A gallery of the best photos of Moana Hope and Isabella Carlstrom’s sweet family life

Survivor Allstar Moana Hope and her model wife Isabella Carlstrom welcomed their newborn on Sunday 26 June.

Ahi Joseph Carlstrom was born on 24 June 2022, weighing in at almost four kilos. Moana “endured 24 hours of labour” and said that it was the “hardest and most challenging thing I’d ever done in my life – both physically and emotionally”.

The name Ahi is a Maori name, meaning “fire” and pays homage to Moana’s Kiwi heritage. Joseph comes from her grandfather, who was a chief.

Scroll down to check out the gallery below to see how baby Ahi is settling into family life with Moana, Isabella and Svea. 

Months after Ahi’s birth, Moana Hope started to share the details of her son’s birth. In a podcast with Steph Smith, the WAFL star revealed that when Ahi was placed on her chest, after 24 hours of labour, he wasn’t breathing and she immediately knew something was wrong.

“I didn’t even try to embrace him or enjoy it, I just like ‘Fix it!'” she told the host. “I was looking over at them, working on him at the table. Then I was watching Bell, and Bell was crying.”

“I was on a bed, in stirrups, completely naked. Cut, blood everywhere. But all I could think about in that moment was, save him”

Moana went on to say that once she knew he was ok, she was completely overwhelmed and asked Bell to take him as she was “empty to life”.

When Jess Rowe asked Moana on ‘The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show‘ if when she was talking about “postpartum” she meant the time after giving birth or postnatal depression, the media personality responded “Yeah, I’d say post-natal depression.”

Years ago, Jess opened up about her own expriences with PND, which paved the way for other women to share their stories. Moana told Jess “It was why I reached out to my psychiatrist, because I wanted to be sure that mentally I was getting that support.

“My birth, for me, was very traumatic. It was really something that I cried for days about.”

“I would do it again, and again and again and again if it meant I got him,” she told KICBump.

Moana also recently spoke out about the lack of recognition first-time mothers receive while raising young kids. Moana says there’s an obvious imbalance in the praise men receive while bringing up a family.

“I hate when somebody sees the other parents – regardless of if it’s a man or a woman – playing with the kid and they’re like, ‘oh my god, such a good dad’. Nobody ever says that to a mum, ever,” she said in a Instagram video.

“When the mum is taking care of the baby 24/7. Nobody ever turns around and goes, ‘you’re such a good mum’. Mums need to hear that sometimes. They need to hear that they’re great, and they don’t get it enough.”

Moana followed up with some words of encouragement for women who are struggling in the early days of parenthood.

“So if you’re that mum that feeds their baby 24/7 and the mum that doesn’t get to shower or doesn’t really eat until 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the one that’s up all night, the one that’s nursing, the one that is sleep deprived; I see you,” she said.

“I feel like there’s so much pressure put on mums, right from the beginning of finding our you’re pregnant and all the way through [pregnancy],” she added.

Melbourne mums, including Moana and Isabella, descended upon a Collingwood block on August 1, to normalise feeding by taking photos in front of a bold new mural on Johnston Street of women breastfeeding and pumping in public.

Commissioned by global infant accessories brand, Tommee Tippee in partnership with local Melbourne artist, Caroline Lejeune, ‘Breastralia’ is a larger than life uncensored artwork which aims to spotlight a rarely celebrated yet common reality of being a new mum. By putting women at the fore on one of Melbourne’s busiest inner city streets, the piece aims to transform how society speaks to mothers.

“As women, we’re constantly told to cover up or judged for how, where, when and even for how long we choose to feed,” says Moana. “When Ahi came along, it was important for me to feed him whatever way was best for both of us which just so happened to be breastfeeding. But not everyone is able to breastfeed or even wants to.

“What I love about this piece is that aside from being in Collingwood, which holds a special place in my heart for obvious reasons, it’s just so real and honest. I’d love to see more monuments to motherhood like this in public spaces.”

It was a bumpy start for the newly extended Hope Carlstrom family when the Moana, Isabella, Svea and Ahi all got sick – with the sweet newborn landing in hospital for several days in the second week of July.

“Both kids are on the mend,” Moana shared to her stories in mid July. “It makes me so happy.”

The new mum went on to explain that Svea caught RSV and gave it to Moana, who gave it to Ahi. Isabella didn’t escape, and caught RSV last.

“We were at home and we could see under Ahi’s ribs just sucking in on both sides. He was really sucking in and working hard, struggling to  breathe and when I seen that my heart dropped,” said Moana.

She admitted that both mums were really stressed and that taking him to hospital was the right thing to do.

“His oxygen levels dropped to 62 … and his heart rate was going up to 208. I felt myself that I was having mini heart attacks while we were in hospital for those three days.”

A terrifying experience for any parent but more so when the bub is so young and can go downhill very quickly.

Moana has also revealed that she’s deep in the tiredness trenches – even more since getting sick and having Ahi having been in hospital.

“I think I’ve gone some days without having shower or brushing my teeth. And you probably look at that and thinks that’s gross, unless you’re a mum and you probably hear that and thinks it’s normal. I’m pretty exhausted … I haven’t slept more than three hours in one sitting BUT I get this beautiful little guy.”

The positives continue though with Ahi on the 90% percentile for both height and weight. “He’s almost 5 kilos. He’s a big baby. He’s MY big baby.”

While Moana and Isabella have shared gorgeous snaps and updates on their famiy, there’s still one place that’s off limits for the time being: labour.

“I”m still not ready to talk about the labour yet. I know I’m smiling but it was something else and something I’m still dealing with…”

Isabella penned a beautiful tribute to Moana, who carried and delivered Ahi, writing: “@moanahope you are incredible, I’m so unbelievably proud of you. You went to hell and back to get our beautiful boy safely to us. I don’t have words to describe what it feels like to share this experience with you and understand each other on such a deep level. You’re so strong and I love you very much. You’re such a natural and Svea and Ahi are so lucky to have you as their Mum.”

Alongside a series of beautiful black and white images of Ahi’s first days as part of the family, Isabella shared: “Ahi, we all love you so much everything and shines a little brighter now that you’re earth side.”

On Sunday 26 June, the ecstatic pair each shared a photo – Moana, a pair of well-cooked, wrinkly feet in their mama’s hand; Isabella posted two hands, Mama and baby.

The 33-year-old ALFW star, who played for Collingwood and North Melbourne before her two Survivor stints, shared the happy news via Instagram, with just a black-and-white sneak peek of her new baby’s feet, captioned, “Oh how wonderful life is now that you are in the world. 🧡  We are so in love. @isabellasofiacarlstrom #forever #inlove”

Moana’s wife Isabella captioned “Thank you for choosing us, I love you my darling ❤️”

Celebrity friends were quick to congratulate the happy new mums with DJ and mum, Ash London saying “You did it Mo!!!!!!! Sooooo happy for you! What a foot!”

Ash Pollard, also a mum of two, said “Well done Mo! Legend. Quietly cheering you on from here.❤️”  while Laura Henshaw added  Congratulations Mo and Belle 🥺🥺❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️”

Chloe Maxwell posted “Yeww congrats lovers!!❤️❤️”

The new mum thanked her followers who had been madly refreshing their Instagram feeds looking for an update, saying: “The messages from everyone saying this makes it extra special. It was a very long, exhausting and challenging labour that I’ll share with you tomorrow (after a very long sleeps, lots of snuggles and heaps of food). We are so in love with this little one. Appreciate the support and love from you all. ❤️”

As well as Monash IVF congratulating both Moana and Isabella’s via their Instagram accounts, the new mum’s fertility doctor, Dr Gareth Weston released a statement saying: “We are thrilled to learn of the safe arrival of Moana Hope’s baby and send huge congratulations to her, Isabella, Svea and Vinny on the new addition to their family.

“It’s been our privilege at Monash IVF to guide and support Moana and her wife Isabella on their fertility journeys, including helping them choose a suitable sperm donor for them, to help them fulfil their family dreams. To see them now with their two beautiful children is so heartwarming.

“We know how important it was for Mo and Bella to use the same donor to conceive their children and would encourage other eligible men to think about donating to help more people conceive, including same sex couples, single women and couples having trouble conceiving.”

Check out the gallery below to see how baby Ahi is settling into family life with Moana, Isabella and Svea. 

Moana announced the exciting pregnancy news in December 2021.

The Survivor All-Star shared a series of touching black and white pictures featuring Isabella and Moana’s sister Livinia, and baby Svea all beaming while displaying an ultrasound image.

In the caption, Moana revealed that this time around she would be carrying the pair’s baby and they intend to have even more children.

“I’m pregnant… we’re pregnant🤰🏽🎊 2022 our little modern family will grow by one tiny human. Building our own little football team 🤣,” Moana announced.

Isabella carried and gave birth to Svea in November 2020 after the couple conceived her through IVF. The pair, who tied the knot in 2019, are so grateful to have conceived twice via the IVF team at Monash.