New bub all part of the council’s (annual) plan
Just a couple of days after giving birth, Hamilton City councillor Sarah Thomson put herself through another gruelling experience in the form of a daylong annual plan meeting.
While some might argue that listening to politicians bicker for hours about spending and rates increases would be the more painful of those two events, the appearance during the audiovisual meeting of the new mum and two-day-old Leo Alexander Stockman provided a rare moment of delight for those tuning in, not least her council colleagues.
Among those oohing and aahing online was ‘‘grandmayor’’ Paula Southgate, who congratulated Thomson and her husband Lloyd Stockman on Leo’s arrival.
‘‘I think it’s astounding,’’ the mayor declared. ‘‘You are amazing to get up this morning on day two and join us.’’
Thomson, who took part in much of the meeting, also found time to host a visit from a Stuff photographer.
It was a fortunate circumstance that the meeting was held via the Zoom conferencing app – a necessary measure introduced during the Covid-19 lockdown – that allowed her to participate from the comfort of her own home.
‘‘I’m actually not feeling too bad, in spite of not getting an awful lot of sleep,’’ she said, prior to the start of the meeting.
‘‘I’m just going to try my best to be there for the main debates and the key votes.
‘‘It’s great that we have such a supportive team at the council. I’m going to need to be pretty flexible for a while.
Leo, who remained blissfully snoozing for much of Wednesday’s meeting, was born at the Waterford Birth Centre in Hamilton at 3.56am Monday – 25 hours after contractions began – weighing in at 3.72kg (8 pound 3oz).
‘‘It feels totally unreal. Our lives have totally changed in a matter of hours ... He is absolutely gorgeous and we love him to bits.’’
Thomson said credit was due to their midwife Christina Campbell, as well as her husband Lloyd, who did a sterling job of holding the gas cylinder and supplying hot wheat packs.
Thomson will not be the only Hamilton City councillor to contend with the arrival of a new family member. Cr Kesh NaidooRauf announced on Monday that she is pregnant with her second child.
‘‘We’re in the middle of very important annual plan debates this week. And I’m 100 per cent ready for the tough conversations. But life has a way of putting things into perspective, helping you see the big picture,’’ Naidoo-Rauf said in a post on Facebook.
‘‘Hubby and I are looking forward to our new arrival later this year.’’
The council was due to reconvene for a second round of annual plan debating today, prior to determining what rates increase they would propose in the draft annual plan.