Diane and Matt Billas, Upper Dublin residents, met in 2014 as fellow musicians playing French Horn in the Ambler Symphony.

They married in 2015. But the tempo of their lives turned presto (very fast) with the December 2023 arrival of son Luke Anthony Billas. Anndee Hochman profiled them in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The couple struggled to conceive.

As time passed, both fell into stress-coping tactics with significant downsides: Diane felt deep shame; Matt developed an eating disorder.

Four years of disappointment spooled out painfully. “I was numb,” Diane said. “I couldn’t even feel disappointment anymore.”

The two recentered their lives: She ditched minutiae tracking; he got counseling.

A month later, she felt odd after a morning run. A home-pregnancy test verified her suspicion: She was pregnant.

When she shared the news with Matt, both wept joyfully.

Luke Anthony Billas came December 23, 2022, a six-pound, 12-ounce bundle of hunger.

Diane remembers his schedule in those early weeks: Luke would nurse 90 minutes and want another meal a half-hour later.

But the couple admits the timing of his arrival was apt.

“If we’d had Luke two years ago, we wouldn’t have been the people we are now, better able to deal with the challenges of parenthood,” Matt said.

More on the much-anticipated arrival of Luke Anthony Billas is at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Tedx talk on the difficulties of infertility.