'It's been a journey': WISH-TV's Brooke Martin announces pregnancy after losing daughter

A baby is on the way for Brooke Martin.

The WISH-TV anchor and her husband, Cole, shared the pregnancy news in a video posted to Martin’s Facebook page Wednesday morning. She’s about 15 weeks along and is due sometime in June.

The news comes about nine months after the birth and death of the couple’s daughter, Emma, who was diagnosed with a fatal birth defect. 

So, the happy news has, at times, been bittersweet.

“I think after you’ve been through something like this, it’s so easy to expect the next bad news,” Martin told IndyStar Wednesday afternoon. “So, it’s been a journey for us to really be able to embrace this, but we are finally getting there.”

Love after loss

Anencephaly is a rare neural tube defect that leaves newborns without the tops of their skull and brain. It affects the development of the fetus' brain and skull. It occurs in 3 out of 10,000 births each year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Despite knowing their daughter wouldn’t live, Martin and her husband decided to carry the baby to term.

Remembering Emma:Martin talks faith, hope after her infant daughter's death

From the moment they learned of her diagnosis, the couple leaned on their faith. They named the baby Emma Noelle, from the word Emmanuel, which means “God with us.”

Emma was born March 15. She lived for 21 minutes.

In the months since Emma’s death, Martin has used her daughter’s story to call awareness to infant loss. She and her husband have also grown stronger in their faith, knowing that in the hardest moments of their life, God was with them. And He still is.

“We went through what many would say is the unimaginable,” Martin said, “and what we learned at the end is He is enough.”

A message of hope

Martin’s 3-year-old son, Max, is excited for a new baby to join the family.

“We still talk about Emma and he still has this awareness of her, but he does not have the understanding yet of what truly happened,” she said. “So, he’s not dealing with the grief, but he is dealing with the excitement of this new baby, and so we’re excited about that, for him.”

During her pregnancy with Emma, Martin asked viewers, friends and family not to tiptoe around her daughter’s diagnosis and to continue talking about her. For those who have lost a loved one, hearing someone speak their name can be refreshing, she said, so she continues to ask others to remember Emma.  

“She will always be part of the conversation for our family,” Martin said, “and so therefore I’d love for everyone else to include her in that conversation, as well.”

When she talks about her story coming full circle, Martin is aware that this isn’t always the next chapter for families who have experienced the devastation of infertility or infant loss. She knows it's unrealistic to say “believe hard enough and you’ll end up getting what you want,” she said.

Her message to those families: Keep an open heart, even when it might feel better to close yourself off to the idea of another loss.

“Make a determined decision to not let fear have the final say,” she said. “And through it, you’ll find a lot of beauty. It’ll be hard, but you’ll find a lot of beauty and you’ll grow in ways you never knew you needed to grow or never knew was possible.”

The journey continues for Martin and her family, who are still finding beauty as they navigate loss and new life.

“I’m so grateful for it,” she said, “and I know that through it all, we are continuing to grow and learn more about ourselves and about God and His character and His heart for redemption.”

Call IndyStar reporter Holly Hays at 317-444-6156. Follow her on Twitter: @hollyvhays.