Three years ago, life was very different for Cranbourne North local, Jono Pitman. He thought he was ready to settle down, fall in love and get married. So much so that he applied to go on the reality show, Married at First Sight. After experiencing the complexities of being ‘paired up with’ a partner that was supposedly best suited to him, Jono realised that this was not the way to love for him.
Fast forward to the present, when Jono’s name in the reality TV circles has all but disappeared and he is feeling on top of the world.
“Everyone has sort of forgotten the ‘entertaining’ series that was on for three weeks”, Jono said.
He is pleased that that time of his life is well and truly over.
“My series was quite short, but the person I was paired with continued to stay relevant. And when that happens, you get dragged into it, whether you want to or not”.
After looking for love in the wrong place, Jono was blessed to reconnect with an old friend, Rebecca Pattison. She hadn’t watched the series, but once they started dating, Rebecca says “I looked at a couple of episodes to see what is was all about”.
Jono met Rebecca nine years earlier and he admits that it didn’t go as well as he hoped.
“I fancied her, and I got her contact details, but she did not want a bar of me in the slightest!”, he said laughing.
It was definitely not ‘love at first sight’. However, when they crossed paths again, it was a different story. Perhaps more like ‘love at second sight’.
For the past 5 months, Jono has been overflowing with love. In July this year, Jono and his partner, Rebecca welcomed the birth of their gorgeous son, Max Thomas Pitman at St John of God Hospital in Berwick.
Jono said the team at St John of God were “ fantastic, just amazing. Every single one of them”.
Rebecca agreed that “all of the midwives were amazing”.
“Everyone was extremely positive and extremely caring. We took all of their advice on because we had no idea what we were doing”, laughed Jono.
In hindsight, it’s clear that Rebecca knew exactly what to do. She trusted her body, bravely endured a speedy four-hour labour and birthed their healthy son Max. Although the birth went well, Jono admits that he personally found it “horrific”.
With honest and careful words, he clarifies what he means.
“I don’t mean that in a way that males speak about it, like a joke. More in terms of standing there for four hours watching the love of my life in so much pain and not be able to do anything about it. I can’t describe it.”
And yet, he explains it perfectly. Clearly, he is in awe of the mother of his child.
Jono is refreshingly honest about how he feels about Rebecca.
“I have always had the upmost respect for her, and a ridiculous amount of love. But after the birth, it just grew, because she was just unbelievable.”
When asked how these past months have been, Jono is keeping it real. \
“It has been really hard. We knew it was going to be challenging. We thought that ‘We’ve got this’, but it was a lot harder than we thought it was going to be. We’ve adapted now and it’s fantastic.”
The hardest thing of all?
“It would be sleep”, agreed Jono and Rebecca.
Like many parents, the couple are sleep deprived, but are working together as a supportive team.
“But in saying that, if that’s the hardest thing, we’ve got it pretty good”, he said, laughing.
“When you have a child, it’s like a rollercoaster; one second you’re up the top and life’s great and the next second you’re down the bottom. When we are up the top we talk about extending the family and when we are at the bottom, we think ‘sorry Max, you’re going to be an only child!’
“To be honest, Rebecca and I have a lot more love to give, so I think we will have more children”.
Rebecca has settled into being a mother, despite her lack of sleep.
“I’m finally starting to get used to it. He’s starting to smile, he’s worth it. I love him”, said Rebecca.
And they are spoilt for choice when it comes to babysitting with both sets of parents both retired and both keen to look after Max when Rebecca goes back to work next year in maternity administration at the Epworth Hospital.
With this much love in the air, it is natural to wonder if marriage is in the air too.
“We have a beautiful bundle of joy who is taking up all of our time, all of our money and all of our love”, said Jono.
“But I don’t want to be with anyone else in my life”.
It is a heartwarming story of love that will undoubtedly go from strength to strength. With or without (another) wedding.
