Kairo Teaoa Ariki Singh doesn’t know it yet, but his arrival was quite a big deal.
The days-old boy was the first baby born in 2021 at Middlemore Hospital, entering this world at 12.48am on New Year’s Day.
His mother, Mya Gerard said it had never even crossed her mind that her first baby, born after a six hour, straightforward labour, might be a New Year first.
“I was just focussed on getting him out,” Ms Gerard laughs.
“A little while after he was born, the midwife came in and told me he was Middlemore’s first of the year.”
Weighing it at a healthy nine pounds and measuring 53 centimetres long, baby Kairo is also the first grandchild in the family.
After a very challenging 2020 in which Mya, 20, had to complete her tourism studies online due to COVID-19, her son’s notable arrival time has provided an extra cause for celebration.
“It has made his birthday more special and it is a better start to the year than last year.” Mya says.
She says her new son is easy going and already sleeping for long stretches, quite unaware of his special status.