Rapid River! Nadia's Bedroom-floor Delivery

The celebrity chefs second son was in a rush to enter the world

- Sophie Neville

When planning for the arrival of baby number two, Nadia Lim had dreamed of welcoming her new bundle in the comfort of her own home.

But the Kiwi foodie’s hopes for a water birth at the Auckland abode she shares with husband Carlos Bagrie and toddler Bodhi were dashed when the couple discovered their pad simply wasn’t fit for purpose.

“It all got a bit hard – we have no curtains in the living room, so privacy was an issue and filling up a birthing pool would have been impossible because no hose could stretch far enough!” laughs Nadia, who decided to give birth at maternity hospital Birthcare instead.

But the expectant parents needn’t have bothered with a plan B because their little guy had his own ideas – making his grand entrance on their bedroom floor (“in the exact spot he was made”) a week before his due date.

“I remember thinking, ‘Oh, well, looks like he’s being born at home after all!’ and being secretly happy about it,” says the Master Chef star as she shares her extraordinary story with Woman’s Day.

With her new baby fast asleep in his Moses basket on the sofa next to her and two-year-old Bodhi down for his daytime nap, Nadia, 32, tells us it all happened so fast, she didn’t have time to panic. “It wasn’t what we’d planned, but it turned out beautifully. It was an awesome birth.”

Nadia’s second pregnancy was a straightforward one, but as she neared her due date of October 1, she was increasingly uncomfortable and felt very ready to meet her new baby. She’d even been talking to her bump, telling him that once he got to 39 weeks, he was more than welcome to make his arrival. And he must have listened because on the night of September 23, after sharing a spicy Malaysian dinner with her extended family, Nadia’s waters broke.