City of Ballarat mayor Joshua Morris and wife Louise celebrated the birth of Xavier Alan Morris on Wednesday, February 12.

Weighing in at 2310 grams, he arrived earlier than expected.

But Cr Morris said it was also fortunate timing, as he had a roundtable meeting with Premier Denis Napthine the next day, just down the road from their hospital, the Epworth Freemasons in Melbourne.

The family at least had a few days’ notice from doctors to prepare for Xavier, who was born six and a half weeks early.

But they weren’t prepared for the other surprise.

“We all just expected him to be a girl,” Cr Morris said.

“When they held him up and we saw he was a boy we were all in shock.”

 Cr Morris’ other three children, Will, 4, Isaac, 3 and Charlotte, 1, were “ecstatic” to meet their new little brother, with Isaac asking if Xavier was “real” because he lay so still.

For someone still so young, Xavier is already quite well-travelled after the newborn transport service to Ballarat took him to Geelong first to drop off another baby.

When he’s bigger, the mayoral bub might even make an appearance at a City of Ballarat council meeting and hopefully won’t cause too much disturbance in the back of the public gallery.

Asked if Xavier would follow his footsteps into politics, Cr Morris said he would like that.

“I think it’s a good thing to be involved in public life, so I’d encourage all my kids to be involved,” he said.

Xavier is making excellent progress, but will be staying in St John of God Hospital in Ballarat for at least a couple of weeks while he grows bigger and stronger.

“That’s one of the wonderful things about Ballarat, the healthcare we have here,” Cr Morris said.

“The amazing job they do in the special care nursery is just incredible.”