Lions star's wife gives birth in back of a car hours before Australia Test

Wales Online

a day ago

Lions star's wife gives birth in back of a car hours before Australia Test
Lions and Ireland star Bundee Aki says his wife called him from a car on the way to hospital hours before he faced the Wallabies
Bundee Aki (centre) says he is looking forward to meeting his new-born child
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Lions centre Bundee Aki has revealed that his wife gave birth on the day of the first Test in Brisbane - with the Ireland international yet to meet his new-born daughter.
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Aki, who featured in all three Tests for the British and Irish Lions here in Australia, was on the bench for the first Test in Brisbane. However, following the third Test defeat in Sydney, Aki revealed that he recently welcomed a fifth child - although he's yet to see his newest daughter.
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"I want to enjoy my break, my family time," said the 35-year-old as he reflected on the end of a long Lions tour. "I haven't seen my family for eight weeks.
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"I have a new-born child who I haven't met yet. She was born when we were playing in Brisbane, so I haven't met her.
"Her name is Aine, so I'm looking forward to going and meeting my new-born child and we'll go from there."
Aki and his wife have a simple theme when it comes to naming their children, with Aine joining Armani-Jade, Adrianna, Andronicus and Ailbhe.
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"All my kids start with A," he added. "So my wife loved the name Aine. That's five As in the family."
When asked if it had been difficult not seeing his new-born daughter and the rest of his family, Aki ultimately told the remarkable story of how his wife gave birth in New Zealand on the same day he was facing the Wallabies. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
"Credit to my wife," he said. "She's a powerful woman, a strong woman.
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"I have to say it to her. If you only knew the story of what happened, it's a funny story in itself. It was a good day.
"I was in the hotel. I knew we were overdue. The missus calls me and she's like, 'Water hasn't broke but I'm going to the hospital, I'm feeling contractions.'
"I go, 'Yeah, fair enough.' She goes to the hospital, we're getting ready for the team meeting pre-match, and then she calls me and says she's on the way to the hospital, so I said, 'Fine, be safe.'
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"Five minutes later, she sends a photo, her water broke. I was like, 'Cool, OK, are you almost there?' This is like 30 or 40 minutes away from the hospital, so I said, 'You'll be all right, Mum is there.'
"Ten minutes later, she video calls me and I was like, 'S**t, what's going on?' I saw a baby on the video call, so she had it in the car on the way to the hospital. They're both strong and healthy, so happy days.
"In New Zealand, yeah. So happy days."
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Given the nature of the day, it might have been difficult for Aki to focus on the rugby, but the centre admitted he had no issue getting on with the task of taking on Australia at Suncorp Stadium.
"I knew it was good Juju, I knew it was good Juju," he said. "So I knew we were going to have a good day."