Mums and midwives determined to save St John of God maternity

Mother of two Emma Jensen said her 17-month-old son Logan wouldn't be here without the efforts of the midwives and nurses at the private hospital.

After suffering a secondary postpartum haemorrhage during the birth of her first child Millie, 6, Ms Jensen said she needed all the help possible from staff.

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"It's taken us a long time to have a little miracle bub, Logan," she said.

"Having the same support team is really critical. I didn't have to retell my story, they knew what would trip me up and what wouldn't, they knew how best to support [my husband] too."

When she started haemorrhaging after the birth of Logan, Ms Jensen said the immediate support she had was incredible, particularly from maternity unit manager Nicole Harris.

"I just remember Nicole's face and I said, 'I'm haemorrhaging really bad, I don't want to move' and Nicole looked at me and she held out her hands and she said, 'I know, but we've all got you here'," Ms Jensen said.

"I looked up and they were all familiar faces and so we moved to the bed together and from that moment I had a hand to hold the whole way and it makes a difference."

Ms Jensen said she didn't believe she would get the same personalised treatment if she gave birth in the public system.

Mother of three Melissa Lehman gave birth to her third child Eloise at St John of God Bendigo Hospital seven months ago, after experiencing birthing complications during her two previous births.

She said the team at St John of God meant every time she went back ,"it was seeing old friends".

"You don't feel like a number, they absolutely 100 per cent care for you", Ms Lehman said.

"They know you, they remember your other kids, you're not rushed out before you are ready."

All three of Ms Lehman's children were born via caesarean section, and for the the birth of Eloise, Ms Lehman requested a maternally-assisted caesarean which meant she lifted the baby out of her own womb.

It was something St John of God had never done before, but something they were willing to accommodate for.

"In terms of choice, given what had happened with my first two births, there were certainly a few things that happened that weren't pleasant," Ms Lehman said.

"So for my third birth with Eloise, we put a lot of time and effort into planning how were we going to do our best to make sure that this was a positive experience."

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Both mums said they chose to give birth in a private hospital for the personalised level of care.

Without the St John of God maternity services, they would have had to travel to Ballarat or Melbourne.

A closure of the maternity services would most likely lead to more pressure placed on the public system.

In the opinion of Ms Harris, St John of God's maternity unit manager who delivered Ms Lehman and Ms Jensen's children, women should have the option to birth near their home.

"We know that some of our smaller regional hospitals have lost their maternity services like Kerang and Cohuna, so we need to really protect mums and families," Ms Harris said.

"Having to travel two hours to come to hospital, which a lot of people do to come to Bendigo, it's just not ideal."

Ms Harris said she wasn't sure what the outcome of the hospital's review would be, but people who invested in private health insurance "deserved to have the service in place".

She said St John of God midwives, doctors, executives and representatives from Bendigo Health were working to come up with a solution to keep the services open.

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