Sam Hayes heads back to NZ

The Newshub presenter has been on maternity leave for the birth of her second child, and tells Mikaela Wilkes she can’t wait to get back to the desk with Mike McRoberts.

WHEN Newshub presenter Samantha Hayes’ 2-year-old wants to watch TV, he says ‘‘Mumma, news’’.

Marlow doesn’t actually want to watch the news, but is everhopeful turning the TV on will lead to Peppa Pig.

He’s crying in the background of our phone call as Hayes picks up on her last week of parental leave before returns to our evening screens on Monday.

‘‘He’s going through a stage where he believes he doesn’t need his afternoon nap,’’ Hayes says.

Marlow is older brother to 4-month-old Amaya Violet, who was renamed just two days after her birth.

‘‘I think that naming a baby is one of the most difficult things that you’ll ever face as a parent. Because the child has to carry the name throughout their entire life,’’ Hayes says. ‘‘I felt a huge weight of responsibility.’’

Hayes and her fiance Jay Blaauw had previously agreed on another name.

‘‘We actually called her something else. But it all came down to what felt right, and what felt like her name.

‘‘I had to turn to Jay and say, ‘oh my god, I don’t know if we should be calling her that’. Then we changed our minds.’’

Amaya was born two years and two days after her brother, meaning birthdays are going to be a struggle. Hayes says she’s got another year to figure out how to manage the parties: ‘‘Maybe we can keep them together while Amaya’s still too little to know what’s going on, and split them once they’re old enough to have their own little friend groups to invite.’’

Initially, Marlow found it hard to share his mum, she says, and became completely attached to his dad.

‘‘I joke that Marlow stopped loving me for a bit there.

‘‘He just wanted Jay to do everything. I would even say to him ‘Marlow, would you like some yoghurt?’ which is one of his favourite things in the whole wide world. And he would say, ‘No, dada, yoghurt’.

‘‘He’s come around now and loves me just as much as he always has, and adores his little sister.’’

First thing in the mornings, he’ll ask if she’s awake and give her cuddles and kisses, having recently learnt how to make the kissing noise.

Amaya was born under alert level 4, and Marlow was 6 months old when New Zealand went into lockdown in 2020.

‘‘That definitely had an impact on him,’’ says Hayes. As far as her son was concerned, Mum, Dad, and their nanny were the entire world.

‘‘When we were able to expand it, he found it really unsettling. But daycare has really helped with that.’’

Her own biggest fear was that she might have to give birth to

Amaya by herself, after spending a ‘‘scary few days’’ in hospital battling a ‘‘mystery infection’’ at 30 weeks pregnant.

Doctors assumed Hayes had a virus (not Covid), which she recovered from quickly, but couldn’t determine what made her sick. Recovering from that illness is what kept her home, despite ‘‘champing at the bit’’ to get back behind the news desk to cover the pandemic.

Being on the couch during one of the biggest news events in modern history was ‘‘not ideal,’’ she says.

‘‘I was discussing with Jay whether I should go back into the office. It was tough for me, as a journalist and presenter, to be sitting at home watching that all happen. I had a huge desire to be with my team in the newsroom.’’

Now, the thing she’s most looking forward to about next week is seeing co-host Mike McRoberts. ‘‘I really miss Mike. He’s my buddy. We work really closely together every day.’’

Getting back to work after her first baby gave Hayes ‘‘my balance back’’.

‘‘When you’re a new mum, everything is about the baby, and you do lose yourself to a degree. After Marlow was born, there was a huge amount of trepidation when I went back to work. Because I wasn’t sure how I was going to make all this work.’’

But she says her fears weren’t realised.

‘‘At home, there was so much I didn’t know. At work, I felt like I’d stepped back into the old me. I was in my happy place.’’

Hayes has had five-and-a-half months of maternity leave; nearly double the amount of time she took off with Marlow – who

‘I really miss Mike. He’s my buddy. We work really closely together every day.’ SAMANTHA HAYES

was 11 weeks old when she returned to work.

‘‘I’m really happy with the amount of leave I had. I’m just lucky that I love my job so much,’’ she says.

‘‘Second time around, I feel so much more comfortable in my abilities as a parent. And Amaya is such a cool baby; she’s pretty laid back.’’

The couple’s plan at the moment is for Blaauw to take two days off per week for most of the year, and they have a nanny with them three days a week, with Marlow also attending day care.

Hayes says she’s also very grateful for the 18-week paid parental leave policy of Three’s new owner Discovery, which she calls ‘‘a game-changer’’.

In case of emergency, ‘‘granny’’ is on stand-by in South Otago.

This year will mark Hayes’ 15th with Newshub.

I mention that Hilary Barry interview in which she said she wanted ‘‘to be the oldest, crustiest woman on television.’’ Does Hayes have similar aspirations?

‘‘I started as Amanda Gillies’ shadow when I was 17.

‘‘The people that tune in night after night have been on that journey with me. They’ve seen me be pregnant, and go away, and be pregnant again. I don’t think people would expect me to look the same as I did at 23, on Nightline ,asIdoat37on Newshub. And that’s okay.

‘‘Having children has definitely taken away any emphasis that I used to feel about those things.’’