Whether it is your first or fifth “rodeo,” each experience giving birth is unique. Women always think they know what they’re walking into, when in truth each child carries with them their own unique way of entering the world. Still, there are things that don’t remotely make it onto the mom-to-be’s bingo card, and for one Australian mom, we’d bet giving birth in a hospital waiting room wasn’t on her bingo card either.
The mom, who has chosen to keep her identity anonymous, told News 9 Australia that she arrived at Westmead Hospital in Sydney after her water broke while she was walking the dog.
And and her husband headed to the aforementioned hospital and were directed to a waiting room after she was admitted.
“At one point, I felt as if the baby [wasn’t] moving much, so I asked to get monitored. So they [put us] in a waiting room, and there were two couples already in the waiting room monitoring their baby’s heartbeat,” the woman told News 9 Australia.
But her labor progressed quickly, and luckily a fast-acting nurse sprung into action and cleared the waiting room so the woman could give birth, which she did. The brand-new mom was then sent to a gynecology ward at the hospital because the maternity ward didn’t have any room.
People reported that the woman called the local news station after being told by a staffer that the reason she was put in that position was because the staff to patient ratio was severely off and made for the “worst” conditions at the hospital.
“We need more midwives, but who would want to work for or value a hospital that doesn’t value or listen to them under harsh working conditions?” she told News 9, per the magazine.
A spokesperson for the hospital issued a statement to People regarding the entire incident. “Over the evening of 31 July, Westmead Hospital’s birthing unit was very busy and experienced a higher than average number of births with 24 women in the birthing unit,” the statement read. “Birthing can be unpredictable, with patient needs and clinical urgency fluctuating rapidly due to the spontaneous nature of labor and delivery.”
The representative also offered the mom a “sincere” apology while thanking the midwives for their hard work and dedication.
