Fast asleep and snuggled in the arms of towering New Zealand basketball player Paul Henare is his gorgeous baby daughter Kaia. The 30-year-old father of three rubs the six-week-old's back and walks into the living room of his new Christchurch home. His daughter Madison, seven, and fiancee Lisa Wilson - Kaia's mother - are devouring a fresh batch of brownies. Paul's son Jackson leaps up to get in on the action and take a peek at his baby sister.

‘Jackson and Madison have been awesome with Kaia,' says Paul, whose older children from his previous relationship are down from Napier to see their new sibling.

‘Jackson's been helping to change her nappies and bathe her. He's even started to sing her all the nursery rhymes.'

The Tall Black smiles as he watches his only son gently stroke Kaia's soft downy hair and give her a little kiss on her head. The lively six-year-old made national headlines in October after a horrific ride-on lawn mower accident shredded his left foot and sliced open his lower leg. Doctors had to amputate half of his foot. But if it wasn't for Jackson's knee-length support bandage, it would at first be difficult to imagine the trauma this brave young lad endured just seven months ago.

‘The kids came to stay with Lisa and me during the last school holidays and Jackson's new foot arrived in the mailbox. As soon as we got it, Jackson whipped it on and we went out and bought some shoes. He adjusted straight away, and he stopped using his crutches long before his new prosthesis arrived. There's no stopping him,' Paul says.

With little Kaia in his arms and Jackson at his side, the Olympian looks the picture of a proud father - although the trauma of what happened to Jackson still haunts the talented point guard. He admits it's changed the way he sees himself as a dad.

‘At first I was incredibly wary with them, but I realise you can't wrap your kids in cotton wool,' Paul says. ‘I can't imagine what the parents must go through when they get a phone call saying their child has been killed. And that's how I have to look at it - it could've been a lot worse. But look at him now!'

Paul and Lisa's optimistic outlook has enabled them to cope with some major upheavals over the past few months. Lisa, a community mental health worker originally from Hawke's Bay, has been a tower of strength. Paul says it overwhelms him how his 27-year-old partner takes everything in her stride.

Lisa describes her pregnancy with Kaia as ‘a breeze' and she worked until two weeks before the due date. She had to be induced, but after 12 hours of labour, doctors warned that Kaia wasn't budging. The decision was made to use the ventouse, a suction devise, to aid the delivery.

‘They threatened the forceps so I pushed extra hard,' laughs Lisa, who says even during this difficult time she felt everything was going to work out well for her daughter.

‘At the time I was pretty concerned,' Paul says. ‘But looking back it was hilarious as the doctor was pulling with the ventouse - it was like a tug of war. He assured me her cone head would go down.'

Kaia, Greek for ‘earth mother', was born a healthy 4kg. For the besotted couple, her birth was the celebration of a love that took them by surprise 18 months earlier.

After the end of Paul's 10-year marriage to Jackson and Madison's mother Jacinta, the last thing he expected was to find true love again - until he locked eyes with Lisa at a Napier bar.

‘I was recently out of a marriage so we had to take things slowly,' Paul explains. ‘But when I saw her, it was love at first sight, as corny as that sounds.'

A year later Lisa moved to Auckland's North Shore to live with Paul, where he was based with the New Zealand Breakers for the Australian National Basketball League season. However their relationship took a sudden turn when, during a romantic weekend in Masterton, Lisa felt ‘odd'. ‘I slept until 1pm and then I went out for lunch,' she says. ‘I'm a big eater but this time I ate heaps and thought afterwards, "I could eat that whole thing again." A friend said, "You're pregnant."'

The pair say they had discussed having children, but let fate play out.

‘I knew I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life and, like Paul said, it was love at first sight. I rang him when he was away with the Breakers and proposed,' she says.

‘Later I was in my pyjamas, pregnant and sitting on the couch feeling homesick. Paul wanted to cheer me up and arrived home with my beautiful ring,' says Lisa, revealing a diamond solitaire stunner in white gold.

The twosome are planning a low-key wedding, and are toying with the idea of heading to a tropical island to tie the knot, though they want to wait until Kaia is older. For now they're experiencing ‘domestic bliss'. Kaia was born a week after the Breakers' season finished, and seven days later the couple moved to the South Island for Paul to take up a contract with the Christchurch Cougars for the New Zealand NBL. He trains three nights a week, but the rest of the time he's a hands-on dad and is already hinting he would like another baby.

‘If Lisa wants another one, I'll be happy with that too,' he says. ‘I love being with my kids and I'm amazed at what they can do, especially when I see my little man. Kids in general, they adapt so quickly and just move on. Right after Jackson's accident the way he dealt with his injury just blew me away. He made it easier on all of us, which was pretty amazing.'

By Caroline Botting

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