New Zealand PM Ardern gives birth to baby girl

Auckland (Agencies): New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has given birth to her first child.

This makes her only the second elected leader in modern history to give birth while in office. Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto gave birth while she was prime minister in 1990.

Ms Ardern was admitted to a hospital in the city of Auckland early on Thursday morning, four days after her due date.

Ardern, 37, became New Zealand’s youngest prime minister when she took office through a coalition deal last year after an inconclusive election.

She posted a picture of herself, smiling and holding the baby in a woollen blanket, with her partner, television presenter Clarke Gayford.

Welcome to our village wee one. Feeling very lucky to have a healthy baby girl that arrived at 4.45pm weighing 3.31kg (7.3lb) Thank you so much for your best wishes and your kindness. We're all doing really well thanks to the wonderful team at Auckland City Hospital.

A post shared by Jacinda Ardern (@jacindaardern) on Jun 20, 2018 at 11:14pm PDT

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has stepped in as acting prime minister and will run the country for the next six weeks while Ardern takes maternity leave, according to an agreement they published earlier.