When a heavily pregnant Melissa Chan-Green started having contractions a week before her due date, she decided to go for a walk around the block to encourage things along a bit.
But when the Newshub presenter tried to leave the Auckland apartment she shares with husband Caspar Green, she and her mum, who was keeping her daughter company in the early stages of labour, found the streets were crawling with police and protection officers.
It soon transpired that the Duchess of Cornwall, who was on a royal tour with Prince Charles at the time, was making a visit to a charity nearby and they couldn’t pass until she’d safely exited the building.
While a royal sighting was a welcome distraction from the contractions that had been going on for two days, mum Catharina Davies was somewhat more astonished – 36 years earlier, when she was in labour with Melissa, her journey to hospital was held up by a motorcade carrying, unbelievably, the future king with then-wife Princess Diana!
“It was so spooky,” laughs the broadcaster. “Of all the weird coincidences this really was strange – Prince Charles turning up when we’re both having babies!”
While the mum-to-be had hoped her wee man’s arrival wasn’t too far off, it turned out that this was only the very beginning of a dramatic few days. While her pregnancy had been relatively straight-forward, Busby’s arrival was anything but.
“I had no idea what I was in for,” Melissa says with a smile as she introduces her adorable son, who’s now three months old. As Busby snoozes in his doting dad’s arms, Melissa explains that it took three days of increasingly intense contractions before things ramped up enough to go to hospital.
Meet Busby Lucas Green
Born: November 21, 2019
Weight: 3.2kg
By the time she arrived, the journalist – who met her quiz master beau while working in London as Three’s Europe correspondent – was vomiting, exhausted and struggling with the unrelenting pain.
She recalls, “I got to hospital and remember being asked if I’d like some pain relief. I was like, ‘Hell yes!’ The epidural was such a relief as it meant I could finally get some rest. After days of contractions I was running out of steam.”
Settling in for another long night, Caspar, who turns 40 this month, went off to sleep while Melissa was hooked up to fluids and their baby monitored. But after a couple of hours, things quickly took a frightening turn – alarms went off and doctors were running into the room from all directions.
“They couldn’t find the baby’s pulse, so things got serious very quickly,” Melissa recounts, explaining that doctors were planning a “crash” Caesarean under a general anaesthetic.
Doting Melissa and Caspar have the best wedding anniversary present ever – sweet Busby!
Melissa explains, “I was rushed off towards the operating theatre. The obstetrician and medical team looking after me were just incredible, but I had to concentrate so hard on taking deep breaths so that I didn’t panic. It was all happening so fast.”
Amazingly, Caspar slept through the drama and woke to find his wife was no longer in the room with him!
“A midwife explained what had happened and told me to get into a pair of scrubs quickly,” he says, admitting he’s a very deep sleeper. “I made it to the operating theatre with about two minutes to spare! I remember feeling nervous but we didn’t have much time to think about it because we knew our baby was almost here.”
Fortunately for Melissa, the general anaesthetic hadn’t been required so she was awake to see her firstborn enter the world.
“They held him up and I only saw a foot, but he let out a cry, which was really reassuring,” she recalls. “I was desperately hoping that he was OK but also super excited to find out if it was a boy or
a girl. When they said, ‘It’s a boy’, I was so happy.”
As their bonny 3.2kg son was whisked off to be checked, Melissa endured what felt like the longest wait of her life before proud dad Caspar finally carried him over. Seeing her baby’s dark brown eyes for the first time was unforgettable.
Melissa coos, “He was crying but as soon as he was put up close to my face, I looked at him and said ‘Hello’. His little eyes opened up wide and he calmed down straight away. It was very sweet.”
The couple, who will celebrate their first wedding anniversary in March, chose the name Busby simply because they like it, and Lucas is Caspar’s dad’s family name.
“I have a unique name so we wanted something a little different for him too,” confides Caspar, who has quickly become chief nappy-changer. “I’m also in charge of music – he loves Stevie Nicks’ Edge of Seventeen, so I sing it constantly.”
Busy with Busby: Melissa’s spending quality time with her boy until she’s back on the telly next month.
After several days in hospital, the little family was thrilled to return home and start life as a trio. Christmas-fanatic Melissa had even managed to put up the Christmas tree in between contractions before heading to hospital!
“I thought we’d bring him home and he’d like the twinkling lights, but I don’t think he even noticed,” she laughs.
Three months on, Melissa and Caspar are loving every minute of parenthood.
After a difficult few months with Busby suffering from acid reflux, he’s recently started on medication and seems a much happier tot. With Melissa returning to work part-time next month, they’re both delighted that Caspar – who creates quizzes for a UK company from home – is able to take on daddy duties.
“We’re so lucky that we’ve both been around for these first few months – it would have been a lot harder on my own,” admits Melissa.
“It’s just lovely being a family together. We feel very grateful.”
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