Leila McKinnon has proudly shared the first pictures of her newborn daughter.
Married to Channel Nine boss David Gyngell, Leila McKinnon, 41 years old, gave birth to her daughter Gwendolen 2 weeks ago at the Prince of Wales hospital in Sydney.
The MailOnline shared the exclusive first images of McKinnon with her baby daughter. McKinnon told the Mail that baby Gwen was conceived via IVF after 3 months of trying. To conceive her first child, Edmund ‘Ted’ , Leila has said she went through 9 years of IVF treatment.
“I will never forget seeing her come into the world, that was an absolutely out of this world experience,” she told MailOnline. “[My natural birth] was just a beautiful moment. I think David was stunned because he was expecting another boy. We didn’t mind whether we had a boy or a girl but now we’ve got a girl we’re over the moon. It was just really lovely, we felt like a little family. It’s really different having a girl already even though she’s only two weeks old, just her little gestures. I’m looking forward to seeing David being the father of a daughter.”
Gwen was overdue by 5 days and weighed 7lbs. And spent 4 days in special care before being brought home.
As for becoming a new mum at 41, McKinnon says she isn’t concerned about being ‘an older mum’. “Being an older mum has been great. All the things with my career and travel that I’ve been able to do … I want to show my kids things that I’ve learned. I get tired but I think everyone does. I probably didn’t know what to eat and drink as well in my early twenties [compared to now], I don’t feel a disadvantage at all.”
As for the inspiration behind her baby daughter’s name, “It was David who liked it in the beginning [after Gwendolen Fairfax, the famous Oscar Wilde character in The Importance Of Being Earnest] but I liked Gwendolen because it was so ancient, a pre BC ancient English name – it just appealed to us.”
McKinnon plans on easing back into work by filming some episodes of Inside Story before returning to Weekend Today next year.
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