Baby joy: NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern welcomes a healthy baby girl

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed her first child, a “healthy baby girl”.

Ardern took to Instagram to reveal the happy news less than two hours after the birth and shared a sweet selfie of her and partner Clarke Gayford cradling their new arrival, which she affectionately dubbed “wee one”.

The 37-year-old leader was admitted to Auckland City Hospital early Thursday morning and a statement released by her office confirmed that the PM was in labour.

Ardern said she “feels very lucky” and thanked everyone for their best wishes, as she updated her social media accounts from the comfort of her hospital bed.

Read more: Jacinda Ardern in labour, admitted to hospital for birth of first child.

The baby girl is Ardern’s first child and she weighed in at 3.31kg when she made her way into the world at 4.45pm on Thursday 21 June. Despite sharing the first shot of the new arrival, the couple have not yet revealed her name.

Ardern announced she was pregnant back in January, just months after she’d taken office as the country’s third female prime minister. At the time, she said she’d found out about the pregnancy just one week before her Labour Party formed government and that it came as a surprise to her, and her partner, as they believed they would not be able to conceive naturally.

She told Sky News: “We had been told that it was unlikely that we would be able to have a family without help. It was a week before (Deputy Prime Minister) Winston Peters made his decision about how to form a coalition government….so it’s been a long time to carry that secret.”

Read more: NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern pregnant with first child.

Ardern is one of only a few female leaders to give birth while holding office – the most recent being former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto, who had her daughter in 1990. And, despite not holding political office, Queen Elizabeth II of course welcomed all four of her children during her reign.

The new mum has already been flooded with messages of support on social media. One user said: “Yay our nz puku is here. Well done mama and papa. To carry on our legacy of women who can do everything.”

Another wrote: “You are officially mother of the nation.”

However, she did run into some opposition from New Zealand conservatives suggesting she should have stepped aside when she found out she was pregnant. However, she has maintained strong support from within her own party and many National Party members across the aisle, as well as the voting public.

Ardern’s deputy Winston Peters is now acting prime minister and will run the country for six week while’s she’s on maternity leave. After that, she will return to work and Gayford, who is a presenter on a TV fishing show, will take on the majority of the parenting load.

What do you think? Is it exciting to see a female leader showing the world you can be a mum and hold down an important job?