Left shaken by their emergency births, three Southland mums share their stories as a review of the troubled maternity care system is announced.
The Lumsden Maternity Centre was downgraded to a maternal hub in April - meaning it's not staffed full-time and is mostly used for ante-natal care and at times, emergency deliveries.
In the last month, four women have had emergency births at the centre, some not even making it inside.
Amanda McIvor ended up giving birth to little Levi in an ambulance on the side of the road.
She says the system of maternity care just isn't working.
"They keep going on about it's fine the way it is, and there's nothing wrong it's working the way it's supposed to, well obviously it's not working the way it's supposed to," Ms McIvor told 1 NEWS.
Chris Fleming made the statement after a Southland mother gave birth on a roadside near Lumsden. (Source: Other)
Another mum, who didn't want to be named, also didn't make it inside the Lumsden Unit, giving birth in the car park a week ago.
"We wouldn't have made it any further, like we didn't even make it to Lumsden, so a trip to Winton or Gore or Invercargill wouldn't have been an option for us," said the mother.
Olivia Selbie expressed her concerns to 1 NEWS a month ago, heavily pregnant and worried about where she would give birth.
As it turned out, she made it to the unit just in time, her baby being born within 20 minutes of arriving.
But, she says it was cold and "not that clean," so after the delivery she had to drive almost 40 minutes to the nearest primary birthing unit.
"I had tears in my eyes walking out because it's just unnecessary," she says.
The new mothers all hoping the Southland DHB's review will bring much needed change.
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