The long-awaited birth of their baby girl should have been pure joy for first-time parents Mariana Duran and Victor Villamil.
But the last-minute bypass of a central Queensland maternity unit has left the Biloela couple traumatised.
The couple had planned to have baby Camille at Gladstone Hospital after Ms Duran developed gestational diabetes and they opted for a maternity unit with obstetricians on staff.
They booked accommodation close to the hospital and their plans seemed on track when they visited the day before their baby's due date.
But when Ms Duran went into labour as expected on June 24, the hospital turned them away.
"They said 'No, we can't assist you in the delivery'," Mr Villamil said.
"[They said] 'there is a bypass and we are not receiving any patients. You need to go to Rockhampton'."
At that stage, Ms Duran's contractions were about four minutes apart and she estimated she was about four centimetres dilated.
"They just made me feel unsafe and I felt my life and my baby's life were at risk," she said.
"It is difficult when you're expecting a system to take care of you."
She said the hospital could have told them about the staff shortage when they were there the day before.
"But they didn't mention anything," she said.
After leaving to discuss their options, Ms Duran and Mr Villamil returned to the hospital because it was too painful for her to be in a car.
She was eventually offered transport to Rockhampton in an ambulance, but she had to wait more than an hour for paramedics to become available.
"It was a traumatic experience for me," she said.
Camille was born safe and well at the Rockhampton Hospital on the morning of June 25.
A bypass of the Gladstone Hospital maternity unit was formally declared on July 8.
That bypass remains in place several weeks later and it is unclear when it will end.
Boyne Island-based mum Sarah Lowe knew she may have to drive the 130 kilometres to Rockhampton alone to deliver her second child.
Her partner Glen Gemmell is a shift-worker, three-and-a-half hours away at Blackwater, and had just arrived home when she went into labour on July 20.
But when they got to Gladstone Hospital, the labour was too advanced and Mr Gemmell was too fatigued to drive to Rockhampton, so Ms Lowe was allowed to birth son Kai at the hospital.
Ms Lowe said the overall experience left her shocked.
"Mothers don't have that certainty of where they're going to have their baby, which is sort of the main thing you want to know," she said.
"It was just a very nervous time."
Gladstone Hospital serves a regional city of 60,000 and the maternity unit delivers about 600 babies a year.
It is the only hospital available to expectant mothers after the state government bought the former Mater Hospital and incorporated it into the public facility in 2020.
Hospital unable to secure temporary replacements
Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service Gladstone executive director Monica Seth said the hospital had been impacted by long-term sick leave of specialist obstetrician/gynaecologists and the sudden departure of a locum specialist.
"We have been unable to secure qualified locum staff to cover the gaps due to recruitment challenges experienced across Queensland and Australia," Ms Seth said.
"Gladstone Hospital staff are communicating with all expectant women to ensure they are aware of the current situation."
Ms Seth said patients with concerns could contact the hospital, and transfer decisions involving ambulances and midwife escorts were made on a case-by-case basis.
"We understand that this a stressful time for pregnant women and their families," Ms Seth said.
She said the health service was doing its best to work through the situation.
"Our priority is the safety of those who rely on our service, which is why bypass for birthing must remain until such time as we have a sustainable service," she said.
Sign of wider problems
A 2019 report from the Rural Maternity Taskforce called on the state's hospital and health services to consider how rural and remote maternity services could be improved and strengthened.
The report found the number of babies born before their mothers arrived at a hospital was increasing in Queensland and was highest among women living one to two hours away from a maternity service.
Australian Medical Association Queensland vice president Nick Yim said the Gladstone Hospital bypass was a sign of problems across the wider health system.
"What we've been seeing across the whole of the Queensland Health system, even before COVID, is there has been issues of recruitment and retention of doctors and health professionals," Dr Yim said.
He said all Queenslanders deserved a high-quality health care system.
"In our opinion, for the mothers and families of Gladstone it's unacceptable that they need to travel all the way to Rockhampton to deliver their children," he said.
Maternity Choices Australia Queensland chapter president Azure Rigney said maternity services in regional parts of the state were "extremely poor" because of incidents like the Gladstone Hospital bypass and reports of women having to give birth on the side of roads in other regions such as Chinchilla.
"It's a postcode lottery," she said.
"Gladstone has been put on bypass … rather than being moved to a level two hospital due to doctor shortages.
"A level two means it is a midwifery-led unit and it is extremely safe and effective. Women love that experience."
Ms Rigney said access to a midwife throughout a pregnancy and to the day of delivery could reduce stress and issues arising when the unexpected happened.
It is a model already used in several regional hospitals across Queensland, including one facility in central west Queensland, which has not been on bypass for five years.
Despite covering a vast outback area that makes up 20 per cent of the state's land mass, the Longreach maternity service has very high satisfaction rates.
With about 60 births each year, the hospital offers free accommodation in town from 36 weeks, continuity of care with the same midwife, options for shared care plans with GPs, and has launched initiatives to improve birth experiences for First Nations mothers.
Senior medical officer Kirsten Symmons said it was an example that excellent, individualised maternity care was possible, even in remote regions.
"Because of the numbers that we have here, we do get to know women quite well, and rather than seeing people as a number, we see them as an individual, get to know them and their family," Dr Symmons said.
"There's been times when we've been short-staffed and everyone has pulled together, we've been able to keep providing high quality individualised care to our women."
'Doing really well'
Despite their babies' rocky entrances to the world, Ms Duran and Ms Lowe were both glad their experiences were behind them and their newborns were thriving.
"[Camille] has been amazing," Ms Duran said.
"She's gaining weight. She's healthy. She's doing really well."
"[Kai] sleeps all day and he parties all night … he's doing really well," Ms Lowe said.
