Wairarapa’s first baby of 2018, Remy Makiri, with her mother Yve Te Tau. PHOTO/ELISA VORSTER
ELISA VORSTER
With an estimated 170 babies expected to be born in New Zealand on New Year’s Day, staff at Wairarapa Hospital were kept in suspense as the first two days of January came and went without any new arrivals.
The first baby born in Wairarapa in 2018 was baby girl, Remy Leigh Makiri, who finally arrived yesterday at 4.30am to proud parents Yve Te Tau and Arana Makiri of Masterton.
Ms Te Tau said she knew as soon as she arrived at the hospital she would most likely give birth to Wairarapa’s first baby of 2018, unless someone rushed in and beat her to it.
The relaxed mother wasn’t fazed by her baby’s number one title but said there were other family members who had been waiting in anticipation of Remy’s arrival for days.
“Nan will be pretty excited — she was pretty peeved she wasn’t born on the first [of January].”
Weighing 8lb 3oz, Remy was slightly smaller than her two older siblings, Millie aged three, and Tiaki aged two, who were eager to meet their new sister.
New Zealand’s first baby of 2018 was born at 12.01am on January 1 to parents Chien Cheng Lu and mother, Ena Lu, in Auckland hospital.
Both Remy and Rex are among the generation of Kiwi babies expected to see the year 2100 and will have some of the longest lives in the world due to having access to high levels of care, education and medical assistance.
According to the latest findings from Unicef and World Data Lab, Kiwi babies were likely to live one year less on average than their Australian counterparts.
However, this is still substantially longer than children in Nigeria, who have one of the shortest expected lifespans of only 55 years.
With a long and promising future ahead for baby Remy, her mother was just focussing on what most mothers of newborn babies hope for.
“She has been feeding non-stop since she came so I’m hoping she will try to get some sleep before we get home.”
