Kate Pang, Andie Chen welcome baby Avery

After weeks of waiting, their baby girl finally made her arrival in this world early this morning, three days before her original due date of June 19, and shares the same birthday (June 16) as her dad.

Baby Avery weighs a whopping 3.65kg (she is 100g lighter than her brother!) and measures 52cm in length. Kate is said to be “very weak” as she bled quite a bit during childbirth, said her manager, in an official statement. Both mother and child are well.

In a phone interview with Toggle, birthday boy and jubilant dad Andie sounded exhausted and shared that Kate had a much tougher time giving birth to Avery than she did with Aden.

According to Andie, they had to visit the hospital on a daily basis after Kate was found to be 2cm dilated during her last check-up at the OBGYN two weeks ago and was instructed to be on “standby” and prepare to give birth “anytime soon”.

However, as Kate is known to have a higher threshold for pain, their gynae was worried that she might be already experiencing labour symptoms – without actually “feeling it”, said Andie.

“She is not due and hasn’t experienced pain yet but because her baby’s too big, the doctor has been worried about it ever since she started dilating two weeks ago,” he added.

Unlike her first pregnancy which saw her opt for an all-natural birth at home in Taiwan, Kate delivered her baby in Mount Elizabeth Hospital, citing the former option to be “more expensive” if it was done in Singapore.

This time round, however, she experienced “heavy bleeding” and “lost control” as she was in a lot of pain, having chosen to do an all-natural birth without using any pain medication.

“I’ve not seen her in so much pain before,” Andie recalled, during the interview, “She even bit my hand when she was giving birth and told me to go for a vasectomy (chuckles).”

Andie, Kate and baby Avery.

While they’ve yet to think of a Chinese name for Avery, the story behind her English name might interest some fans. It was thought of by co-star Rui En, when they were filming currently-airing Channel 8 drama If Only I Could.

“I was thinking of some names and didn’t know what to choose, then Rui En told me she intends to name her kid Avery in future. I went to search for more names but decided that Avery’s the best fit,” he chuckled, “She jokingly called me a sly person, when I told her of my plans to name my daughter Avery too.”

“We actually get along pretty well and she said she’d come visit us after Kate gives birth,” he added.

Currently filming year-end blockbuster series Hero, Andie added that he’d be taking a few days off filming before returning to work. Kate will be doing her confinement at their new home, which they moved into last week, and they have enlisted the help of a confinement lady to care for Kate and their newborn child during this period.

For this pregnancy, the 33-year-old actress shared in previous interviews with Toggle that she had bigger mood swings and tends to “get angry easily.” Her food cravings are more pronounced as well, as she hankered for things like seafood and chicken breast meat – something she “never liked eating”, this time round.

Kate and Andie got married in November 2013 and had their first child, Aden Chen, who will be turning 2 on June 30, in 2014. Between having Aden and his little sister, Kate suffered a miscarriage in April 2015 and was found to be expecting again in October last year, during her honeymoon trip to New Zealand.

In her Toggle Talk interview, Kate confessed that all three pregnancies were “accidents” and shared that she and Andie no longer sleep in the same room since having Aden.

Andie, Kate and their firstborn Aden.