Rachel Shaw couldn’t wipe the smile from her face on Thursday morning just hours after welcoming her fourth child, Brooklyn, at Wollongong Hospital.

A sibling to Tuqiri, 13, Cohen, 8, and Tanui, 2, baby Brooklyn was due on December 23, but decided to hold off and surprise Ms Shaw, 33, and her partner, Dennis Hetet, 29, with an early morning arrival just in time for Santa.

‘‘She’s the best Christmas present we could have got,’’ Ms Shaw said, as she held her little bundle of joy while recovering in the hospital’s maternity ward.

Brooklyn weighed a healthy 2.8 kilograms at birth, and apart from a few squeals, had slept silently for most of the morning, Ms Shaw said, adding her labour had been relatively smooth.

‘‘My contractions started about 7pm on Christmas Eve, I came into hospital at 10pm and she was born just after midnight,’’ she said. ‘‘It was much quicker than with the other three – my labour with them was 10 times worse.’’

 Brooklyn’s siblings were excited to meet their baby sister.

Ms Shaw extended her deepest thanks to the nursing staff in the hospital’s maternity ward.