Couple win big: $250,000 plus a baby

KENT BLECHYNDEN/The Dominion Post

BORN WITH A SILVER SPOON: The lucky Lotto-winning couple with their newborn daughter.

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A Wellington couple are celebrating a double windfall after collecting their $250,000 Lotto prize on their way to hospital to give birth to a bouncing baby girl.

The pair dashed to collect their prize from Lotto's Wellington office yesterday morning. But the rush was more about getting to Hutt Hospital on time to prepare for the birth of their second child than about counting their money.

The proud father told The Dominion Post from his wife's hospital room that nothing, not even winning Lotto, compared to being a father for the second time in two years. "I'm just stoked that everything went fine and the baby's come out healthy. That's the best you could hope for."

The couple, who did not want to reveal their identity, found out they had shared division one with four others on Sunday, and were told by a Lotto worker it was more fun to claim the prize in person.

"We thought it would be a bit of a novelty. It probably only happens once in your life, unless you're really lucky. The rest of this week's probably going to be really tied up, so we hit it while the opportunity was there," the father said.

Lotto spokeswoman Kate Richards said the couple were in such a hurry that they practically dropped the ticket, signed for their winnings, and ran.

"This is one out of the box. It's definitely got everybody talking. We all get a warm fuzzy feeling that it's going to a nice couple that are going to use the money and really appreciate their win. This is not a day they're ever going to forget."

The baby girl, weighing 3.5 kilograms, arrived by caesarean section yesterday afternoon.

The day before, all the father could think of was his daughter's birth when he received a call from his excited wife. "I thought someone might have run into my car or something. She said, `No no, it's good news.'

"I suppose if it was a million you'd be jumping around ... but it's still a really nice surprise. It's going to be real helpful. It still hasn't sunk in properly."

The couple planned to pay off a chunk of their mortgage, do some home renovations, take a family trip to Australia and put the rest in the bank.