Doctor said 'drive slow': twin baby born in back of moving ambulance

MOTHER-of-five Mary Wilkinson has been forced to give birth in the back of a moving ambulance following the part-closure of Muswellbrook hospital's maternity unit.

Miss Wilkinson described the birth of her newborn son, Jax, the first of her twins born that day, as difficult and scary.

Muswellbrook mother-of-five Mary Wilkinson with her newborn twin boys. Jax (left) was born in the back of a moving ambulance en route to Maitland Hospital, where Logan was born 35 minutes later. Picture by Jonathan Carroll

The second twin, Logan, was born 35 minutes later at Maitland Hospital.

As well as the birth, the appointments leading up to it were also held far from home, at Maitland hospital, which brought along with them additional costs and challenges.

Miss Wilkinson had been booked in to have a caesarean section to deliver the boys when she started to go into labour about 3am on October 9.

"I just had to ring Maitland and they said to get an ambulance and get down there," Miss Wilkinson said. "I was really worried. It was shocking. I kept telling them to take me straight in to have a caesar but it was too late - I was so scared, I thought everything was going to go wrong."

She was taken first to Singleton hospital, where a doctor checked her over and joined her in the ambulance.

Mary Wilkinson with her twins, Jax (left) and Logan, and their older brothers and sister Braxton, Levi, and Sophie. Picture by Jonathan Carroll

Then she gave birth to the first of her twins, Jax, who was in the breech position (bottom first), on the way to Maitland hospital, as the ambulance kept driving.

"The doctor just told them to drive slow," Miss Wilkinson said.

The second baby, Logan, was delivered using forceps.

She had also been put in a position where she had to bring her three older children along with her to appointments, forcing them to take "heaps of time off school".

"I hated it," she said. "It cost too much to get down there all the time for all of the appointments."

Hunter New England Health says the Muswellbrook Hospital maternity unit, closed to birthing mums since March, 2022, cannot be re-stored to full capacity until an obstetrician can be employed to work there.

In the case of twins, that scenario would have been considered 'high-risk' and the babies could not have been delivered at Muswellbrook, even had the maternity unit been open to delivering babies, an HNEH spokesperson said.

"Women in the Muswellbrook area at present have the option to birth at either Scone or Singleton hospitals. Women who require a higher level of care are able to birth at Maitland or John Hunter hospitals."