At 33 weeks pregnant, Lisa Lehtinen cannot sleep at night as she worries about going into labour in her car or alone in a motel room far from home.
Her local maternity unit at Biloela in central Queensland has been on bypass since August, meaning expectant parents have to travel 140km to Rockhampton Hospital to give birth.
The 29-year-old, who has a toddler son, must decide whether to stay in a Rockhampton motel weeks before the birth, drive there closer to the time or present at the Biloela hospital and be transferred.
“I was pregnant during COVID, and this is more stressful,” Lehtinen told AAP….