Pregnant women being offered classes on how to give birth in a car after Devon maternity ward closes

Pregnant women in a Devon town are being offered classes on how to give birth in a car – after the sudden closure of a local maternity ward .

Barnstaple’s North Devon District Hospital has temporarily shuttered its birthing wing due to staff shortages , forcing expectant mums to make the gruelling nearly two-hour journey to Exeter. We can now reveal the situation is so dire that couples are being taught how to deliver their babies while driving along the motorway or parked on the hard shoulder.

Antenatal teacher Catherine Mchomvu, who runs the sessions, told The Mirror : “It’s about trying to create the birth environment that you would normally have in the hospital or at home, in your car.

“Birth can happen very quickly for some women – so I’m teaching them positions to potentially slow labour down, essentials for the car like big bottles of water, enough fuel in case you need to keep it warm, plenty of towels and blankets to catch and wrap the baby, and advice like not cutting the cord until help arrives.

“Preparing to give birth is fraught with enough anxiety and anticipation for many women as it is, and where they should be having endless reassurance, they’ve had the rug pulled from under them – they’re anxious, stressed, disappointed and don’t feel heard or seen.”

The trust suspended all births, including c-sections, on August 11 due to a lack of consultants and obstetricians. Triage appointments - to check on mum and baby if any problems are suspected - have also been stopped. On a visit to Devon Antenatal Family Centre in Barnstaple, where the classes take place, we spoke to a string of soon-to-be mums who feel frightened and left in the lurch.

Among them is Hannah Rulton, who is 27 weeks pregnant and lives in Ilfracombe, an hour-and-40-minute drive from the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. The mum-of-two, 37, is fearing the worst after she and her son narrowly cheated death during her last labour.

She said: “We are petrified. My son was born with shoulder dystocia - which caused his shoulder to get stuck on my public bone - and it took five minutes to resuscitate him. We both nearly died. Our worry is that this next baby will follow in that pattern as the risk of shoulder dystocia is high.

“If I go into spontaneous labour, which is likely, we’ll be in a car for at least an hour and 40 minutes on our own without any help or intervention that we might need if it does happen on the side of the road. My anxiety is so high at a time when it should be really enjoyable. This special time is being distorted because I’m constantly worrying and thinking, ‘what if the worst happens?’

“We feel helpless, because there is no answer and there is no quick fix. There is no promise or guarantee that things will be sorted. Everything is just absolutely terrifying.”

It’s a similar story for Vicky O’Loughlin, 34, who is due to give birth in October. Holding back tears, she told us: “When I first learned of the closure I was really shocked and upset. My family are all from here [Barnstaple] and I was born here.