The couple were yesterday gingerly nursing their 12-hour-old, 2.9kg boy at Queen Mary, in Dunedin, while batting away media requests from various organisations and packing to head back to their home in Wanaka.
Ms Meissel said her contractions began 20 hours before the birth, and the couple headed to a birthing clinic in Alexandra before it was decided to travel to Dunedin.
The baby was born at 12.12am after a six-and-a-half-hour labour, and was the country's second new face for the year.
Ms Meissel, the head of science at Mt Aspiring College, said her baby continued the Wanaka baby boom, which was noted earlier this year after a significant bump in birth statistics in the Upper Clutha.
Five of the teaching staff at the college had fallen pregnant in the past year.
She planned to take a year off her teaching duties at the school, where she has spent the past six years. A name for the baby would come later, Mr Cotter said.
The country's first baby of 2009 was born just five minutes earlier, in Auckland.
Max Honey was born at North Shore Hospital and weighed 4.02kg. Max had been due on December 23.
After such a long wait, the swiftness of the labour, which lasted about 4-1/2 hours, took his parents Rachel Salt and Jeff Honey by surprise.
"We were watching the clock as it was happening and we didn't know which side of the 12 o'clock mark it was going to be," Mr Honey said.
The birth of the couple's first child was a great way to welcome in the New Year, he said.
The third New Year baby was Jenna Stephenson, who arrived at 12.42am at Waikato Hospital, weighing 3.71kg.
Her mother, Andrea, said she was not due until January 10, "so it was a lovely surprise having her that bit earlier".
Charlie William Helmore became the first baby born in the Wakatipu in 2009.
Parents James and Susan Helmore welcomed his arrival at 8.49am yesterday.
Born at Lakes District Hospital, Frankton, a week earlier than expected, Charlie weighed 3.32kg. - Additional reporting: Jude Gillies and NZPA
