MEET BEN’S SWEET GIRL
The new father proudly shares his baby bliss
As first-time dad Ben Barrington skilfully nestles his baby girl Harley into one arm, his other hand is holding a phone, scrolling through photo after photo of his newborn daughter.
“Look how small she is there!” gushes the Shortland Street heart-throb, beaming as he shows Woman’s Day pictures of his beautiful baby.
Today, eight-week old Harley – who the Auckland couple are quick to point out is not named after her father’s love of motorcycles – is sporting a soft blonde mohawk and has the rosiest, chubbiest cheeks imaginable. As we talk, she peacefully sleeps away while her parents wax lyrical about their little bundle of joy.
Over-the-moon mum and make-up artist Kristie, 36, says, “She’s really good around people. She loves being handed around and is so calm. But like any baby, she has good days and then days where she cries a lot.”
Ben, 39, adds, “But we’re very thankful that she has been so cruisy.”
After a troubled pregnancy, where the mother-of-two suffered through persistent morning sickness, a heart murmur and gestational diabetes, the couple were looking forward to the labour running smoothly – and it certainly started out that way.
Fullthrottle
It was early one Monday morning, 10 days before her due date, that Kristie woke up to find her waters had broken.
Offspring star Ben recalls, “I’ll never forget it. She came through the door saying, ‘Wake up, Ben! My waters have just broken.’ I jumped out of bed and thought, ‘We’ve done nothing to prepare for this.’”
The loved-up pair – who met in a crowded bar three years ago – didn’t have a hospital bag packed and ready by the door. In fact, they didn’t even have enough petrol in the car.
While Ben admits he was in a panic, calm Kristie sent him off to work at Shortland Street since her labour wasn’t progressing. It was only hours later, after the actor returned home, that Kristie’s contractions finally kicked in – and they appeared to be making up for lost time.
“They were crazy-intense,” remembers Kristie. “It got to the point where I was in so much pain because they were on top of each other and I couldn’t even move. Our midwife had said earlier not to ring her until they were five minutes apart, but there was no five-minute mark – they went straight to two!”
The family – including Olly, Kristie’s 14-year-old son from a previous relationship – piled into the car to get to Waitakere Hospital, with Kristie in the throes of contractions in the back seat. Once there, the
tight-knit trio didn’t have to wait long for their newest family member.
Kristie recalls, “The midwife said, ‘You’re already so far along, so keep pushing – the baby’s coming!’ And before we knew it, she was here.”
Just 15 minutes after Kristie entered the delivery ward, Harley Morgan Barrington made her debut.
“When the midwife first held her up, it was the most amazing feeling seeing this tiny little person looking at me, who is half of me,” says Ben. “I couldn’t have anticipated
what that was going to be like. It was incredible.”
The actor has taken to fatherhood with the same gusto as he does any TV role. He’s in charge of nappy duty and loves being around for bathtime. It’s not an easy job, smiles Ben, but it’s worth it.
“You feel broken when it’s getting on to the second or third hour of trying to get her back to sleep, but when I am away from her, I don’t think of that – I just miss her. I think of the big grin on her face or her sitting there, waving her arms about at me.”
And fatherhood is just that little bit sweeter because Ben is experiencing it with his best mate, Westside star Will Hall, who became a first-time dad to son Freddie three months ago.
“Will and I ring to compare notes, and it’s nice because it’s exactly the same stuff that he’s going through too,” tells Ben. “You feel you’re not alone.”
And while more kids aren’t on the cards for this happy couple, they are already talking about a wedding – Harley’s, not their own! Ben laughs, “She’s only met Freddie once, but they are already betrothed.”