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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Gives Birth To Baby Girl

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Gives Birth To Baby Girl
“We’re all doing really well,
POOL New / Reuters
“We’re all doing really well,

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave birth to a baby girl on Thursday, becoming one of the few world leaders to do so while in power.

Ardern, 37, announced the birth on Facebook, saying she was “feeling very lucky to have a healthy baby girl.”

“Thank you so much for your best wishes and your kindness,” she wrote. “We’re all doing really well thanks to the wonderful team at Auckland City Hospital.”

The impending event set social media ablaze in New Zealand as the press camped outside the hospital for what was dubbed #babywatch. The prime minister’s office said Ardern’s partner, Clarke Gayford, had driven the couple to the hospital at 5:50 a.m. after she went into labor.

She is the first world leader to give birth while in office in nearly three decades.

Ardern, who was elected last year and announced her pregnancy in January, plans to take six weeks of parental leave. She handed power over to Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters upon entering the hospital Thursday; he will serve as New Zealand’s acting leader during her absence.

It’s unclear what the baby will be named. Asked by reporters if she had made a choice, Ardern said the process was going “terribly,” per The New York Times.

“It’s one of those things where Clarke is absolutely convinced it will come to us as soon as it arrives,” Ardern told a New Zealand radio station last month. “I think we’ll be sleep deprived and probably angry at each other so I don’t think that’s the best time to choose.”

Clarification: Language in this story has been amended to clarify that Ardern is the first world leader to give birth in three decades while in office.

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