Northland family move to Auckland to be close to hospital for unborn baby boy with heart conditions

Sam Newman and partner Rosemary Butler have shifted from their rural Northland home to Auckland to be closer to specialist medical care.

It's tough times for a Northland family with an unborn baby boy diagnosed with multiple heart conditions who will need surgery once he is born for him to survive.

The family have swapped their rural self-sufficient home in Takahue, 19km southeast of Kaitaia on the edge of Raetea Forest, for Auckland after mum Rosemary Butler had early contractions.

The baby boy is due on October 3 but last week the family found themselves in the bustle of central Auckland. Fortunately staff at Auckland Hospital were able to stop the contractions and now Butler her partner Sam Newman and five children are now in Ronald McDonald house.

Medical advice is they will have to remain close to Auckland Hospital until the baby is born and the family are now trying to find a house nearby.

Baby will need to be born in Auckland Maternity and go straight into the Intensive Care Unit for the cardiology team and paediatric surgeons to give their baby the special care he needs, using medicines and complex surgical procedures starting as soon as he is born.

This ensures he will get the best chance of having quality of life.

But money is tight for the family and their financial resources stretched. So family friend Janice Doel has set up a Givealittle page to help them through this difficult time.

"We've been through some tough times in our lives together and have developed some skills that have helped us cope with this," Newman said.

Newman said baby had been diagnosed with multiple congenital heart defects.

The pipes that flow between his heart and the rest of his body are in the wrong place and he left side of his heart is underdeveloped and not working properly.

Without surgical intervention he won't be able to use his lungs to oxygenate his blood, causing his vital organs to shut down and die.

Newman said doctors had indicated the newborn would most likely need his first operation as soon as he was born, followed by a series of other complicated surgical operations.

"We've been told it's a case of wait and see and then they will decide what action they take."

For Newman and Butler it is their first child together.

"Baby is growing well and weighs in at a whopping 1.5kg. There is plenty of poking and prodding like a heavyweight boxing champ, in his little womb world," Newman said yesterday.He thanked everyone who had donated to the Givealittle page.

"It means so much and will help us be where we need to be to help our baby get what he needs to have a chance at life. You're all wonderful!"

While dealing with the stress over their unborn child Newman has also been trying to find a house. However, it has been difficult finding a place that will also accommodate their elderly service dog.

So currently their dog "Mister Puppy" is in the farm truck in the nearby car park.

"We've had him for four years and he picks up on mild seizures that Rose gets and he lets us know early on that it's happening."

As an ambulance officer trained to First Responder level, Newman is looking to transfer his skills at helping others to the Auckland region through a variety of volunteer work while they are staying in the area.

He is also willing to take any paid job he can get that is close to the hospital so he can stay close to his partner and their fragile little newborn baby, while creating some income for the costs of moving and living in Auckland.

The money generated by the Givealittle page will go towards covering medical expenses and other general costs relating to getting the baby boy the help he needs to have a basic working cardiovascular system, plus the costs of relocation and accommodation costs for the family while in Auckland.