‘We nearly lost her': LAINEY'S A LOCKDOWN MIRACLE

THE DOTING FAMILY HAS SO MUCH LOVE FOR ITS TINIEST MEMBER

- Leena Tailor

After doing the maths on when she was conceived, Bayleigh and Tim Ballantine joke that their six-month-old daughter Lainey is quite possibly New Zealand’s first “lockdown baby”. But when the wee battler grows up to hear how she came into the world amid a pandemic, it will be just one of several wild stories her parents share about her arrival.

Since finding out they were pregnant in May last year, the Hal„wera couple have moved house twice, got married, and finally brought Lainey home following an emergency flight, a risky Caesarean delivery, and two months in hospital.

“You don’t realise how much your family can handle until you’re thrown into something,” says Bayleigh, 30. “I wouldn’t have thought I’d cope well, but I’ve surprised myself.”

One day, the couple will fill Lainey in on those crazy times, but they will probably start with how they met – at primary school! “Tim used to borrow my Game Boy and swap me for PlayStation games,” Bayleigh recalls.

The two reconnected while working at the Ministry of Social Development. Bayleigh, who had two children from a previous relationship (Tate, seven, and Fletcher, six), and Tim then welcomed daughter Addison in 2019, but decided to have no further children.