KEY POINTS:
Delwyn Howlett plans to spend her first Mother's Day out of town, on a weekend away with husband Steve and 6-week-old Charlie.
"It'll be our first holiday as a family, so it'll be fun. And I'm looking forward to brunch on Sunday, and my first eggs benedict for a very long time."
Mrs Howlett says she is growing in confidence with her new charge, but the first two weeks were a bit wobbly.
"Every two weeks you seem to turn a corner, and things feel much better now."
Mrs Howlett, 38, and her husband, 36, are part of a worldwide cultural shift in parental ages.
According to figures released by Statistics New Zealand in celebration of Mother's Day, the median age for women giving birth last year was 30, compared with 25 in 1976.
New Zealand women are averaging 2.1 births each, which is close to the rate required to replace the population. Thirty years ago the rate was 2.3.
And last year 440 first-time mothers had twins. The Howletts plan to have more children, but Mrs Howlett is a bit apprehensive at the prospect.
"Two of my sisters-in-law are pregnant and they're both having twins. At least Charlie will have plenty of cousins to play with. But just a single next time would be fine by us."
FIRST-TIME MUMS
* There were 31,580 first-time mothers last year, representing 53 per cent of all live births.
* Five new mothers had triplets.
* A total of 1720 children were multiple births, compared with 1040 in 1976.
* On Mother's Day last year, 133 babies were born to 131 mothers.
