Paralympian Tracy Otto on the Challenges and Joys of Having a New Baby: 'I Remind Myself What a Miracle She Is'

It's been a momentous year for Tracy Otto and her fiancé Ricky Riessle! After Riessle proposed in Paris ahead of Otto's appearance in the Paralympics, where she competed in archery, the two announced they were also expecting a child — and welcomed their “bundle of joy” Rylee on Jan. 4.

The couple gave PEOPLE an exclusive look inside their new life as parents after recently welcoming their first child Rylee, their Paris engagement this summer and Otto’s future archer ventures as she prepares for Worlds in South Korea.

Tracy Otto and Ricky Riessle Get Engaged

Archer Tracy Otto, 29, had a dream engagement this summer: Following Otto competing in the Paralympics in Paris, her fiancé Ricky Riessle got on one knee in front of the glimmering Eiffel Tower.

Otto told PEOPLE that the moment of the proposal was a complete surprise; she thought Riessle had forgotten the ring they'd picked out together (a ruse he concocted to add to the surprise element), and she said the day he proposed, the two had been bickering.

“We were just not having a good afternoon, and obviously I had no idea about what was about to happen,” Otto told PEOPLE. “It's actually kind of funny.”

To top it all off, "I was so sick with being pregnant with Riley,” Otto said — but because she promised his family she’d be there to see the Eiffel Tower with them, she was determined to get there.

Moments before Riessle got in position to pop the question, she and some friends took a photo together right as the Eiffel Tower began to sparkle.

“And then [Riessle] goes on my blind side, where I can't see, and he gets down on one knee, and I undo my brakes and get ready to move out of the way so that more people could take pictures,” Otto said, describing the moment. “And then I see him on the ground, and he's on his one knee.”

Otto said Riessle asked her how long she’d been waiting for the proposal, and she replied, “I waited my whole life for you.”

“It was just such a magical moment,” Otto said of the proposal, and having family and friends there to witness it.

Competing While Pregnant

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Otto's archery career began in March 2021, while she was recovering from a horrific attack by an ex-boyfriend in 2019 that left her paralyzed and without her left eye, with even more invisible complications.

“It's more than just the paralysis and the wheelchair that you see on the outside, there's a lot going on the inside that doesn't function anymore," she told the BBC in an interview. “My diaphragm is paralyzed as well … I can't thermally regulate, and that means I can't sweat anymore.”

She and Riessle had just started dating at the time of the attack (in which he was also injured), and have been together ever since. They learned they were pregnant May 15 — nearly the exact time that Otto found out she qualified for the Paralympic Team and would be headed to Paris.

They scheduled an ultrasound a few weeks after and the couple found out Otto was already seven weeks in.

“I just remember seeing [Riessle's] face when she came up on the screen as this little bundle of cells, bundle of joy that we were about to have, and just seeing him melt was nothing short of heartwarming,” Otto said about the first ultrasound.

At five months pregnant, Otto admits the pregnancy was difficult on top of preparing for and competing in the Paris Paralympics.

“It was really hard. I couldn't breathe,” Otto said of her pregnancy. “I had kidney stones because of her, and there was not a day where I didn't throw up for nine months.”

However, Otto said what got her through was staying in tune with and listening to what her body needed.

“We did almost bow out from the Paralympics because I was so sick. We just weren't sure if my body was going to handle it,” Otto told PEOPLE. “We just kind of went with the flow.”

Related: See All the Proposals at the Paris Summer Olympics So Far

Tracy Otto Has Her Baby

Though the pregnancy was by no means easy, Otto tried to focus on the positive throughout: “That I was able to carry her full term and to be pregnant was just a miracle in of itself, so I just took it in stride, and I reminded myself how much of a miracle she is."

And as much as she would have liked to prepare for Rylee's arrival, there were some things she'd just have to learn on the job, because the extent of her injuries means her functionality is less than many other moms who have had babies while paralyzed.

"I had a mom stop me that had heard about the engagement and the pregnancy, and she was paralyzed, and she gave me some advice: You should take a trip with your baby, just the two of you, just to spend time and bond with her," Otto recalls. "And I'm like, That's a lovely idea, [but] I can't even wipe my own butt, let alone hers! I can't do it alone. Some things are just kind of hard to relate to. So searching out resources to help me through this has been very scarce, because people just don't do what we're doing."

Now with a three-week-old at home, the family is settling into their new roles and adjusting to parenthood as a team, said Otto: “We're still navigating and figuring out our life and our routine and stuff, but it's been great."

She added that she’s enjoying seeing a new side of her fiancé: "Getting to know him as a father and watching him step into this new role has been amazing to watch and to experience.”

For Riessle, the adjustment — which has been "100% worth it" — has come with a new set of challenges. “I still have all my duties and everything that I have to do to care for Tracy, because I am her full-time caregiver," he said. "So now adding a tiny human, somebody else that's fully dependent on me — It's been a lot."

For her part, Otto has been surprised by some of the difficulties she didn't anticipate.

“I knew that being a mom as a quadriplegic was going to be a difficult task, but I didn't realize how just devastating it was going to be for me,” Otto told PEOPLE.

For example, she said, the family was coming from a doctor's appointment recently when Rylee began to cry because she was getting hungry. The ride in the car usually soothes her, but on the way home they had to stop for gas.

“She just started crying, and I was in the front seat, and obviously she was in the back, so I couldn't get to her,” Otto said, recalling "that feeling of just absolute helplessness.”

Breastfeeding is another area that’s been a challenge for Otto, but it's an area she hasn't given up on. 

“I don't have sensation from, like, my collarbone, so my chest down, so I can't feel if she's latched correctly or not,” Otto said, but added that the two are figuring it out together. "It's been a challenge, for sure, but very rewarding, because that's, you know, something that I can do for her, yeah, you know, nurture her and bond with her that way."

With so many things, including figuring out how to best set up baby gear to be accessible to Otto in her wheelchair — Rylee arrived a bit early, so the nursery wasn't quite set up — the family is learning to creatively “troubleshoot” obstacles as they come up, she said.

"We're so blessed and so lucky to be able to experience this and do what we do every day," Otto told PEOPLE.

"Just two big parents that have no idea what they're done," Riessle chimed in. "We are over the moon about her. We find ourselves sitting there staring ... like, we put her to sleep [and say] let's go get something done. And 20 minutes later, we're both sitting there just staring."

With qualifiers for the World Archery Para Championships coming up in June, Otto won't have too much longer to sit and stare at the baby — plus there's that little matter of wedding planning. Any plans on the horizon?

"There's been much going on that we haven't have we done any wedding planning! Weddings are so expensive, and obviously Rylee is a priority. Once we've saved some money, then we'll start planning," Otto said. "It's been so many life-changing things condensed into a short amount of time!"

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