Sean Preston peers from Britney's hospital window
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Britney Spears has given birth to her second
baby in 12 months, according to celebrity magazines, but the middle-of-the-night
arrival may not have gone as planned.
Publicists for Spears declined to confirm or deny on Wednesday widespread
reports the former teen idol gave birth at 2 a.m. on Tuesday to a 6 pound 11
ounce son at a Los Angeles hospital.
Lifeandstylemag.com quoted Spears husband Kevin Federline on its Web site on
Wednesday as confirming the birth, saying "Mom and baby are doing well, thanks,
but we're all really tired."
Spears, 24, joyfully announced the arrival of her first child, Sean Preston,
on her Web site the day after he was born on September 14 2005. There was no
such announcement early on Wednesday.
Lifeandstylemag.com and the National Enquirer said Spear's second baby
arrived in a planned Caesarean section, like her first. But In Touch Weekly said
Federline rushed Spears to a hospital ahead of time because she was suffering
from pre-eclampsia -- a pregnancy-related condition marked by high-blood
pressure -- that turned acute.
"The delivery was not planned. It became urgent. Britney and Kevin did not
want to take any chances," In Touch quoted an unnamed family insider as saying.
In another twist to the obsessive tabloid media coverage of Spears and her
private life, the new baby was not the girl that Britney had led the media to
believe she was expecting.
Celebrity magazines had Spears shopping for pink baby clothes and accessories
in recent weeks and claimed she planned to name the child Jamilyn after her
younger sister Jamie and her mother Lynne.
Spears put her phenomenal recording career on hold after she married
Federline in September 2004 but has continued to make headlines.
Child welfare authorities visited her twice last spring after she was
photographed driving a car with her infant son on her lap, and after Sean
Preston fell from a high chair and hit his head. No charges were brought.
She announced her pregnancy on a late night TV chat show and posed nude for
Harper's Bazaar magazine when she was six months pregnant. Shortly afterward she
complained she was being hounded by paparazzi and appealed to them to leave her
alone.
