Smiley wee Odette is one in 5 million
Nobody really knows who the 5 millionth person in New Zealand was — but there’s a chance it could be Odette Olive Deane.
The chubby-cheeked tot was born on March 10, about the time Statistics NZ reckons the country’s population ticked over to 5 million.
Our population has grown from 4 million to 5 million in 17 years thanks to a combination of natural growth (births minus deaths) and net migration (arrivals minus departures). Stats NZ said yesterday that — provisionally — we reached 5 million some time in March.
Odette’s mum Charlotte, 26, said it was “crazy” to think her daughter could be NZ’s 5 millionth person.
“This year’s been kind of crazy for babies born anyway . . . The fact that we’re at 5 million and have basically a worldwide lockdown at the same time.”
She had gone into labour while having lunch at Burnham Military Camp, where her soldier husband Oliver is based. “I started feeling pains, like a rubber band flicking, and then it all happened.”
Oliver drove her to Christchurch Women’s Hospital and was there for the birth of their “very big” 4.3kg girl.
Charlotte said she was “a bit more paranoid” than normal preparing for birth as New Zealand’s Covid-19 cases rose. “I was keeping track of where the infections were and I didn’t really want to go into hospital. And after she was born I didn’t want to go into confined spaces.”
She’d been reassured by studies showing babies and children were less likely to catch the virus and likely to have milder symptoms.
Odette was born a day overdue, after just 2.5 hours of labour. They spent a night at a birthing unit before heading home.
It’s not all been easy. When Odette was just 2 weeks old the country went into lockdown, making the first weeks of maternity leave even more isolating than normal. Charlotte was able to have only one week of home midwife visits, and feeding the baby proved hard without outside help from a lactation consultant.
But despite those first difficult weeks, Odette is thriving. “She was obviously a giant baby but they think she was born too big. She’s just started losing a lot of weight so now she’s very petite — we call her Dotty,” Charlotte said.
“She’s very loved. She’s had lots of kisses from her big brother [Walter, 20 months].”
Mid-lockdown, at just 4 weeks, Odette started smiling at them — and she hasn’t stopped. “She’s the most smiley baby I’ve ever seen.”