Cooktown mum Jen Pope gave birth at home after maternity unit closed

A Cooktown mum says she decided to give birth to her third child at home to avoid welcoming her baby on the side of the road after the local maternity unit closed.

A Cooktown mum says she decided to give birth to her third child at home to avoid welcoming her baby on the side of the road after the local maternity unit closed.

Cooktown Multipurpose Health Service closed its maternity unit in February last year, with a union claiming the rollout of a “debacle” $35m e-health system was a significant factor contributing to its shutdown.

The unit remains closed as the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service - like other health services around the state - struggles to find suitable clinicians.

When Jen Pope became pregnant and was due in March or April 2022, she was hoping to have her baby close to home at the Cooktown Multipurpose Health Service.

But she didn’t realise she would have to make the 326km drive to Cairns Hospital.

“I had attended my antenatal sessions in the birthing suite,” she said.

“But Cooktown hospital closed it shortly before I was due to give birth and I did not want to have to travel four hours down the road and end up giving birth on the highway on my way to Cairns.

“We safely delivered our baby here at home on March 21, 2022.”

Cooktown resident Jen Pope was pregnant in 2021 and booked in to give birth at Cooktown Hospital but the closure of it's birthing unit in 2022 meant she and her husband Luke chose a home birth rather than risk of one on the side of the highway while driving to Cairns. Hospital. Picture: Supplied

The Cooktown Multipurpose Health Service is operated by the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service.

Ms Pope, 33, said she and her husband Luke were happy to have their child at home.

“We had our first baby in Atherton Hospital in 2018 nearly four weeks early in two and half hours and our son was accidentally born at home on the bathroom floor at the end of 2019 in a one-hour labour,” she said.

“Our midwife carried out checks here at home (in 2022) and we were lucky enough to have a healthy baby girl and complication-free delivery.

“That home birth was pretty awesome and if we didn’t have to drive down to Cairns that was good.”

Ms Pope said while she had “a history of fast labours”, she understands home births are not for everyone.

“Cooktown Hospital needs a fully operational birthing suite, it’s quite a trek to Cairns,” she said.

“Some friends were pregnant at the same time as me and they were worried about not being able to birth safely at home so they went to Cairns.

“But for me I did not want to pack up and relocate and leave my family.”

Ms Pope said she worried the closure of the birthing unit will mean more Cooktown residents are forced to travel when it’s a service that should be provided locally.

Cooktown resident Jen Pope shortly after giving birth at her hone in 2022 after the Cooktown Hospital closed it's birthing unit. Picture: Supplied

“If they keep the birthing unit closed it will force mums to birth at home which is great in a lot of respects as it should be facilitated by the public system, but for some mums it might not be safe to do if they have a risk in their pregnancy,” she said.

“The midwives here I know and felt very comfortable with, but to go to the (Cairns) hospital where I don’t know them from a bar of soap... was not ideal,” she said.

“I don’t want a random stranger you met five minutes ago.”

Ms Pope also queried whether the continued closure in Cooktown would put pressure on other hospitals in the region.

“We are in a remote areas and I understand it is not easy to get the medical stuff to come here and stay here.

“We deserve a birthing suite in Cooktown.”

Originally published as Cooktown mum Jen Pope gave birth at home after maternity unit closed