Reader\'s Digest Australia - 05.2019

12 | May• 2019

A counsellor and

couples therapist,

Antoinette Nowak

lives in Melbourne

with her husband

of 46 years, Henry.

They have four

children and two

grandchildren.

BY ANTOINETTE

NOWAK

Bringing Daniel

Back Home

It took many years to get the answers behind

the worst day of a young mother’s life

ON MAY 4, 1975,my husband, Henry, and I settled

into the new home we’d built in Hoppers Crossing,

south-west of Melbourne. We were in our early 20s,

had been married two years and were very excited

about the birth of our first baby, due the same day.

That evening I began experiencing symptoms that

hadn’t been mentioned in any of the books I’d read or

our prenatal classes. No pain at all, just the feeling that

my baby was tightening, then relaxing. This went on

throughout the night. We didn’t like to bother people

and since we didn’t have a phone and I was not in any

discomfort, Henry and I decided to ride it out.

MY STORY

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES