Five years on from the day she was unceremoniously born in a Perth Royal Show porta loo, five-year-old Aio-Bell will be returning this year to celebrate her birthday in style.
There’s only one place the tiny tot, joined by her parents Cassida Richards and Cayton Barrett, four siblings, and even her grandparents who will fly in from New Zealand, wanted to spend her special day: at the show.
The whole family will make a day of it on September 27, and reminisce over the tumultuous 2021 birth that made both history and headlines.
Organisers have also sweetened the deal, gifting Aio-Bell an enviable array of showbags, free entry for her and her friends on the day, plus a handful of tickets to enjoy the rides.
Ms Richards remembers key moments from the fateful day, including her parents’ and partner’s phones being flat and not being able to call them when she started having contractions.
She eventually found Mr Barrett then tried to push through the pain so the kids could ride the Splashdown, but the contractions only intensified.
“So we started walking out and we were trying to make our way out to our car to drive to the hospital, and there was people everywhere,” Ms Richards recalled.
“I remember just stopping and standing there, and then my waters broke. I told my partner, and so he ran ahead to go and get our car.”
“That’s when we saw the two paramedics over by the toilets, and I said, ‘sorry to interrupt, but I think I’m in labour’.”
What happened next was a complete whirlwind.
“I felt like I really needed to go to the loo, so I just walked straight into the toilet with my girl, and then as soon as I sat down, there was a head,” she recalled.
“Then my girl ran out and grabbed the paramedics, and it was just all go from there.”
Within minutes, her baby was born.
“Then my partner popped up, and he was like, ‘I’ve got the car’, and I was like, ‘well, I’ve got the baby. You’re too late there’,” she said.
After the initial shock, excitement quickly took over.
To this day, the reality of what happened still hasn’t entirely sunk in.
“I just think, how did I do it? I still can’t believe I had a baby not in a hospital,” she said.
The family, based in Gosnells, have welcomed two more children since Aio-Bell; Terewai, two, and Te Kaea, five months, ballooning the family to six kids, including Ngareta, 11, Tipee, seven, and stillborn baby PaiMarire, who would be four.
Ms Richards said her family of Perth Royal Show superfans were grateful to have been given free entry every year since Aio-Bell’s birth.
“I just happened to have my baby here, it’s not ideal, I wouldn’t recommend it, I’d much rather go to the hospital, but we’ve been very blessed from having a baby at the show,” she said.
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