PICTURED cradling her infant Kali at the Bunbury Football Carnival in the coastal port south of Perth at the weekend is Kaytlin Kelly.
Proudly standing alongside Kaytlin is her great uncle the dual Carlton Premiership player Syd Jackson – and if Syd has any say in it then mother and daughter will shortly be backing the Blues.
Notwithstanding their kindred link, mother and daughter now also boast territorial ties with the only team old Carlton knows – for it was Kaytlin, with the support of her partner Steven Hanning, who helped deliver her own baby in the back seat of a cousin’s Toyota Camry sedan within walking distance of the main entrance to the club on Princes Park.
Now back in her native Western Australia, Kaytlin was only too happy to relate this welcome good news story, which has its origins in Melbourne back in July where she was then living.
“The doctors told me at that time that as it was my first baby I’d be in labour for hours and hours. What they didn’t know that I was living in a place up heaps of flights of stairs with no elevator, and in walking up and down throughout the labour I actually sped up the process,” Kaytlin said.
“By that time my body was doing all the work for me, so I was quite relaxed when I jumped in to the car to head to the Royal Women’s (at Flemington Road, Parkville) when the delivery got close. But it got to the point where I couldn’t stop it anymore, so we pulled over on Royal Parade near Princes Park Oval and I delivered the baby.”
Kaytlin said that can’t recall exactly where on Royal Parade Kali made her grand entrance. As she said: “I was a bit preoccupied at the time”. But I remember looking up and seeing the parklands.”
Kali Ngarangiu Hanning tipped the scales at 3.4 kilograms when she was born on July 11, 2019, some three days before her due date – and, to quote Kaytlin, “at around 1.30am when there were no people around thank goodness”.
“Everything went fine,” Kaytlin said. “Kali didn’t cry, she was totally alert and as soon as she was born everything went calm and we made our way to hospital.”
Though she has supported Hawthorn in the past and her partner West Coast, Kaytlin admitted that Great Uncle Syd has already made more than a subtle suggestion that mother and daughter at the very least switch allegiances.
“I probably will switch to Carlton too, particularly now that Eddie (Betts) is back.”
Notwithstanding her maternal responsibilities, 24 year-old Kaytlin commits her energies as Project Lead for the National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition, which advocates for Indigenous culture to be represented in schools; and to Thirrili.LTD, which provides support to Indigenous families affected by suicide - and she does so with an enormous passion.
