After a whirlwind romance and wedding, The Hits Tauranga host Will Johnston and his wife Tiffany imagined having a baby would happen just as easily. Instead, they faced a difficult road. But as they spend their first summer as parents to daughter Goldie, the couple reveals it was all worth it.
“It has made us way more grateful for Goldie because it was a bit of a journey – it’s made us more patient when she’s screaming at 3am,” laughs Will, who recently made the move from full-time radio hosting to Saturday mornings.
Adds Tiffany, “It wasn’t an easy pregnancy or birth, but she is a really easy newborn, so it’s all balanced out.”
It’s a sunny afternoon when the Weekly chats with the new parents over Zoom. Goldie happily lies next to her mum as she chats away.
Although they’re still in the trenches after welcoming their daughter in October last year, they are both relaxed and say caring for Goldie has brought them closer than ever.
“We’ve found a new element of silly and fun in our relationship,” shares make-up artist Tiffany. “We’ve definitely had some arguments, but we’re mostly laughing at Goldie pooing all over Will, or making up weird dances to try to calm her down.”
The doting pair say their precious daughter has brought them even closer.
At the start of 2021, with their April wedding only a few months away, Tiffany and Will, who also works as an auctioneer for real estate agency Tremains, decided they were ready to try for a baby. Tiffany assumed it wouldn’t take long for them to fall pregnant, but that wasn’t the case.
“It was really hard, to be honest,” tells the 31-year-old. “Every month, Will would say, ‘It’ll happen,’ and I’d be like, ‘Why isn’t it happening?!'”
After a year of trying, they finally got the happy news that they were expecting, and it was the thought of finally holding her baby that got Tiffany through a gruelling pregnancy. She was exhausted and her morning sickness lasted most of the nine months.
Now, although she’s battling sleepless nights with an almost three-month-old, Tiffany says she feels like herself again.
She explains, “For me, those nine months were terrible, so now I feel great!”
Her trying pregnancy was followed by a dramatic birth. After six hours of painful labour, things took a terrifying turn when Tiffany was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. Doctors noticed her blood pressure was through the roof and further tests showed she had the serious condition that increases a mother’s risk of blood clots and stroke. When her whole body began to rapidly swell – “My kneecaps disappeared!” – she was rushed to surgery for an emergency Caesarean to ensure mum and baby’s safety.
“Our midwife told us if we didn’t live in New Zealand, there’s a high chance our baby and Tiffany wouldn’t be alive right now,” tells Will, 39.
Despite the scary health complications, Tiffany says she is grateful the staff at Tauranga Hospital always made them feel safe.
Finally, on October 25 at 10.17am, Goldie Jasmine Johnston made her way safely into the world, weighing 2.93kg (6lb, 7oz).
“Because I was getting stitched up, Will got the first hold and I was so jealous!” says Tiffany. “But it was so nice for Will to have that skin-on-skin time with her.”
When she was finally able to enjoy a quiet moment with Goldie, it was everything Tiffany hoped it would be.
“It was so nice,” she recalls. “We just looked at each other. I was so excited to see what she looked like – I had no idea. I’m still surprised. She’s not really me and she’s not really Will. She’s just Goldie.”
They had a couple of names they were considering, but Will tells, “We wanted to wait until she was born to pick one, but it was quite obvious once we saw her.”
Reveals Tiffany, “I really wanted Goldie and I think after having such a traumatic birth, Will was like, ‘Whatever you want.'”
Through it all, Tiffany says her husband was the greatest support she could have wished for. “Will was amazing,” she enthuses. “It’s the worst time of your life, but he was just there and he never had any complaints. Even after I gave birth, it was so painful getting out of bed, so Will did all the nappy changes and I haven’t cooked a meal since she was born.”
The new parents are besotted with their little one and love watching her personality come through.
“I like when you hand her to a stranger and she starts to cry, then you take her back and she stops. It’s like, ‘Yes, she likes us better!'” laughs Tiffany.
While they’re enjoying every moment with Goldie, the pair would love to add to their brood. “It’s definitely not lost on us how lucky we are to have a baby,” says Will. “It would be lovely if we were lucky enough to be able to have more kids one day. At the moment, we’re trying to keep this one alive!”
