Pavlich’s baby girl, Harper Rose, was born at 4.07pm on Wednesday 6 March, weighing in at 8lb 6oz (3.8kg).
The new father said he was immensely proud of his wife, who arrived with her husband at St John of God Hospital in Subiaco at 7.00am on Wednesday, and also the newest lady to enter his world.
“It was the biggest day of my life, meeting my little girl,” he said.
“It’s been an amazing couple of days and a week I will never forget.”
The Pavlich’s did not know what the sex of their baby would be and hadn’t decided on a name before the birth,
They chose to leave it until after they’d met what turned out to be a girl.
“We wanted to meet her first, meet her personality and see her,” Pavlich said.
“We were tossing up between two names.
“Once we met her, Harper stuck.”
Harper Rose is the first grandchild for both Matthew and Lauren’s parents.
The Freo captain said he hadn’t understood how important becoming a grandparent was until he saw how his and Lauren’s parents had reacted.
“To see the joy in Lauren’s parents and hear the joy in my mum and dad’s voice over the phone in Adelaide, it’s hard to comprehend,” he said.
A sleep-deprived Pavlich hit the training track at Fremantle Oval this morning to prepare for his first hit-out of the pre-season, against the Western Bulldogs in Mandurah on Saturday.
“Fortunately, there were a couple of guys who backed off a little in training and I joined in with those guys,” he said.
“That was handy because, on the back of only a couple hours of sleep, it was good to be eased off a little.”
But the Freo skipper said there’d be no issue come Saturday.
“I’m looking forward to getting out there,” he said.
“Clearly we have a big game in round 1.
“I’ve been building my body up for a long time and I’m confident my body can stand up on Saturday.”
