Any concerns their 4-year-old daughter, Anja, could have been similarly affected were no different to any expectant parents. "We worried as all mum and dads-to-be would, but cerebral palsy's not contagious, not easily passed on."
It's a definitive response from Tatjana that successfully deflects further probing on our part.
She came to New Zealand when she was 25. It wasn't their home country's civil war that spurred her parents to cross the world, but that theirs was a mixed marriage.
"My mother's Croatian, my father Serb, so it was not very comfortable for them there."
For the most part the Smolics were out of the line of fire.
"The one effect the war did have on me was that my study [for a Bachelor of Engineering and Technologies] became a bit extended, that's because there'd be air raid sirens going off, we'd have to go to the shelters and the exams would get cancelled but, really, most of the fighting I saw was on TV."
Once the family's move was made Tatjana completed her study at Auckland School of Engineering.
To Our People's suggestion that must have been a hard slog for someone for whom "Kiwi speak" was a foreign tongue; she corrects us, ever so politely. "I didn't come without any knowledge of spoken and written English."
But one word did stump her. It was at FRI when Bernhard asked her to brunch. "I had no idea what brunch was, I had to check it out."
The invitation came after she 'caught Bernhard's eye' over a canteen cuppa, he tells us this with innuendo twinkling away in those expressive eyes of his.
The couple have been together 17 years but remain unmarried. Bernhard flippantly insists Tatjana's still waiting for him to propose, Tatjana's response is she'll still be waiting another 20 for that proposal to come. Regardless, as a couple they are inseparable.
Bernhard may be physically disadvantaged, but his mind's rapier-sharp. Initially he planned to be a carpenter but when he realised the tool-handling limitations cerebral palsy placed on him, he opted for academia.
"I wanted to use my brain." His slew of degrees are testament to how effectively he's achieved that. He has a Master of Science and a PhD, majoring in philosophy.
The impressive letters after his name come from Germany, America and Canada. Add to that international line-up an LLB from Waikato University.
Senior law practitioners from across the country contract him to research and prepare complex cases: "a little bit of everything really, criminal, employment, and some immigration work."
By the time Bernhard had his newest qualification Tatiana was hankering for one of her own.
"I'd always been attracted to healthy eating but that type of study wasn't available in Zagreb but is in Dunedin, they cross-credited a lot of my earlier studies so I was able to finish in two years."
As a mature student she studied human nutrition, psychology, anatomy and bio-chemistry.
She places the emphasis on 'mature student'. "For me it was just study, study. I was learning about things I really enjoyed so there was no partying or burning couches in the street."
Bernhard followed her south, initially working for a barrister, then as an Otago Regional Council policy analyst.
For two years after completing her New Zealand degree, Tatjana contracted to Scion "back with the chemistry in the lab".
Last year she set up her own company, Good Nutrition. "I didn't want a fancy name, just something simple, self-explanatory, so people understood what it is."
Since launching into the business world she's contracted to Lakes DHB, working on the Healthy Eating, Healthy Activity (HEHA) government initiative, is closely involved with Rotovegas Youth Health and the not-for-profit Jacob Willemsen trust.
When not at these offices she works from home, as does Bernhard. "We share an office, not having other colleagues we're lucky enough to have morning coffee together, if we have clients we keep out of each other's way."
The couple have recently introduced Anja to their families in Europe. Did she have trouble adapting from the Kiwi way of life?
"Heavens no, children are the same the world over."
We're compelled to inquire if, with a nutritionist mum, fast food's ever passed Anja's lips?
"Yes, of course it has, she loves fish and chips; my one restriction's a limited amount of juice, that's because I'm more concerned about the dentist's bill than anything else."