MEET OUR BABY!
‘The Bachelor’ favourites have a gorgeous new addition just two months after getting engaged
FORMER BACHELOR COUPLE Matthew ‘Matty J’ Johnson and Laura Byrne have welcomed their first child – a baby girl named Marlie-Mae Rose. The radio announcer opened up on Sydney’s Nova 96.9 Matt, Sarah & Matty J breakfast show on June 22 about some ‘scary’ details of the birth.
Matty, 31, confirmed his fiancée, Laura, delivered their healthy baby girl on June 19, however, the little one’s arrival wasn’t without a few hiccups. Despite being two weeks past her due date, Laura still had no sign of labour pains, Matty explained, prompting doctors to induce Marlie-Mae’s birth.
“Because she was induced, it was quite an aggressive labour, the contractions are really, really full-on, they happened quite quickly. It’s awful watching your partner going through so much pain and you can’t do anything except
hold their hand and kiss their forehead and tell them it’s going to be OK,” Matty recalled.
The new dad said Laura “is doing really well” and “is such a trooper” after experiencing a difficult delivery. “As Laura was about to give birth they then realised the baby was … facing the wrong way, and the heart rate was beginning to drop a little as well. All of a sudden we went from having a just nurse and midwife into the room, to two seconds later we had one doctor and an obstetrician came in – all of sudden there were six doctors in the room. You don’t really know what is going on because it’s your first time, next thing they are saying, ‘We need to get this baby out now! Come on, Laura, big pushes.’ ”
He also noted that the doctors in charge seemed “a little bit nervous ... You don’t know if they are trying to play it cool”.
“The only thing you want, as a parent, is to have a healthy child. It was really quite scary in the final moments when Laura was giving those final pushes. Thankfully, we didn’t have any major complications.”
Matty revealed both the new mum and baby are doing fine and have returned home. “It’s amazing now, just talking about it makes me want to cry – there is nothing more incredible than sitting there on the couch and looking at your child. There is nothing more beautiful in the world.”
Following their baby’s arrival, Laura took to Instagram to share a few snaps of the newborn and to let fans know the special meaning behind her name. “Marlie-Mae Rose Johnson (named after our Nanas) – you’re more than we could have ever hoped for,” she wrote. Too sweet! •