Photography: Amalia Osborne.
Pregnancy clearly suits bridal designer Trish Peng, who is absolutely glowing when the Woman’s Day team arrives for a photoshoot at her new Auckland home with her hubby, dad-to-be and fellow designer Tim Begg.
As the couple beams with joy, excited about the beloved baby due to join them in August, the scene is a far cry from where Trish was last September, when she shared news of her heartbreaking miscarriage and rare “ghost” or molar pregnancy that affects around one in 1200 expectant mums.
“The molar cells can turn to cancer, so the medical team told us not to try for six months,” tells Trish, 35.
“I got pregnant after five months, then sadly had a miscarriage, so it was another six months until we could try. A year is a long time to wait!”
Throughout, the fashionista trusted that the psychic who told her that “something’s going to happen in November” would be right.
“We conceived that month – third time lucky!” Trish grins.
“I had an inkling almost immediately because I was late, but I waited until Christmas morning to test. “Tim was with me – we always test together – and the line came up dark instantly! It was a cute wee gift for all of us, especially being able to tell our families at Christmas.”
Counting down the days
The couple is now counting down the days until their son is due on 16 August.
Trish tells, “It’s the first boy on the whole Peng side. My brother had a girl and all my cousins had girls, so it’s exciting for everyone.”
To choose baby names, she and Tim, 37, used a Tinder-like app where they swiped right on names they liked. They now have two top contenders – if the names don’t get snapped up by one of Trish’s friends first!
“I have 13 girlfriends who are either pregnant or have just popped out babies – and 11 of them are boys!” she laughs.
“There’s something in the water. Every time one is born, I have my fingers crossed they don’t choose one of our names!”
A smooth pregnancy
So far, Trish’s pregnancy has been smooth, with no nausea or food aversions.
“I have, however, had dessert every day since I found out I was pregnant. Any excuse for dessert!”
Baby Begg was along for the ride on Trish and Tim’s recent six- week work trip to Europe, which included busy showings at New York Bridal Week and Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week, as well as meeting her stockists.
While travelling with her new collection of wedding dresses for the shows, disaster struck when 15 of her classic gowns got stuck in New Zealand’s international shipping depot.
“It was a nightmare!” tells Trish.
“Without them, it was going to be a very short show. Thankfully, our stores in Washington and Florida shipped their samples overnight, so we had something to show in New York. Then we had one of
our team fly to Barcelona with the classics – but they lost her luggage, so she turned up empty-handed!”
Unexpected setbacks on the road
Then Tim went down with horrific food poisoning and Trish got a chest infection, spraining the muscles between her ribs from coughing so hard. As a result, both missed their Barcelona show. Luckily, they’d booked a babymoon in the Maldives, which gave them some precious time to recover before returning to the beautiful home they bought at the end of last year. Now they’re happy nesting after living with Trish’s parents for almost two years to save for a deposit.
“I love the privacy of it,” Trish says of their home.
“Our bedroom looks out to a view that includes the Sky Tower and the harbour. It’s five bedrooms, so we’ve made one a Pilates room, one my office, one Tim’s office and one will be the nursery – when we get to decorating it!”
Trish laughs when she admits the only thing in her baby’s room so far is a nursing chair.
“Usually I’m a planner, but because of our conception journey, I didn’t want to jinx it by having the room set up too early, so I’ve started with the chair, and now the cot and change table are ordered and on their way. “Our baby’s pretty lucky – there will be two parents home full-time with them right from the beginning because Tim works from home, plus the grandparents in Auckland are ready to go. The village is here! We can’t wait to meet our mini-me.”
