Mother fears another long trip to Dublin having already had baby on N11

"I don't want to give birth on the side of the road"

A HEAVILY pregnant mother of three fears she will have to give birth on the side of the road because of a lack of midwife services in Wicklow.

31-year-old Laura O'Shea from Brittas Bay gave birth to her last child in a car en route to Holies Street Hospital, and is worried that a similar situation will take place when she is due to give birth within the next seven days.

The mother of three is critical of the Health Service Executive and the birth plan they devised for her.

Because she lives in Brittas Bay she must attend a maternity hospital in Dublin to give birth. But her past experience of going into labour and giving birth so quickly has left her with serious concerns about the procedure.

'My last child was born on the side of the Nil and I have been told my next birth will more than likely be just as fast, if not faster,' Mrs. O'Shea says. 'My first two births were fine because I was in labour for quite a while, but your labour tends to speed up with the more babies you have.'

While the Health Service Executive say they offered to finance the costs of childcare so she could be admitted to Holies Street two weeks in advance of her due date, she claims they backed off once they heard the cost of child-minders.

'They claim to have offered me child-care but when they heard what it would cost, their interest rapidly evaporated. They talked vaguely about childcare some time ago but last week, when I told them it would cost €4,200, there was a deafening silence,' she says.

With no midwife on duty at either Wick-low or Rathdrum Hospital, she has also been advised against having a home birth.

The Health Service have placed the Ambulance service on standby, ready to take Mrs. O'Shea directly to Holies Street on receipt of a call from her family.

But this hasn't put her mind at ease, and she remains terrified that she will give birth once again while en route to Holies Street.

'I have been told that the ambulance can pull over twice, to give birth to my baby and then deliver the placenta. Any-woman would regard being restrained in the back of an ambulance in the height of labour, travelling at high speed over bumpy roads, as a form of torture, not a health service,' responded Mrs. O'Shea.

The HSE say they have actively sought to facilitate Mrs. O'Shea and reach a plan they are both in agreement with. They have also undertaken to review maternity services and where they are located as part of its service plan for 2005. But for Laura O'Shea, the review is too late.

'I am being refused the only maternity service that can meet my needs: the services of a professional midwife,' she says.

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