Jacinda Ardern's baby: The earthquake that marked a new life

Even the earth shook to welcome the new baby Ardern.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave birth on Thursday afternoon, only the second national leader to do so while in office - and New Zealand's first.

The baby girl, whose name has not yet been announced, was born at 4:45pm. Less than 15 minutes later, an earthquake rattled New Zealand.

At 4:59pm, a 4.6-magnitude quake struck almost exactly the centre of the North Island, near Turangi, at a depth of around 85km.

It was widely felt in Wellington - coincidentally, home of the Beehive - although it was light and caused no damage.

But was it a coincidence, or was Aotearoa really welcoming baby Ardern?

"It's definitely a complete coincidence," GNS Science's Jonathan Hanson told Newshub when we asked - after he stopped laughing.

A geo-hazard duty advisor, Mr Hanson said the number of earthquakes in a day varies, but GeoNet often detects around two an hour, with larger quakes being rarer.

"If you take a randomly shuffled deck of cards, you still might draw several cards of the same value in a row. It would just be a trick of the probability and a coincidence."

While it may not have literally caused an earthquake, the news has certainly sent shocks around the world, with our little Pacific country helping make history.

Newshub.