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New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern gives birth to baby girl
She is the second elected leader in history to give birth while in office
New Zealand's prime minister gives birth to a baby girl
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has given birth to her first child, a baby girl.
Ardern posted the news to her Facebook page, saying her daughter was born at 4.45pm.
“Welcome to our village wee one,” she wrote, next to a picture of her and partner Clarke Gayford cuddling the newborn.
“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.”
This makes her the second elected leader in history to give birth while in office. In 1990, Benazir Bhutto gave birth to a daughter while serving as Pakistan's prime minister, a first for an elected world leader.
The 37-year-old has now passed on her duties to the Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters.
She has said she will take six weeks of maternity leave.
Ardern, who was elected in October, announced in January that she and her partner Clarke Gayford were expecting a baby.
“I am not the first woman to multitask. I am not the first woman to work and have a baby; there are many women who have done this before," she had said earlier this year in an interview with Radio New Zealand.
The former prime minister Helen Clark told Radio NZ that the birth was a fine example to young people in New Zealand.
“Jacinda’s done it her way, what a remarkable story.
“She’s taken it in her stride, New Zealanders have taken it in their stride … all round I think we’re showing huge maturity as a country with this.”
She is the youngest prime minister the country has had since 1856.
