In the women's mags: Celebrity childbearing travails flavour of the week

Miracle baby girls are on the covers of two of the women's mags this week in spookily similar stories.

Newsreader Kate Hawkesby, mother of sons aged 7 and 5, confirms in the Woman's Weekly that she and husband Richard Lyne are expecting their first girl early next year.

Radio and television personality Lana Coc-Kroft, mother of two boys, tells Woman's Day of her "baby ordeal" when her first daughter was born five months ago.

Two years after her life-threatening illness on the set of Celebrity Treasure Island, she was told on arrival at the hospital she couldn't have a pain-killing epidural injection. One of the legacies of her illness was scar tissue on her spine and the anaesthetist couldn't get the needle in.

"I absolutely freaked out," says Coc-Kroft, who described the pain of childbirth as being "hideous".

Hopefully Kate Hawkesby won't have to go through the same ordeal.

She and Richard kept her pregnancy secret for the first few months after she suffered "complications" including "crippling" morning sickness.

But she's thrilled to be having a girl, due next year. "I thought I'd only ever have boys. It was a bit like winning Lotto."

As expected, the death of crocodile hunter Steve Irwin by stingray is a big story, featuring on the cover of New Idea, which tells of his "family's tears".

Widow Terri is "staying strong" for the sake of children Bindi, 8, and Bob, 2, says friend and doco maker John Stainton, who has also been talking to Woman's Day.

Hard-to-believe story of the week is the Weekly's claim that internet-queen-cum-dragon-lady Annette Presley is really just a big softie.

"Tears are my first reaction to any emotional or stressful situation," the mother of two says, adding she's not as tough as she looks.

Other stories this week include a couple of NZ Idol tales in Woman's Day and the Weekly and Prince William's "royal romp" on the Spanish island of Ibiza with long-time girlfriend Kate Middleton - all three have the photos.

Unkindest item of the week could be the Woman's Day photos of Brent Todd's now-ex Wendy with their two children frolicking on the slopes at Coronet Peak in Queenstown while he is mired in a drugs scandal with barely a cent to his name.

Hardly likely to make Toddy feel any cheerier.