Sky High!chelsea & Douglas' Sweet Baby Boy

Being a mum is just delicious!

When a heavily pregnant Chelsea Winter woke up on the morning of July 4, she looked out the window at the thick storm clouds rolling in towards their rural Tauranga home and quipped to her partner Douglas Renall that it would be the perfect day to have a baby.

Little did she know that just a few hours later she’d be cuddled up in bed, candles flickering and torrential rain pounding on the roof, with her newborn son cradled in her arms after a beautiful home birth, two weeks earlier than expected.

“It was like the sky was giving birth too,” recalls Chelsea as she welcomes Woman’s Day into her and Douglas’ stunning new home to introduce their adorable five-month-old son Sky Leonardo.

His hurried arrival still feels like yesterday for the accomplished MasterChef 2012 winner and cookbook author – and she has to pinch herself when she reflects on the amazing turn her life has taken in the past 12 months.

“It really does feel like all this was meant to be,” she says. “I feel incredibly blessed – I had a beautiful and easy pregnancy, a super-quick birth and now I’ve got my little boy. Of course, there have been hard days and the exhaustion is real, but he just gets more awesome by the day.”

With their adorable little man smiling and cooing happily, it’s a scene of complete serenity at their rural idyll, which is exactly how Chelsea likes it. After giving up her busy Auckland life in 2017, she moved south to focus on what really matters. A new relationship with winemaker Douglas was a welcome surprise – they reconnected 20 years after a childhood romance – and now, as they delight together in watching their sweet boy grow, it’s clear that the 36-year-old is brimming with happiness.

Chelsea says Sky is a happy little chap who continually delights his devoted parents with his curiosity and love of the outdoors.