FIRST BABY

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Gives Birth to Baby Girl

“Welcome to our village wee one.”

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has given birth to a baby girl, making her only the second elected leader in modern history to give birth while in office. She announced the happy news in an Instagram post, writing Thursday morning: “Welcome to our village wee one. Feeling very lucky to have a healthy baby girl that arrived at 4.45pm weighing 3.31kg (7.3lb) Thank you so much for your best wishes and your kindness. We’re all doing really well thanks to the wonderful team at Auckland City Hospital.” The leader will now take six weeks of maternity leave, passing her duties to Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, but she will remain in charge by reading cabinet papers during her time away. Earlier this year, she played down the media interest in her pregnancy, saying: “I’m not the first woman to multitask. I’m not the first woman to work and have a baby; there are many women who have done this before.”