The on again, off again Clyde birthing unit is on again, a spokesperson for Te Whatu Ora Southern has confirmed following a Central App enquiry.

Local pregnant women can give birth at the primary birthing unit in Alexandra now called the Central Otago Maternity Unit (formerly Charlotte Jean) and managed by Te Whatu Ora.

But some mothers-to-be with complications have to stomach an uncomfortable journey by ambulance or car to Dunedin Hospital.

Alexandra mother Melissa McBeath’s waters broke during her evening shift at Night ’n Day she had to drive to Dunedin in a hurry to give birth to daughter Tate (now 10 months).

“If it had been just down the road it would have been so much easier,” Melissa said.

At only 31 weeks along Melissa had to see her midwife first in Alexandra before the two and half hour trip.

That night there was a crash in Roxburgh and her midwife had to call ahead to make sure she could get through.

“She told me ‘don’t even pack anything just go’... we had to wake up my older daughter too and get her in the car. 

“I was panicking and had my waters leaking all over the seat.”

Melissa who said she gets “terribly car sick” ended up behind the wheel from Lawrence as it meant she felt less nauseous. 

A steroid injection ended up being given to Melissa around 3am, the result being her baby stayed in the womb for ten further days. 

She stayed in hospital for a week, and then as her parents live in Dunedin she went to their place.

When she went into labour a few days later she had an emergency caesarean.

Unfortunately, her partner missed the birth of their second daughter as he was driving there from Alexandra 

“He tried to get there and missed it by ten minutes. They were stitching me up when he arrived. He kissed me hello and then followed Tate down to NICU.”

Shaun and Melissa’s girls Tate and Remi. 

In early April this year, The Central App reported that plans for the new birthing unit in Clyde had been put ‘on hold’ due to rising construction costs and that the design might have to be altered for ‘efficiencies’.

“The procurement process for a construction partner for the new primary birthing unit in Clyde is currently underway,” Te Whatu Ora Southern director of midwifery Karen Ferraccioli told the Central App yesterday.

In August 2022, public meetings (in person and online) in Central shared the proposed design for community feedback. 

At those meetings the timeframe for the build was said to be ‘a year or so’. 

Karen said the new facility is now expected to open late in 2024, over two years after the plans were shared with the community. 

There are on average 300 pregnancies in the Alexandra region each year. 

Central Otago is not the only district hit by delays to a primary birth care project.

In Wānaka an eight bedroom lodge was purchased in June 2022, and was said to need “minor alterations” to be converted to a new birthing unit by early 2023. It has sat largely empty for the past year. 

Read more: A year had passed but still no birthing unit for Wānaka.

When the Clyde unit is built at Dunstan Hospital the helipad close by will ensure that people requiring additional care can be promptly transferred to a specialist centre in Dunedin (approximately 20-30 min flight versus two and a half hours in an ambulance).