When Stephanie van Heuven got a phone call to say her name had been put forward to meet Kate, William and George, she thought she was being pranked. The mum-of-one from Wellington hung up the phone after the call from Plunket and thought, “Hang on a minute – was that real?”
“I was a bit in shock,” recalls Stephanie.
“It came out of the blue and it was not the sort of thing you expect to hear.”
Stephanie, her fiancé Peter Howe (both 29) and their eight-month-old daughter Amelia will be among the 10 Plunket families attending a gathering with the royal couple at Government House. All the families chosen have babies born around the same time as George, and have been involved with Plunket.
Stephanie was due to give birth on August 12, but Amelia arrived nearly four weeks early on July 18 – four days before George made his much-awaited appearance on July 22. “I was still in hospital when Kate had her baby. It was definitely the talk of the ward,” says Stephanie.
While she’s not a diehard royal fan, Stephanie did follow Kate’s pregnancy as they were both expecting at the same time. “I mostly looked at what she wore and wished I could wear the same sort of clothes.
“She always looked so lovely and elegant.”
Now the new mum is facing the tough decision of what to wear for the royal occasion.
“I’m not sure how formal it should be – it will have to be practical because we’ll be sitting on the floor with the children.”
She’s also been putting a lot of thought into what to say.
“I’ve been trying to come up with ideas on how to start a conversation. We can talk about things like the development of our babies, but I might just have to wing it on the day!”
If she gets stuck, she could always chat about Buckingham Palace – she spent a day touring the famous London landmark four years ago. She could also mention how appreciative she is of Plunket’s services.
“I’ve been to a lot of courses on topics like introducing solids and picking up on sleep signals, which have been great. I also stayed in touch with my PIN [Plunket In Neighbourhood] group, which has been really helpful because when I moved to Wellington, I didn’t have any friends here with children. It has been so good for me.”
Stephanie says Amelia is a great sleeper and a happy baby, and hopes her daughter will be her usual cheerful self for the royal meeting.
“I will try to make sure she has a sleep first – I don’t want her to be the baby who screams!”
Photograph by Neil Mackenzie.
