"Pregnancy and birth"

I recently gave birth to my baby at Kununurra hospital. Overall, I was pleased with my birth experience and felt so supported by the midwife Sarah who was truly incredible at supporting physiological labour and birth.

However, it was my hope to have a water birth, and I am so disappointed that Kununurra does not offer this. During my pregnancy I asked why, and the main reason given was inadequate plumbing. This seems like something that is definitely fixable and should not be a roadblock to women being able to access this basic support tool. Iit is so sad when I see so many women choose to birth elsewhere I believe because Kununurra does not offer the facilities and tools that are proven to work, and that I understand women have said time and time again that they want. I also felt that the birthing room was extremely medical with too much medical equipment, very little space to move around, no where to use a birth sling, no alternative option for the bed like is available in most family birth centres, no comfortable space for my partner to just sit and be for a moment, and not an inviting space to be in. Simply put, the facilities are just not in line with what I expected of a small low risk maternity hospital. I sincerely hope that the hospital recognises that, I believe, providing the right tools and environment for a woman to birth in can make all the difference, and makes change to rectify this instead of seemingly making excuses.