I gave birth in a public hospital just before Christmas. I was very close to being diverted to a different hospital to the one I had been attending my whole pregnancy due to staffing shortages. Luckily, I had an induction booked for that morning if I did not go into spontaneous labour by 7am due to my waters breaking 24 hours prior. There were no birth suites available when I arrived and I was put into a small room with my husband where we waited for 7 hours before being given a birthing room. We saw a midwife twice in that timeframe as they were understaffed due to many of them having caught covid. Once we were finally in a room, the midwives were clearly run off their feet. It was clear to see they were being stretched – popping in and out between rooms constantly. I had a long labour and was so impressed with the level of care each midwife (during each shift change) provided when they were very clearly having a difficult time. After birth, I was very aware of mothers being encouraged to be discharged as soon as possible as there were not enough staff to care for so many mothers and babies. I gave birth at 11.23pm on the 23rd of Dec and was home by 1pm on the 25th. Although I was glad to be home, I was expecting a less frantic post birth experience with more one on one care and education from a midwife, being my first baby. After witnessing and experiencing first hand the staffing shortage and impact on mothers, I am in disbelief that more is not being done to support an already stretched system. The staff and patients deserve more.