Kate, the ultimate mom!
Morning sickness aside, Kate’s a dab hand at this baby business!
POOR Kate. No sooner had she and her newborn vacated the steps outside the Lindo Wing of London’s St Mary’s Hospital than people started speculating about when she would produce the next Cambridge tot.
The duchess wants to emulate the queen and have four kids, some sources say. She believes in pairs, another claims – George and Charlotte are already an item so she “feels it’s her duty to produce a sibling for little Prince Louis too”.
Kate and William are keen to have a second daughter, yet another says. “They’ve seen what an improving and calming influence Charlotte has been on George, who was a bit of a tearaway in the early days. So they know the benefit a second daughter might bring.”
But just hang on a second there, people – the Duchess of Cambridge has barely had time to put on her feeding bra and bond with the new prince. All in good time!
Still, you can’t blame the world for having expectations – Kate is just so good at having kids.
Apart from her history of hyperemesis gravidarum – the medical term for extreme morning sickness we’re all so familiar with now – she embraces pregnancy with a passion and seems to go through childbirth with enviable ease.
KATE’S BIRTHING SECRETS
Short hospital visits, no painkillers, no harrowing labour and speedy recoveries – if anyone has nailed the textbook birth, it’s the Duchess of Cambridge.
According to sources her secret is “hypnobirthing” – a natural delivery process she reportedly adopted with both George (4) and Charlotte (2).
Based on the work of an English doctor in the ’30s, it involves relaxation and breathing techniques to manage labour pains and “visualise” the baby’s birth.
Experts say the practice keeps the mother calm from the moment she goes into labour until the baby is born.
It promotes the release of the hormone oxytocin, which stimulates contractions, and endorphins, which numb pain. This leads to a less painful labour (Kate apparently shunned painkillers during all three labours), assists recovery and means less anxiety after the birth.
The duchess bowed out of her royal duties on 22 March, giving her a month to rest – something that’s essential in preparation for labour, experts say.
From around 34 weeks she reportedly made use of a birthing ball – a device you lie over to relax the pelvis and help get the unborn child into the correct birthing position.
She also kept up a gentle exercise regime with regular walks around the Kensington Palace grounds with the family’s pet spaniel, Lupo, royal sources say. Swimming lessons in the palace pool and pregnancy yoga helped strengthen her muscles in preparation for the birth.
Her pregnancy diet reportedly included plenty of avo, lean meats and fibrerich porridge as well as smoothies she made from kale, spinach, blueberries and spirulina – an algae extract dubbed a “pregnancy superfood” as it’s high in protein and iron.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
Prince Louis Albert George tipped the scales at a healthy 3,83kg – the heaviest royal baby in more than 100 years. Big brother George came in at 3,8kg and sister Charlotte at 3,7kg.
Young Louis also made history in another way: he’s the first newborn in the immediate royal family to be affected by new legislation governing the order of succession.
According to the 2013 Succession to the Crown Act, birth order and not gender is the determining factor when it comes to who’s in line for the throne.
In days gone by, the arrival of a younger brother would have bumped an older sister further down the line. But now Princess Charlotte keeps her spot as fourth in line to the throne, with the new baby coming in at fifth place.
BUT JUST WHERE WAS GRANDPA?
Eyebrows were raised when days after little Louis’ birth Prince Charles had yet to see the new addition to the family.
The heir to the throne was in Balmoral Castle in Scotland, according to Daily Mail royal insider Richard Kay – hardly halfway around the world.
While an endless procession of Middletons visited Kensington Palace to Kate’s red dress was similar to the outfit Princess Diana wore after giving birth to Prince Harry in 1984. greet the new prince, Charles remained “out in the cold”.
His absence is confirmation that relations between Charles and William are decidedly frosty, Kay says. “The prince’s absence shines an uncomfortable light on the tricky and perplexing relationship between father and son.”
Three years ago Charles was heard complaining he didn’t see enough of his first grandchild, George, and had been relegated instead to a minor role in the little boy’s life.
His exclusion from the inner circle must hurt, reviving painful memories of his own isolated childhood, Kay says, when his mom and dad were more involved in royal duties and travelling the world than hands-on parenting.
Friends claim William is more enamoured with the kind of warm and cheerful family life the Middletons offer rather than “the stiff and starchy approach favoured by the older royals”.
ALL HAIL LITTLE LOUIS
Prince Charles can at least gain a measure of comfort from the fact his name features in his new grandson’s string of three.
Four days after his arrival the baby’s name was finally announced: Louis Arthur Charles, who will officially be known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge.
The name is a nod to Lord Louis Mountbatten, Prince Charles’ beloved great-uncle and mentor, who was assassinated by the Irish Republican Army in 1979.
Arthur was one of the bookies’ favourites and is a popular name among the royal family: Prince Charles is Charles Philip Arthur George, while Prince William is William Arthur Philip Louis.
TIRING TIME
Prince William was granted two weeks’ paternity leave after the new arrival but managed to attend an Anzac Day service – in honour of Australian and New Zealand soldiers who died in conflict – at Westminster Abbey three days after the birth.
Seated alongside Meghan Markle and Prince Harry he couldn’t keep his eyes open. Shortly before the service he said Louis was “behaving himself ” and sleep was “going reasonably well”.
Hmm. Maybe not quite well enough.