PM delivers Fieldays’ first
As her Sunday due date looms, a gumboot-clad Jacinda Ardern strolled through the stalls of Fieldays, a modest bump parting the crowds ahead of her.
A flurry of nonplussed murmurs followed the nation’s first pregnant Prime Minister in the bastion of rural New Zealand as she breezed through the throngs alongside dozens of camera crews, stallholders and selfie-seekers.
Some touched her stomach, others asked to deliver her baby.
‘‘I noted you were here,’’ Ardern quipped as she waved to St John staff yesterday morning, a takeaway cup of Zealong green tea in hand.
While she didn’t have any preparations in place in case she went into labour in a public place – such as Fieldays – she reckoned those around her might have.
Staff had put a couple of ‘‘what if’’ contingency plans in place, according to New Zealand National Fieldays Society president Peter Carr.
‘‘I don’t even know about them,’’ Ardern said. ‘‘I wanted to be here, this is a really important fixture in the calendar.
‘‘There’s no doubt, you get to a certain size and things start getting a bit less comfortable. I think most women have experienced that though.
‘‘Everyone’s personal circumstances are going to be different. I acknowledge I’ve been quite lucky. Niggles along the way, I’m lucky to not have had that.’’
Most people simply wish her luck, rather than bestow their advice on her, Ardern said.
‘‘I have a strong sense that New Zealanders see this as a life event and not something that’s particularly going to affect my job.’’
Keiko Gough managed to place a hand on the Prime Minister’s stomach as she weaved through the hoards clamouring for photos.
She wanted to pray for the baby.
‘‘She will be a good mother,’’ Gough said.
She didn’t think photos have done her justice.
‘‘Much more beautiful than I thought. Her eyes are so beautfiul.’’
Gough doesn’t know why, but she has a feeling Ardern will give birth to a boy.
Groups lurked behind the jostling media before weaving between a tangle of cameras to get through to her.
‘‘I’m like, shaking,’’ Waikato University student Renee Hanrahan said after speaking to Ardern with a group of friends. ‘‘We thanked her for our free fees.’’
‘‘She said it’s good to hear and that not many people thank her for that policy’’.
With Health and Wellbeing Hub and St John stands dotted around, there would be worse places to give birth, the group speculated.
‘‘That would be the best ever,’’ Megan Gardner said. ‘‘Gender reveal at the Fieldays.’’ Ardern was happy to see so many younger faces at the inaugural event.
When Ardern visited Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (RHAANZ), chair Martin London asked whether he could deliver her baby if she had a Fieldays birth. But at midday, there were still no labour pangs.
There was still an hour of her visit to go, the PM quipped, according to London.
For two hours of endless photos, Ardern beamed and nodded earnestly at stallholders.
‘‘She looked fabulous,’’ Dr David Wilson, also at the RHAANZ stand said. ‘‘But she’s stopped flying, thank God.’’
The historic ‘‘lying in’’ can pre-empt unnecessary weight gain and blood clots, London said. He remembers an old story from studying obstetrics in the 1970s.
‘‘A woman in Greece who was working in the fields, went off to the side, had a bit of a squat, came back with a baby and went on working,’’ London said.
‘‘If you’re feeling sort of big and heavy and tired, the best thing to do is to keep busy. She’s modelling keeping busy.’’