Woman gives birth without pain relief due to maternity closures

Bringing a child into the world should be one of the happiest moments of your life but some Aussie women are being forced to give birth without pain relief due to maternity ward closures.

Maternity wards in Geelong, Victoria, Gladstone, Queensland and Burnie, Tasmania have recently closed, forcing pregnant women and their families to travel large distances to give birth.

Gladstone mother Paige McCarthy told Today she was due to give birth in Rockhampton but when the time came she was too far along to be transferred from Gladstone Hospital.

"I was faced with having to birth in Gladstone without any pain relief or any obstetricians, it was just my midwife who was going to be there," McCarthy said.

"Thankfully I had a really successful birth and everything went to plan, which I couldn't have been happier with.

"But I did have a complication post birth and had about a two litre haemorrhage. so I had to go to Rockhampton post birth."

McCarthy said it took eight hours for the ambulance from Rockhampton to arrive and she had to stay there for four days.

It meant she was also separated from her newborn daughter.

"I wasn't able to be close to my family and close to my key supports which I needed to have during that difficult time as well."

About 400 "bypass babies" had been born in Gladstone.

"I think we've had a change so they've allowed low risk births will begin to start with a new phase that's come in which is fantastic that we've gotten to that point.

"But it really shouldn't have taken us almost 12 months to achieve something like that for a town that has over 60,000 people."

Podcaster of Australian Birth Stories Sophie Walker said the regional maternity ward crisis was a huge problem.

"We have known that the best model of care for mothers and babies is to have a known care provider through their pregnancy, during their birth and in their post-partum… yet eight per cent of Australian women have access to that."

"Although things are really dire in Gladstone, it is almost a temperature check for what's unfolding across the country."

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