NORTH Melbourne star Shaun Higgins will miss Sunday's game against Hawthorn if his wife, Heidi, goes into labour with their first child.
Heidi is not due to give birth until next week, but Higgins has decided he will skip the Hawks clash if she goes into labour early.
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"My priority is the birth. If the baby comes on game day or the hours around game time, then I'll miss but I'll prepare to play and let mother nature run her course," Higgins told nmfc.com.au.
"It's an easy decision to be honest. It's one game out of an entire career for something that's once in a lifetime.
"It's so much about supporting Heidi around that time too. The support I need and want to give her far outweighs playing a game.
"We're in the phase where we're ready to go. Up until a few weeks ago you kind of hope for a few extra weeks because you're not quite ready, but we're locked and loaded now and we have everything we need.
"We're in the countdown, but we're more than ready."
Higgins sat down with Brad Scott last week to discuss potentially missing a game to attend the birth, and received his coach's full support.
"The great thing about 'Scotty' is his understanding and ability to see things from other people's point of view. He told me that family always comes first," Higgins said.
"I still think that I'd be very unlucky if I had to make that call, but I'm prepared for it nonetheless."
Higgins will make a final decision on Sunday and is confident that if he plays his unusual build-up won't affect his performance against Hawthorn.
"I'm sure we'll have a clearer understanding on Sunday whether the baby is really close or a still a few days away," he said.
"If we're really close but there still hasn't been any movement, then I'll prepare to play and wait for the call I guess.
"It would be pretty easy for me. If we've made the decision for me to go and play, then that's what I'll do and my focus would be on the game.
"If it happened during the warm-up period, then so be it – I'd just deal with it. I just hope the runner does come out to me during the game with a mobile phone."
Although Higgins is prepared for almost every scenario with the birth, there is one thing he is unprepared for.
"We don't have a name if it's a boy yet," he said. "I'd be surprised if it was a boy for some reason."
