KEY POINTS:
A teen mother says she gave birth to her premature baby in a car, after being turned away from a West Coast hospital.
The 19-year-old Westport woman, who didn't want to be named, arrived at Buller Hospital's maternity unit after her waters broke on Tuesday afternoon.
The unit has been closed for birthing since February, but midwives still provide ante and post-natal care and assess women for transfer to Grey Hospital.
However, the expectant mother said she was told no doctors or midwives were present that day,
She spoke by phone to a midwife at Grey Hospital, in Greymouth, who told her she would have to go there for the birth.
"She said because I was eight weeks early she didn't know what was going on. She said to go down [to Greymouth] as fast as I could."
The woman said the midwife told her she could go by ambulance, but a car would be faster.
The woman and her partner left almost immediately, with a friend driving their car.
"I was pretty much in full-on labour," she said.
"I was having contractions every five minutes, then they went down to every two minutes."
The baby was born near Runanga, about 10 minutes from Greymouth, while the car was still moving.
The two men believed they were going to make it to the hospital.
The woman said her daughter was born with the umbilical cord tangled around her neck.
She untangled it, made sure the baby was breathing and wrapped her in a blanket.
Her partner called Grey hospital and staff were waiting when they arrived.
The woman said her baby was flown to Christchurch Hospital where she was now doing well, weighing in at 1.76kg.
She thought Westport maternity unit's service was "pretty shit" and she demanded answers from West Coast District Health Board.
Board spokeswoman Vikki Carter said the unit's midwife had been on sick leave on the day in question.
The decision to travel by car rather than ambulance had been "a patient choice", she added.
Kawatiri Action Group chairwoman Kate O'Connor said the incident illustrated the need for Westport to have a birthing unit.
The unit needs four full-time midwives and currently has two.
Ms Carter said the board was moving closer to making an announcement about improved staffing.
- NZPA
