Overdue pregnant woman in maternity protest

AN OVERDUE pregnant woman who fears she will give birth for a second time in transit to a Dublin maternity hospital led a march yesterday in protest over the lack of maternity services in her area.

“This march is to highlight discrimination against Wicklow mothers,” said mother-of-three Laura O’Shea, whose last child was born just 40 minutes after her contractions started, as she sped to Dublin in the back of her husband’s car.

Laura and her husband, Barry, live in Brittas Bay in Co Wicklow. Their nearest maternity service is the National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street, Dublin - a 40-mile journey that can take up to two hours.

Ms O’Shea, who has a history of fast births, wanted to be able to use the service of a midwife who would attend the birth, either at home or at a nearby hospital, but the local health authority will not agree to it.

The march was organised by the National Birth Alliance, who claim that Wicklow women are being denied a maternity service that is safe, timely and accessible.

The Health Service Executive East Coast Area said the safety and wellbeing of Ms O’Shea and her unborn baby remains their primary concern.

A spokesperson for the health authority said their offer of financing childcare for her three children while she was in the National Maternity Hospital still stood and they continued to have an ambulance on standby round the clock to take her to the hospital.

The authority had wanted to admit Ms O’Shea to the maternity hospital two weeks in advance of the birth of her child so both she and her unborn baby could receive timely and professional assistance.