Sam and Elissa Reid welcome baby boy as Callan and Ruby Ward announce pregnancy ahead of Grand Final

Grand Final week is off to the perfect start for GWS with Sam Reid and wife Elissa welcoming a new addition and Callan Ward and wife Ruby announcing they are expecting.

Sam Reid with his wife Elissa and newborn baby boy Elijah. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Grand Final week has given birth to the youngest Giant … and it was a team effort.

Foundation GWS stalwart Sam Reid and wife Elissa have been fretting for months about their due date being Grand Final week, but thankfully little Elijah couldn’t wait until Saturday and came out kicking — literally — at 3.38am on Monday.

You would think it’s the 40-weeks pregnant mother-to-be who should be getting the therapeutic massage in the countdown to birth, but for Elissa — an osteopath — she was treating Giants backline stars Phil Davis and Nick Haynes just moments before her waters broke.

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The Reids and newborn baby boy Elijah.

Besotted ... Reid has hardly slept

The baby bonanza continued on Monday night at GWS’s glitzy Brownlow function at Giants Stadium, with Ruby Ward, husband of Callan, announcing to teammates on the orange carpet that they’re five months pregnant with their first baby due in February.

Legendary AFL coach Leigh Matthews once told his Brisbane Lions players they were not to have unprotected sex in January for fear of losing a star for a Grand Final — and Giants coach Leon Cameron has just avoided potentially having to make the same speech after Mr and Mrs Reid ultimately timed things to perfection.

Reid has only slept two hours since Saturday night’s win over Collingwood, but he’s been given a free pass from late-night settling duties for week one of Elijah’s life.

Callan Ward and wife Ruby are expecting their first child. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Davis and Haynes are just relieved they didn’t have to deliver their mate’s baby.

“Phil and Nick came around for treatment off Elissa and she was just sitting there treating us and she treated me, and … straight after that she went to get in the shower and she said, ‘I think my waters have broken.’ I was like, ‘you’re kidding aren’t you?’,” Reid told The Daily Telegraph.

“It all happened pretty quick. She was having pretty full on contractions straight away. She knew what was going on, she’s pretty in touch with her own body.

“The boys had just left and I texted them and said, ‘we’re going in.’

“She gave birth five hours later, no pain medication or anything — had a full-on natural birth. She was amazing.”

Baby Elijah was due on Grand Final day.

Reid was so anxious the past two weeks flying to Brisbane and Melbourne to play he sent a message to friends asking them to stop asking him if the baby had come yet — so desperate was he to be there for the birth but also to concentrate on the big finals at hand without worrying if he was missing it.

At home Elissa had to mute the television so crippling were her nerves as the Giants scraped to victory.

But now, they can — somewhat — relax.

“I had my Grand Final this morning. Now he’s got his Grand Final,” said Elissa.

“I wasn’t expecting to go into labour after giving four treatments!”

The baby excitement only ramped up later on Monday night as Ruby Ward shocked the Giants family by turning up on the orange carpet with a bump.

Ruby has already found out the gender, but Callan — the Giants co-captain — doesn’t want to find out ahead of D-Date on February 2.

“Somehow I need to keep that a secret for the next four months. I think it’ll be almost impossible … Callan will just have to stay out of the nursery,” she said.

“It’s very exciting. We’ve kept it a secret for five months. It’s been a long time coming. We’re really excited people can start finding out.”

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One of the hardluck stories for the Giants this week is the fact Ward — the heart and soul of the club — will miss GWS’s first Grand Final after injuring his knee earlier in the year.

But Ward has something even more exciting to look forward to.

“It’s very exciting. I’ve been looking forward to having a baby for a long time and so has Ruby,” said Ward.

“It’s great that we can finally do that and there’s obviously still another five months to go. It’s something to look forward to and we’re both really excited.”

Originally published as Sam and Elissa Reid welcome baby boy as Callan and Ruby Ward announce pregnancy ahead of Grand Final