A Queensland couple stuck in Nepal with their newborn baby are pleading with the Australian government to help bring them home so the mother can receive urgent medical help.
Brisbane local India Hodgkins’ health has been deteriorating since the surprise birth of her son, Neo, in rural Nepal and she is now showing signs of liver failure.
Hodgkins, 22, was backpacking with friends in a remote area of Nepal when she went into labour.
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Hodgkins had no idea she was pregnant until her waters broke while she was sleeping in a tent on a rice field.
“I received a message informing me that my fiancee was both pregnant and going into labour in a rice field at the foothills of the Himalayas,” Hodgkins’ partner Jordan Austin, who was in far north Queensland at the time, said on GoFundMe.
“We didn’t know India was pregnant.
“We’ve talked about trying soon but we never imagined how soon.”
Hodgkins, who was in labour for three days, had to be urgently moved from the tent when the rice field began to flood, Austin said.
Friends moved her to a nearby forest for shade, then to a local Nepalese family’s barn, before she was finally carried on a stretcher across a flooded river to a small local hospital where baby Neo was born on September 21.
“I couldn’t have gotten myself into a further away place if I tried,” Hodgkins told Radio 4BC of the birth.
Austin arrived four days later, saying he battled rock slides and treacherous mountain roads before finally meeting his child.
“The whole bus was supporting me,” Austin said of the final leg of his journey.
“They taught me to say ‘Today I will see my son. Go fast!’ in Hindi.
“I employ the phrase at every opportunity.”
However, Hodgkins’ and baby Neo’s health began to decline and the decision was made to brave the remote mountain roads to get them to a bigger hospital in Kathmandu.
“The road was totally unsafe for a baby but we had no choice,” Austin said.
Neo is believed to be suffering “severe jaundice” while Hodgkins was “showing signs of liver failure and extremely low iron levels”.
Hodgkins and Austin are now fighting bureaucratic red tape to come home after being advised they need to apply for Neo’s citizenship and passport before they would be allowed to travel to Australia with him — a process that could take months.
“India and Neo’s health situation is precarious at best,” Austin said.
“The best place for mumma and baby is home in Australia.”
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has told 7NEWS.com.au it is looking into the situation.
Donations to the GoFundMe will support the new family as they work on getting their baby home, Austin said.
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