Amalia Osborne
All the teeny baby clothes had finally been given away. As had the well-used cot and car capsule. Shortland Street actor Ngahuia Piripi, 35, and her partner Teone Kahu, 32, were content at the thought that their blended family of six was complete. But while using the contraceptive pill – and in the middle of discussing taking “final steps” to make sure they didn’t fall pregnant again. Life had other plans for the West Auckland couple.
A suprise that changed everything
Today, as an upbeat Ngahuia is perched on a stool eating a packet of gummy lollies and patting her 25-week baby bump. She shares her initial feeling of ‘absolute shock’ to see two blue lines appearing on a pregnancy test.
“I remember saying to Teone, ‘Babe, I’m getting sore boobs and feeling a bit nauseous, and I don’t think the pill usually does that. So I’ll just take a pregnancy test to rule it out.’ “The test did not rule it out!” she laughs.
“Teone probably thought, ‘I’m the man,’ but I cried. They were not happy tears originally, because I thought we had definitely finished growing our family. “Yet here we are! And we’re looking at the positives and counting our blessings, like even being able to fall pregnant so easily, especially at my age. We are lucky. Like anything in life, you deal with the cards you are given.”
Finding peace and joy in the chaos
The stunning actor, who has starred as surgeon Esther Samuels for the past decade on the Kiwi soap, gave herself the first trimester to process everything privately.
“I was kind of in denial,” she admits.
“Like, I’ll ignore it and carry on and if I don’t miscarry, then I’ll start paying attention. “Once I got to the second trimester, I thought, ‘Okay this is really happening’ and I started to get my head around it. And once you can see your body changing, it hits a bit more too. “Now I’ve found myself shopping like crazy trying to get all those things again like a bassinet and change table for my fourth baby.
“I haven’t really told people. Not that it’s a secret – I just didn’t go around telling everyone because it’s sort of an old song now.”
A blended family full of love
It’s Ngahuia’s third time being pregnant while shooting the TVNZ drama. She didn’t need to tell her cast-mates and crew because, during one scene when ‘throwing up’ wasn’t written in the script, she made it pretty obvious.
“There was a scene where I just started dry heaving in front of them,” she recalls, giving a humorous re-enactment.
“And that’s when everybody looked at me and went ‘Ohhh, she must be…’ and figured it out. “Or maybe they thought I was just being very dramatic in my acting and I’d found an interesting way to try and steal the scene!”
Ngahuia and Teone’s worlds revolve around their beautiful blended whānau, which includes their son Niau, almost four, and daughter Aewa, two, as well as Ngahuia’s 16-year-old girl Owairea and Teone’s daughter Neila, 13.
While the youngest two children (who attend a local Kōhanga) happily rub their mum’s hapū belly and chirp, “Baby inside, baby inside”. It’s been the teenagers who have surprised their parents by being the most excited for the new addition.
‘Once I got to the second trimester I thought, okay, this is really happening’
Another girl on the way
“Weirdly, Owairea was actually super stoked with the news. She’s probably been my person who’s made me feel, ‘Yeah we can do this again’,” says Ngahuia, of Te Rarawa descent.
“She’s a very mature young woman who also thinks our youngest – the firecracker of the family – needs another sibling to be humbled.”
The couple have found out the sex of the baby too. It became obvious when Ngahuia started craving Whittaker’s chocolate – her go-to snack whenever she’s been pregnant with a girl.
“We’re having another daughter, due in mid-October,” she beams. “I don’t usually love sugar, yet look at me eating these lollies. It’s a pregnancy thing. When I was pregnant with my son, I craved carbs like potatoes and porridge with blueberries. “My theory with girls is they also suck all the pretty out of you. Because in my second trimester, my skin breaks out like crazy. I get pimples in areas, like on my chest, that I’ve never had pimples before.”
For her long-term partner Teone, he’s most looking forward to delivering his new baby girl and cutting the umbilical cord with a little piece of obsidian just as he’s done with the others. Alongside a midwife at Waitākere Hospital.
Not your typical love story
“They come into the world from Mama’s efforts and I get to have a little moment of connection with them to give Mum a second before they go to her for skin-to-skin,” says actor Teone, who runs Te Agency (a talent company specialising in extras or background actors) and also has a role in season 12 of the cosy murder mystery series Brokenwood.
‘We’re looking at the positives and counting our blessings’
After being together nine years, the pair concede that they haven’t had a typical ‘fairytale’ romance. They met when Teone played Dr Hawks Logan on Shortland Street and it was not love at first sight.
“During our first scene together I could not stand you,” confesses Ngahuia candidly, turning to Teone, who insists he doesn’t remember that.
“Oh, let me enlighten you!” she laughs.“He’s pointing to the script and going to me, ‘Are you going to do this in the scene? And I think you need to do this…’ Ah, no I don’t! I think you need to react to what I’m giving you. “I thought, ‘Don’t tell me what to do – I’ve been on this show longer than you. Work with what I’m giving you!’ “We’ve since learned to meet each other halfway,” he smiles.
“And that initial clash is probably what caused a romantic spark. She liked the Crusaders too so that was a good hit in my mind,” says the born and bred Cantabrian.
Balancing two lives
“And we actually got on like a house on fire off-set.”
While Shorty is an “awesome workplace” for Ngahuia, providing her with the support she needs to balance being an on-screen hospital boss and busy off-screen mum. She admits playing such an emotional character as Esther has been challenging while being pregnant.
“Sometimes my mind knows I’m not playing her, but my body doesn’t necessarily. Often, I have to give my belly a bit of a rub and tell baby, ‘This is fake my darling’. “For these last three pregnancies, I’ve been living a double life: my life as well as Esther Samuels’ life. “Now that we’re moving into a break from shooting, this is my first pregnancy where I’m able to stop and enjoy it. Before, l worked all the way up. With my last girl, I had two days off before I had her.”
After growing up as an only child with her mum Poto, Ngahuia never envisioned having a large family, although she has 10 half-siblings on her dad’s side. She gave birth to Owairea at 19 years old and remembers it being easier to be a young parent.
On their beautiful blend
“Even though you’re broke with less resources, your battery life is better and I don’t remember the lack of sleep affecting me so much back then,” muses Ngahuia.
“But I say to my teenager, your siblings are going to be the greatest gift I could give you.”
Teone, who has Te Pakakohi, Ngāti Wheke and Ngāti Kahu heritage, couldn’t agree more.
“We had our eldest children in previous relationships, so we spent the first five years of our relationship just focusing on blending the family: two kids from two different households. That was key. “And once that happened, we decided to pop out another baby, although I thought we were finished after our son! That strengthened our whānau. Owairea and Neila started to see themselves as siblings and have a common interest of looking after the little ones. Now they’re closer and our babies have second mums.”
They admit blended families have their challenges, but when it all works out, it’s a “beautiful thing”.
“I’m really proud to be a blended family. Navigating it isn’t easy – it’s hard to achieve the goal of everyone feeling loved. You don’t ever stop working at it. “We’re not perfect, but our family is our biggest drive. I know it sounds cheesy but it’s true.”
