"Lack of Birthing Pool Options"

Why is a birthing pool not an option in Kununurra? I have birthed two babies at Kununurra District Hospital and having another in the near future. Being in such a regional/remote location I believe we are very limited on the models of care we can select. I feel continuity of care is very limited, and dare I say, I believe close to non existent with apparent staff turnovers. I understand women with the slightest "complication" are encourage to go to Perth or Darwin, I believe often resulting in weeks being away from home and family and not to mention the out of pocket expenses.

We do not have a Birth Centre, no access to a private Obstetrician (as far as I'm aware), there are no Home Birth Midwives in town, I feel expectant mothers have limited options. I understand that if you birth at Kununurra District Hospital you will be in one of two rooms which I feel are very clinical. Based on my experiences, I believe you have no idea who will be your midwife until you get to the hospital, and no matter how much you prepare to have one of the midwives on staff, I feel staff turnover often means it's very likely you will be arriving to an unfamiliar face and have to learn very fast what they will and will not "allow" you to do. I feel women then need to stand up for themselves, making the environment quite stressful.

I do not blame the midwives in Kununurra for this apparent lack of continuity. I feel they do the best they can with the resources they have. I was privileged to have two incredible midwives at the birth of my second child and cannot fault their care (the Obstetrician is a story for another day). I believe seeing the same midwife at each antenatal appointment helps create a rapport and I am very grateful for that. However, not knowing which doctor you will see from each appointment until they open the door, I feel creates another layer of anxiety with each having a seemingly different agenda and some being more patient focused than others.

Back to my main point. What is the reason behind not having access to a birthing pool? My births were very different from one another, the first being very traumatic after a cascade of interventions and the second being a very calm, physiological birth. The one consistent thing was that I wanted to be in water as I found that very calming. Thankfully for me my labours were relatively short and the shower sufficed for most of it. However, I feel there is ample space in the birthing suite and in the bathroom to have a birth pool and I cannot help but wonder how much more relaxed I would have been if I had been fully submerged in water. I have had acquaintances who I understand have been refused to even bring their own birth pool in.

Why are birthing women seemingly refused the one thing that I feel could help calm their bodies and minds? Submersion in water has so many benefits during labour and birth, and we learn about that at antenatal classes. I don't understand, why something seemingly so simple, is not offered, purely (in my opinion) based on our location. If someone could shed some light on this it would be muchly appreciated.