LIFE TAKES NEW TURN
FABIAN COULTHARD AND WIFE BECKY LAP UP TIME WITH THEIR TWINS
Becky Lamb was breastfeeding her twins in hospital when she watched their father flip his car at the Auckland SuperSprint.
“I remember thinking ‘This is not the time to be doing this. Today’s not the day to be crashing your car’,” she says of her Supercars driver husband Fabian Coulthard.
Fabian walked away unscathed from the November 4 smash, returning home to two-week-old twins Carter Stephen and Mackenzie Rae.
The British-born New Zealand professional race car driver is competing in the Ipswich leg of the Australian Supercars Championship this weekend, driving the No. 12 Ford FG X Falcon for DJR Team Penske.
Fabian, 35, always keeps the twins close when he races.
“I’ve got Mackenzie’s left hand and Carter’s right hand imprinted on the back of my helmet,” he says.
“They do every lap with me because I can’t be there with them all the time.”
Becky, a 29-year-old model, blogger and former Supercars pit lane reporter, revealed the news of her pregnancy to her husband in March, moments after he won the Supercars race at the 2017 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
“That was a pretty surreal moment,” Fabian says.
“I was already on a high from winning the race, then when I found out I was going to be a dad, that was pretty special.
“It took me a while to come to terms with it.”
The couple had been unsure they would ever be able to conceive naturally because Becky was diagnosed with endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome at age 19 and was told she may never be able to have a child.
After the miraculous news of Becky’s pregnancy came the first scan, which revealed the Gold Coast-based couple was having twins.
Fabian says it was Becky who first saw the embryos on the ultrasound and asked if it was two babies.
“I actually swore when the nurse casually asked if twins ran in the family,” Becky says. “I said holy s--- and then I laughed and then I cried, and about 60 seconds later I realised Fabian hadn’t said anything.”
Becky asked her husband if he had heard what the nurse confirmed and says he responded with a faint “Yep”.
“I think he was just freaking out,” she says. Months later, in August, the couple arranged for two black balloons filled with confetti to reveal the gender of their twins to a roomful of their loved ones.
“We popped them to find one blue and one pink, which was a nice surprise for everyone,” Coulthard says.
Becky first went into labour at 33½ weeks while Fabian was competing in the Bathurst 1000.
“I drove myself to the hospital on the Saturday of the race and on the Sunday I was still in hospital watching the race, trying not to give birth, basically,” she says.
The doctors managed to delay the process with medication, and Becky went into labour for the second time two weeks later, at 35 weeks.
Seven months into fatherhood, Coulthard reckons having twins as first-time parents has been great.
“It’s better because you don’t know what
“I DROVE MYSELF TO THE HOSPITAL ON THE SATURDAY OF THE RACE AND ON THE SUNDAY I WAS STILL IN HOSPITAL WATCHING THE RACE, TRYING NOT TO GIVE BIRTH, BASICALLY.”
you’re getting yourself into,” he says.
“To Bec’s credit, she’s the one who’s got them into a fantastic routine.”
Fabian says his wife is a natural. “Becky just knows what to do, and everything that works,” he says. “She’s fallen into the role and thanks to her unbelievable job, we’ve got two fit, healthy happy babies.”
Becky says while caring for twins with her husband away on the V8s circuit was difficult to begin with, the isolation was good in that it made her super independent.
Her family is in Newcastle and Fabian’s is in New Zealand.
“I’m happy with them by myself now and we’ve got a great routine,” she says.
“Once you’re organised, it’s easy to some degree, with an asterisk next to the easy, if you know what I mean.”
Becky says Fabian is a supportive dad whose praises she can’t sing enough.
“Fabian just gushes over them and is always there changing nappies and helping with the chores.”
After the twins’ births, Fabian took only a couple of weeks off racing.
He scored a win at the Winton SuperSprint in May.
Fabian describes his job as a hobby turned profession and says this makes it easy to go to work.
“I always say a bad day in my role is still a good day because I’m doing something I love,” he says.
The power couple’s busy lives mean they have to work with each other to fit everything in.
Becky says they are always there for each other, remaining in a good healthy space. “And now, we’ve got twins,” she says. “What’s happening now for us in the short space is really difficult and consuming, but I think in the long term, it’s all going in the direction we want it to.
“We’re really excited for what’s to come and what we can do together as a family.
“This is the hardest part and we’ve already got through most of the heavy stuff so I think the future for us is looking really good.”