"Lack of antenatal care"

I was pregnant with my third baby and felt a lot less supported this time around. The care I received was very subpar compared to my previous 2 pregnancies.

The midwife only visits my town periodically. They hardly had any time to see most of the pregnant women in town. I believe the midwife had limited knowledge about WA’s health care standards and didn’t seem proactive about learning or doing anything. They would only run standard checks if I prompted them. Such as getting urine, checking baby’s position, telling me about when to get my immunisations. I had to ask and remind them about standard procedures.

I had low iron and instead of informing me about low iron and educating me, I was just told to get an iron infusion. I went to get the iron infusion and got refused as I did not meet the requirements in WA for an infusion. I should have been giving information on low iron and told to try iron tablets. After many distressing phone calls, I was finally able to get iron tablets. I felt so uniformed and powerless during my pregnancy. This made me feel highly anxious if something was to go wrong. I felt the staff would not know what to do.

The midwife also told me I have to be rich to have a baby in my town and I am not eligible for any of the financial support that is available to the ladies in the next town over from PATS. I have always lived in regional WA and this has to be one of the most under resourced regional towns hospitals in WA, in my opinion. I feel we do not receive the same standard of care here that you would receive anywhere else.