A new mother who went into labor at one of Taylor Swift’s concerts in Melbourne has opened up about her baby’s speedy arrival and her touching tribute to the pop star.
Tenille Smith gave birth to Sloane Tayla early on Saturday, just hours after joining 96,000 fans at the MCG for the first show of the Australian leg of Swift’s The Era Tour.
The mother of two appeared on Sunrise on Tuesday with her husband Josh and three-day-old Sloane to remember the dramatic ordeal – and why her baby’s middle name is spelled differently than the Grammy-winning pop star’s.
“Look, it’s actually my middle name, so boy or girl, that’s what it was going to be – but now there’s a better story behind it, something for her 21st birthday,” Ms Smith said.
Tenille Smith (pictured right) appeared on Sunrise on Tuesday with husband Josh (pictured left) and said her new daughter – born just hours after the concert ended – is named Sloane Tayla Smith (pictured in her mother’s arms)
On Friday night, a heavily pregnant but excited Ms Smith shared a selfie of herself outside the MCG before the concert, unaware she would soon go into labor.
“39+5 and we reached Taylor Swift,” she captioned the post.
During the concert, she texted her husband to say they might have to rush to the hospital afterward.
Ms. Smith recalled that she was initially in “kind of denial.”
“There was an opportunity to sit down, and I texted my husband to pick me up after the concert and we had to go to the hospital,” she said.
“I just said I have to leave right away, there’s no way I’m taking public transportation and having a baby there.”
Mr Smith said he did not realize Tenille was in labor until he picked her up outside the stadium.
“When I got there I realized she was in labor and I hadn’t taken her clothes,” he said.
“I wanted to take her to the hospital, but she wouldn’t wear her cowboy boots, so we had to run home and got there in the nick of time.”
Taylor Swift is pictured on stage in Melbourne on Friday night, unaware that one of the concertgoers had just gone into labor
Ms. Smith left the concert at 11:30 PM to go home and change.
Baby Sloane made her grand entrance less than two hours later at 1:20 a.m., just minutes after arriving at the hospital.
“It was definitely a quick exit,” Ms. Smith joked.
The proud mother later announced Sloane’s dramatic arrival on her Instagram account.
‘Sloane Tayla Smith. “I made a quick entrance on February 17, weighing in at 7 lbs at 1:20 am,” she wrote.
“About 2 hours after the Swiftie concert ended. The perfect addition to our small family.’
Ms Smith also shared a photo of newborn Sloane wearing a tiny Swiftie friendship bracelet.
Tenille Smith is pictured heavily pregnant just before seeing Taylor Swift in Melbourne. Her daughter Sloane Tayla was born a few hours later