The West Auckland boy hailed as the first baby born in the new millennium was in a stable condition in hospital last night.
A midwife delivered the as yet unnamed 4.2kg boy at Waitakere Hospital at 12.01 am on Saturday.
It was a normal birth but problems werenoticed soon after, and he was transferred to the special care unit of another hospital for "essential treatment."
The mother is well and has been discharged from hospital.
The baby is the family's fourth child and only boy, but they have asked not to be identified and do not wish to speak publicly yet.
Brenda Saunders, the communications manager of Auckland Healthcare, which runs the National Women's and Starship children's hospitals, is a spokeswoman for the family.
All she could say was that the infant was stable. She was not allowed to say where he was or give the nature of his condition.
Babies came thick and fast in the first minutes of the new millennium. The first one was among at least six born in Auckland in the first hour.
Six babies were delivered nationwide within the first 20 minutes of the new century. By 6 am, Auckland had at least 20 new arrivals.
The millennium's likely second baby, Haylen Osborne, born at 12.08 am at Palmerston North Hospital and weighing 4.3kg, was 10 days late arriving.
National Women's had two babies in the first hour: the first, Tupou Fetuani, at 12.10 am and the second at 1 am.
Duty manager Barbara Pearson said that with nine babies born by 6 am, rising to 16 by mid-afternoon, the rate was "busy but fairly normal for National Women's."
The first baby at Middlemore Hospital in South Auckland was born at 12.23 am, with a second inside the first hour.
Waitakere Hospital's second birth, a girl, came at 12.40 am.
Gisborne Hospital had no babies born in the first few hours.
The first South Island baby may have been born at Christchurch Women's Hospital.
Canterbury Health spokeswoman Allanah James said a 3.6kg girl was born to Christchurch couple Penny Maxwell, aged 25, and Bret Crawford, 24, at 12.16 am.
"Mother and child are doing well and the parents are delighted with their infant."
