Northland Age
  • Northland Age home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
  • Opinion
  • Kaitaia weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northland Age

Kaitaia family has a birth story to beat them all

Northland Age
4 Oct, 2017 07:59 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Rererangi and Tim Pio with their new baby, Marei Kura Rose.

Rererangi and Tim Pio with their new baby, Marei Kura Rose.

Kaitaia couple Rererangi and Tim Pio will never forget the day fourth daughter and fifth baby arrived for a number of reasons, including the story of the birthing pool.

Every one of those memories will bring smiles to their faces for many years to come.

Top of the list is that Marei Kura Rose Pio weighed a robust 5715gm, the heaviest home-birth baby of midwife Naomi Golding's career, and showing no sign of being beaten by any of her colleagues' collective experience.

She wasn't especially long - 54cm, Rererangi said - but she was certainly plump.

Rererangi's first child had entered the world at an unremarkable 3628gm. The second weighed 4082gm, the third 4536gm - and Marei could well be her last "if they're going to keep getting bigger".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

This was her second home birth - number two had arrived in too much of a rush when the family were living in Auckland, but this delivery had been memorable.

"It was a beautiful labour," she said. And quite a crowd-puller. By the time Marei arrived there were 16 people in the couple's Kaitaia home.

"We planned on five, but they just kept coming through the door," she said. "There were even some kids who stopped by on their way to school."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It was so relaxed and calm," dad Tim said, although there had been one small glitch. The kids had long hot baths and showers the night before, and when it was time for Rererangi to get into the pool there was no hot water.

"That was soon fixed though - the pool was emptied and the water replaced, using every pot and every element on the stove.

Meanwhile Marei, now almost a month old, had well and truly mastered the arts of eating and sleeping, although she had been known to complain if a nappy change took a little too long.

And there was one more small detail about her birth that would never be forgotten - she arrived one week late (on September 8), at 8.13am - which, in pounds and ounces, was precisely her mum's birth weight.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Northland Age

Northland Age

Next step: Russell considers World Heritage nomination process

30 Sep 12:09 AM
Northland Age

'Way too close': Families fear quarry plan will bring dust and noise to doorstep

29 Sep 10:00 PM
Northland Age

Far North News in brief: Bird of the Year, land march and seniors

29 Sep 04:00 PM

Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northland Age

Next step: Russell considers World Heritage nomination process
Northland Age

Next step: Russell considers World Heritage nomination process

About 200 residents gathered to debate Russell's World Heritage ambitions.

30 Sep 12:09 AM
'Way too close': Families fear quarry plan will bring dust and noise to doorstep
Northland Age

'Way too close': Families fear quarry plan will bring dust and noise to doorstep

29 Sep 10:00 PM
Far North News in brief: Bird of the Year, land march and seniors
Northland Age

Far North News in brief: Bird of the Year, land march and seniors

29 Sep 04:00 PM


Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable
Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northland Age e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to The Northland Age
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northland Age
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP