{"id":616286,"date":"2026-04-19T03:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T03:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/616286\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T03:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T03:05:09","slug":"love-story-i-fell-in-love-with-my-daughters-father-two-years-after-she-was-born","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/616286\/","title":{"rendered":"Love story: I fell in love with my daughter’s father two years after she was born"},"content":{"rendered":"

When a casual fling led to a surprise pregnancy, Tessa Dijkgraaf told father-to-be Jordan not to “come in and out” and break their daughter’s heart. He opted out, but around Memphis’s second birthday, Tessa got a phone call that changed everything.<\/p>\n

Whether it’s romantic, platonic, heartbreaking or surprising, our Love Stories series is about love in all its forms. Share yours with us.<\/a><\/p>\n

I fell pregnant from the first night Jordan and I were together<\/a>, but obviously didn’t find out for several weeks.<\/p>\n

In that time, we had become such good friends. There was definitely something there. We could get deep and honest with each other.<\/p>\n

However, we had both recently come out of long-term relationships and neither one of us was looking to have our hearts broken again. So instead, we kept it casual.<\/p>\n

When I found out I was pregnant after being so sick, I walked into my best friend’s house in tears, throwing the pregnancy stick on the table.<\/p>\n

I was in shock and had that feeling of having to tell this person I had a really great friendship with that this had happened and I knew it wasn’t his plan.<\/p>\n

But I was having this baby. And he left that situation.<\/p>\n

\"Tessa<\/p>\n

Tessa, 36, says having Memphis changed her life for the better. (Supplied: Tessa Dijkgraaf\u00a0)<\/p>\n

When Memphis was born, it changed my life. She was the best thing to have ever happened.<\/p>\n

She was my everything and I wanted to protect her, do everything right for her.<\/p>\n

That made me reflect on what I was doing. And if I wasn’t going to accept certain behaviours for her, why would I accept them for myself?<\/p>\n

I got really good at setting boundaries for the both of us.<\/p>\n

I never thought I would hear from him again<\/p>\n

When Jordan did contact me, I was shocked.<\/p>\n

He was just saying, ‘I’ve been talking to my friends about this and they’re really encouraging to get back in contact. I’m in a good place now’.<\/p>\n

I was fearful. The idea of him coming in and then leaving Memphis makes me feel sick even thinking about it.<\/p>\n

But I was also feeling excited and hopeful for her to have her father in her life.<\/p>\n

\"Tessa<\/p>\n

Tessa was nervous, but excited, to welcome Jordan into her life with daughter Memphis. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

We took it really slowly. Every couple of weeks we would catch up at the park or go to the museum.<\/p>\n

I wasn’t just going to drop her off with him. She didn’t know him, and I didn’t really know him either.<\/p>\n

She would run around and we would talk and catch up on life.<\/p>\n

The waters were murky at times, but through our original friendship, one that was built on trust and care and honesty, we got through it.<\/p>\n

We quickly fell back into being really good friends.<\/p>\n

I don’t know how long it was, or who even initiated it, but I think one of us said something like, ‘Why don’t we go grab a drink sometime?’<\/p>\n

It just felt so nice<\/p>\n

Memphis was obviously the catalyst for getting back together, but we were also two single people that kind of really loved each other.<\/p>\n

It all just felt very light and easy.<\/p>\n

Before him, I used to think a relationship meant being on a rollercoaster: fighting and intensity.<\/p>\n

I didn’t realise love could be easy like that.<\/p>\n

I had my guard up to make sure he and Memphis were good, but I saw him in a different light.<\/p>\n

I would catch him doing something with her, like changing her nappy or laughing with her, and it just made me feel so nice.<\/p>\n

We have a child together and how amazing is she?<\/p>\n

I’m so glad I allowed him in<\/p>\n

Even though I was scared at first, I thought thank goodness I did allow it to happen, because there is no-one in this world that I would trust more for myself and Memphis.<\/p>\n

Tinder date pregnancy<\/a><\/p>\n

Tessa Dijkgraaf joined Tinder to find a no-strings-attached relationship. So you can imagine her surprise when suspected food poisoning turned out to be pregnancy.<\/p>\n

I know he loves us so much.<\/p>\n

Our family has grown, and not just by one person. Memphis now has brothers and sisters and grandparents that often fill our home with laughter, warmth and family love.<\/p>\n

We moved from Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast as a family in 2022.<\/p>\n

We have a business together, I also have another business, and we homeschool Memphis as well.<\/p>\n

So life is busy.<\/p>\n

But we are just so comfortable and happy. We accept each other completely for who we are.<\/p>\n

I would say that Jordan and I both already loved each other and we just didn’t realise it.<\/p>\n

We just had such a deep connection so quickly when we first met.<\/p>\n

Now we get to create all of these fun and happy memories for our child, but together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When a casual fling led to a surprise pregnancy, Tessa Dijkgraaf told father-to-be Jordan not to “come in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,299072,26774,134,299073,17357,46357,299071,9161,3637,24854],"class_list":{"0":"post-616286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-casual-sex","11":"tag-dating","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-falling-in-love","14":"tag-love","15":"tag-motherhood","16":"tag-one-night-stand","17":"tag-parenting","18":"tag-relationships","19":"tag-tinder"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}