Canberra mother Abbie McMillan-Maher is petitioning the ACT Legislative Assembly to support a freestanding birth centre in Canberra. Jo Clay MLA, Greens spokesperson for women, has sponsored her petition, and the two have written this piece about their (very different!) birth experiences.

Have you ever had a baby, or supported someone who has? Was your birth a positive experience where you felt supported by midwives who knew you already, or did you meet the person catching your baby that day?

Giving birth is transformative. It changed our bodies and our lives. We are incredibly grateful for the excellent public health care we received, but we wish Canberra’s women had more of the choices that are backed up by research and that are routine elsewhere.

Abbie McMillan-Maher, Canberra mum and business relationship manager, had three babies in the Canberra Birth Centre in the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children. Jo Clay MLA, member for Ginninderra and ACT Greens spokesperson for women, had one baby in the labour ward at Calvary. We’d like to share our stories.

“I saw the same midwife every three weeks during my pregnancy,” Jo says.

“Until week 32, I rode [my bicycle] down to Calvary for my appointments. My belly and knees kept colliding after that, so I drove from week 33!

“I laboured well at home, but everything stopped as soon as I arrived in hospital. I’ve been told this is common, because hospitals are stressful and distracting places, and labour sometimes stops in a hospital setting.

“I didn’t get to use the birth centre or see the midwife I knew. I was induced, and my birth experience was not straightforward.

“I’ve often wondered if things would have been different if I had my midwife and a more relaxed environment.”

Abbie’s story is different.

“I was lucky enough to get a place in the Birth Centre at the Centenary Hospital for all three of my children.

“I had the midwife I knew, which made me feel safe, supported, and heard. I had three beautiful, unmedicated, and intervention-free births.

“It’s something you remember for the rest of your life. I really wish all women could access the kind of experience I had, in a supported place, with a midwife they know and trust.”

• Canberra Birth Centre delivers 10,000 babies in 30 years (11 October 2022)

Place of birth matters. It matters to us as women wanting to make choices for our bodies and our families. And it matters for our babies. Evidence shows that births in a freestanding birth centre are much less likely to have unnecessary interventions. They do not increase the risk on low-risk births. This means fewer episiotomies, fewer forceps deliveries, fewer unnecessary C-sections. When we feel safe and supported, our bodies relax. This makes labour easier and safer. And if someone needs hospital services – and they usually don’t – they can transfer.

Canberra has two hospital-based birth centres. These are extremely popular. Hundreds of women give birth in the wards while on the waitlist for a precious place in one of our birth centres. We need more dedicated birth services.

Unlike other places such as Townsville, Mackay, New Zealand, Canada, and the UK, Canberra does not have a freestanding birth centre. It makes sense to have a birth centre that is close by, but is not inside a hospital. People giving birth aren’t sick. The pandemic has shown us as never before how important it is to keep well people out of hospital. The best way to expand choices for Canberrans would be to offer a freestanding birth centre for those who want one.

Midwives, parents-to-be, and the community at large have been calling for this for decades. The ACT Legislative Assembly has had two community petitions in the last five years alone.

The latest petition closes on 6 February. If you’d like to join the thousands calling for this, please sign: https://epetitions.parliament.act.gov.au/details/e-pet-042-22.

Before we go, we’ll leave you with a quote. “Childbearing is not a disease nor an illness, and if Canberra can lead the way by showing how it should be treated, the example will leave a marked effect throughout the Commonwealth.”

Obstetrician, Dr Marshall Allan, said that in support of a freestanding birth centre for Canberra back in 1929.

94 years later, we’re still waiting.