The Block winners Karlie and Will Bethune announce arrival of first child after emergency caesarean

The Block winners Karlie and Will Bethune have welcomed their first child, a baby girl, into the world.

The pair announced the exciting news on their Instagram platform on Sunday afternoon, with a sweet snap of their ‘gorgeous’ girl, who they have named, Indigo Jade Kara Bethune.

The new parents admitted the youngster’s arrival was ‘eventful’ after Karlie was rushed to Mater Mothers’ Hospital Brisbane the week prior and was diagnosed with Cholestasis – a condition which was potentially life-threatening to the baby, forcing doctors to perform an emergency caesarean. 

Karlie and Will – who pocketed $815,000 after winning The Block in 2016 – couldn’t resist gushing over the precious newborn as they shared their first sweet snap of her to Instagram.  

They wrote: ‘Mum & Bub are safe and resting. She had quite the eventful entry into this world which we will be happy to share in the coming days. 

‘We are the happiest parents and think we are punching well above our weight with how gorgeous this girl is. Special thanks to our amazing friend @oliviajuicelifestyle for capturing our beautiful girl.’ 

In an Instagram post shared just days before Indigo was born, the pair detailed their ’emotionally and draining’ last week.   

Karlie explained: ‘We have had a few scares and just want to make sure our little girl arrives safe and sound. I had intensely itchy skin over the weekend (mainly on my hands and feet but also all over my body) and was laughing it off thinking it was just another silly pregnancy symptom.

‘After googling to see how common it is for people, we came across the liver condition Cholestasis, which essentially causes extreme itchiness for mum but can be life threatening for baby. 

‘Obviously this scared us enough to present to the hospital in the middle of the night on Sunday and I had a whole bunch of testing and monitoring to check for Cholestasis and make sure our girl was okay. 

‘The results came back much higher than the normal threshold and they were talking about not letting me go home and inducing me on Monday morning due to the high risks of Cholestasis this late in pregnancy (I.e. respiratory problems, stillbirth etc).’

Brisbane-based Karlie continued: ‘Thankfully they decided to do further testing and the results came back lower than the last one so I was allowed to go home under strict instructions to come back if I noticed decreased movements or if the itchiness didn’t ease up. 

‘Unfortunately I have still been quite itchy (although little bugs movements have been great) so here we are back again in hospital doing further checks to make sure our little girl is safe and sound.’ 

A few days later she gave birth to adorable little Indigo.