for a while.
“I’m not sure how it would have been if I was still playing, it would have been a different life balance but I think you just find a way.”
As the beaming parents take it in turns to nurse Joey, they appear to be old hands at the parenting game. Joel, who has three brothers, looks at Joey with an awestruck smile, marvelling at how things have worked out.
“What a crazy little nine months we had,’’ he says.
“We didn’t win lotto but it’s probably just as good, even better. The period we’ve gone through, I’ve loved every minute of it and I’m really lucky with how footy finished up and now we get to enjoy him. Things are just meant to happen sometimes.”
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