New parents Stephen and Kirsty Berry are backing calls to save maternity services in Whitehaven after being told their newborn son wouldn’t be here today if they’d had to travel to Carlisle.

Baby James was born just over a week ago at the West Cumberland Hospital on his due date of January 24.

Kirsty, of Workington, was classed as a low risk pregnancy throughout.

Two days before he was due, Kirsty noticed a lack of movement from the baby. She spoke to her midwife and was sent in to the Whitehaven maternity unit for monitoring.

She was kept in hospital and a decision was later taken to induce her labour. It started off well but then it became clear that the baby’s heartbeat was dropping.

A consultant quickly diagnosed a cord prolapse – a complication that can occur during delivery when the cord starts to come out before the baby and can then become trapped. It is a serious problem as it can leave the baby starved of oxygen, putting their life at risk.

“I needed an emergency caesarean. At one point his heart rate completely dropped. They needed to get him out,” said Kirsty, who also has a six-year-old son called Joshua.

“The staff were absolutely spot on. Within about 10 seconds the room was full of the surgical team. They had him out within about 20 minutes. They were absolutely fantastic. I can’t thank them enough.”

Thankfully James, who weighed 7lb 11oz, suffered no complications and his parents were allowed to take him home just a few days later.

But Kirsty, 27, and Stephen, 29, are certain that he would not be here today without a consultant-led maternity unit in Whitehaven.

This service is currently under threat, with bosses proposing to downgrade the unit and transfer all but low risk pregnancies to Carlisle. It would mean only a midwife-led unit remaining in west Cumbria.

Kirsty said she was told that, had she been at Whitehaven with no consultant when her problems began, James would not have survived the 40-mile trip to the Cumberland Infirmary.

“The midwives were really honest. They said he would have died. He wouldn’t have made it. Cord prolapse is quite a rare thing. You think it won’t happen to you but it can,” she said.

“We were just lucky the surgical team was there for us. It’s too far. They say bed to bed from Whitehaven to Carlisle is actually about two hours. How can they let that happen?

“If they move everything to Carlisle there is going to be a woman leaving hospital with empty arms.”

She added: “The team they have got there are fantastic. Why fix something that isn’t broken. They are also really busy. They were rushed off their feet when I was in. It was full, all six delivery rooms. Where are all these women going to go?”