Woman Gives Birth on Hospital Waiting Room Couch Due to Overcrowding, Staffing Issues

A pregnant woman was forced to give birth on a hospital waiting room couch due to overcrowding and staffing issues.  

The woman, whose identity has not been shared publicly, told News 9 Australia that she went to the Westmead Hospital in Sydney, Australia, on July 31, after her water broke while she was walking her dog.

There, the woman said she and her husband were told to stand in a hallway after they were admitted.

“At one point, I felt as if the baby [wasn’t] moving much, so I asked to get monitored. So they [put us] in a waiting room, and there were two couples already in the waiting room monitoring their baby’s heartbeat,” the woman said in a video interview with News 9 Australia. 

When the woman’s labor quickly began to progress, a quick-thinking hospital midwife jumped into action, throwing towels onto a couch and laying the then-expectant mother down on it.

“I feel really bad about it, but she kicked out everyone from that waiting room,” the woman recalled to the Australian outlet.

The woman eventually gave birth, but she quickly learned that there were still no available beds for her in the maternity ward.

She was eventually transferred to the gynecology ward at the Westmead Hospital.

“The midwife who was in charge told me that there are 17 people in this gyno unit and there are only three [employees], so that ratio is very off. That was my exposure to the staffing problems,” the woman told the outlet.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

A midwife, who spoke anonymously to News 9 Australia about the incident, said of the hospital, “Conditions are the worst [they’ve] ever been.”

“We need more midwives, but who would want to work for or value a hospital that doesn’t value or listen to them under harsh working conditions?” she added.

In a statement to PEOPLE, a spokesperson for the Western Sydney Local Health District said, “Over the evening of 31 July, Westmead Hospital’s birthing unit was very busy and experienced a higher than average number of births with 24 women in the birthing unit.”

“Birthing can be unpredictable, with patient needs and clinical urgency fluctuating rapidly due to the spontaneous nature of labor and delivery,” the representative continued.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

The spokesperson went on to thank the midwives on staff that day for their professionalism and dedication.