‘Almost didn’t survive’: the fraught path to parenthood
A rural mother missed her toddler son’s first words while away from home for weeks of fertility treatment.
Another woman whose symptoms cleared before suffering a life-threatening ruptured ectopic pregnancy narrowly avoided an emergency trip from her rural home to a regional hospital.
Concerned about the standard of care at their rural hospital, a family considered moving to the capital to have their baby.
“I wasn’t willing to risk my life,” the mother told rural parenting social organization Herd.
These are some of the many stories of the complex path to parenthood for rural families disadvantaged by long distances, limited access to specialists and fragmented health care.
Their experiences will be published in a NSW parliamentary inquiry examining fertility care and assisted reproductive treatment across the state.
The hearing, to be held in Tamworth in northern NSW on Wednesday, will focus particularly on rural services and the experiences of out-of-town families.
According to Herd’s presentation, long distances to metropolitan fertility clinics and regional pathology laboratories were the biggest hurdles.
With fertility clinics only available in Sydney, Newcastle or Canberra, rural patients are forced to pay most of their accommodation and travel costs, spend weeks away from family and take time off from work.
During one IVF cycle, a mother had to drive a total of 10 hours to have blood tests done in her nearest regional town; which was roughly equivalent to driving from NSW to Perth.
“Fertility and pregnancy care in rural NSW is shaped by inequality at every opportunity,” Herd said in a written statement.
“Rural women and families face greater distance, poorer continuity, entrenched gender-based layoffs and crippling hidden costs.”
Continuity of care from the same clinicians thought to be key to the health of pregnant women and their babies was nearly impossible for rural mothers.
A woman experiencing pain before a life-threatening ruptured ectopic pregnancy was variously diagnosed by different clinicians as being early in the pregnancy, having an upset stomach, or having miscarried.
“No one had connected the dots and I almost didn’t survive the ride to Tamworth,” the woman told the Herd.
The Torie Finnane Foundation, set up in memory of a rural midwife and mother who died suddenly from an infectious disease during the postpartum period, said the local workforce was key to care.
More midwives in rural areas would reduce the travel burden, increase early detection of complications and improve the fragmentation of health services, the foundation’s presentation said.
“Strengthening workforce capacity, integrating telehealth, and supporting continuity of care pathways will immediately improve outcomes for families in the region.”
