While traveling 80 kilometers to the hospital in labor, a pregnant woman in Queensland gave birth by the side of the road. When Saalia Maestrom, a resident of Port Douglas, realized she had to go to Mareeba Hospital to give birth, she became concerned. She was hopeful that Mossman Hospital, which was only 15 minutes from her house and had previously closed its birthing services in 2003, would reopen before her due date. The mother is so self-assured that she’s even thought of returning to Melbourne, where she and her husband, Conan, formerly resided, to give birth. “The first time we traveled [to Mareeba], I was worried about the absence of houses and roads nearby. What if we don’t make it to the hospital? I wondered right away. Nobody is in the area.

As labor day arrived, her ern was already set up. After getting in the car with contractions that were getting harder, Ms. Conan arrived to do a u-turn after 30 minutes. “We halted. My water broke after two trips back and forth. The infant arrived fifteen minutes later, according to Saalia. There weren’t many cars on the route, but Conan found a few. The former paramedic husband stayed to assist while the wife drove to a location where she could pick up mobile reception and summon the ambulance. “I was concerned that she wouldn’t find a place to stay quickly, and when she said she had no response, I was concerned about the conversation we would have to be alone,” says Saalia.

“I exclaimed, ‘The baby’s head is down,’ after the first ps, and he responded, ‘No, I can’t see anything. He reasoned that it couldn’t be compared to the previous labor because it was considerably more prolonged. Then, when it was the second person’s turn, ead out and said, “Oh my gosh.” We became aware that there was nowhere we could go at that point. We weren’t sure if we should pull the infant, but I insisted that I needed psh and refused. With shoulders exposed, the baby simply fell in. As soon as he caught the infant, I felt relief. The baby, he claimed, was quite slick. He makes an eel analogy. We didn’t hear a single cry from the infant while he was holding it in his arms. We didn’t know what to do, but I saw the baby move but not cry.” former paramedic checked the baby’s pulse and then started crying.

It was a happy ending to a dramatic day. Saalia hopes that future women won’t have to go through what she did and she is supporting the Mossman Hospital reopening campaign.