Cradling her three-day-old baby Scarlett, Tina Vee seethes with anger as she sits among other new parents and hospital staff in the central Queensland industrial city of Gladstone.
The Gladstone Hospital's maternity unit was placed on bypass in early July due to a lack of staff, meaning expectant parents needed to travel an hour and 20 minutes to the nearby city of Rockhampton to give birth.
Ms Vee had to make the journey at night while in labour.
She had booked two nights' accommodation in the city around her due date.
But her waters broke 10 days early while she was sitting by a campfire near her West Stowe home, 20 kilometres west of Gladstone, on Friday.
She rushed the 25 minutes to Gladstone Hospital to be assessed.
Fearing an ambulance could be delayed, a hospital staff member offered to drive Ms Vee and her partner to Rockhampton sometime after 10pm.
"I laboured in the back of the car … it was pretty horrific," Ms Vee said.
"The road's not great between here and Rocky, there's speed bumps, it's slow.
"I only actively laboured for an hour and a half, if I had waited [any longer], I would have had the baby on the road."
Midwives speak out
Frustrated midwives from the hospital and new mums including Ms Vee were among about 100 people who attended a community forum in Gladstone on Monday night.
They discussed ways to reinstate birthing facilities for the city of 60,000 people.
CQ Hospital and Health Service chief executive Emma McCahon said in a statement Gladstone Hospital had been impacted by long-term sick leave of obstetrics and gynaecology specialists.
"Until qualified medical professionals can be recruited to cover long-term leave and vacancies, birthing services at Gladstone Hospital will remain on bypass," Dr McCahon said.
The ABC spoke with two Gladstone Hospital midwives who wished to remain anonymous as they risked losing their job by speaking to the media.
One midwife said staff were extremely concerned that without obstetric cover and given travel time and delays in transferring women to Rockhampton, there would be a "terrible outcome" where a mother or a baby would die.
"There's severe psychological distress among the midwives, midwives are crying every day," she said.
"We know that there aren't enough Queensland Ambulance Service resources to transfer women in a timely manner, so sometimes families go in their own car.
"There's going to be a time when a woman progresses quickly and has a baby on the side of the road."
'Short term changes' implemented
Another midwife said there were clear solutions the health service should implement.
"Women should not have to be transferred to Rockhampton whilst they're in labour," she said.
"They should remain here and birth their babies, the midwives are here to care for them, if we just have our doctor for emergency cases, we can easily do that."
Dr McCahon thanked the "wonderful team of skilled and dedicated midwives" and said the health service was committed to delivering a sustainable long-term solution for maternity care across central Queensland.
"While we work towards this, we have made a number of short-term changes including upgrading equipment and fast-tracking recruitment of administrative and nursing positions to provide additional support to our maternity units," she said.
"Gladstone Hospital birthing services will only be reinstated when we can ensure the safe provision of care for mothers and babies."
Uncertainty ahead
Trista Harrington moved to Gladstone last year and is now 38 weeks' pregnant.
She said it was very stressful trying to plan her birth, given she also had a 14-year-old at home who she needed to organise care for.
"I could be going through labour and not know it, and then arrive to hospital and be six or eight centimetres dilated, and they would still send me to Rocky, which is not ideal," she said.
"They need to get their act together and sort it out, it's not good enough."
In late August, the Biloela Hospital maternity unit was also placed on bypass, meaning residents from Biloela and surrounds also needed to travel to Rockhampton to give birth.
Services were due to resume on September 10, but that did not happen as the emergent leave of an anaesthetic doctor was extended.
