Hospital authorities are being urged to let fathers stay overnight with their partners on KEMH’s maternity ward before and after their babies are born.

A new pilot programme lets dads and other partners stay to give support to mothers after their newborns arrive, but it does not include letting them stay past the 8pm cut-off time for visitors if their partners are not yet in full-blown labour.

Fathers usually must leave the maternity ward at that time if their partners have been admitted but are not deemed to be in active labour, meaning many women go through the early stages of labour at KEMH without their husband or partner by their side.

Jennie Foster Skelton, a mother of two, inadvertently had her second child at home as a direct result, she believes, of the 8pm rule.

She and her husband Gary went to the maternity ward in August 2012 after her waters partially broke. Though she was having painful contractions, she was told she was not in active labour and that she should be admitted but her husband would have to go home.

“It was minutes after 8pm. I said, ‘Please, I don’t want to labour on my own’,” said the 37-year-old, of Pembroke. “They said, ‘You do have the option to discharge yourself’. So I did.”

Mrs Foster Skelton went home but her contractions quickly escalated and she gave birth to daughter Emily on the floor at about 10.45pm.

“Gary had called 911 but the ambulance didn’t reach us quickly enough,” she said. “This was my second child; I knew what labour felt like. I would not have chosen a home birth — I’m a doctor’s daughter.”

She said the hospital should “absolutely” change its policy to let fathers stay after 8pm during early labour.

“My husband was as white as a sheet for days [afterwards],” she said. “He was so worried that he could have done something wrong. That was as a direct consequence of the rule.

“The doctor and nurses were all wonderful and helpful but the rule itself was an issue.”

Her husband added: “In retrospect, I’m very grateful for the experience, but I wouldn’t have chosen it because of the potential dangers.”

Another mother, who is pregnant with her second child, told The Royal Gazette about her experience at KEMH in July last year, when she gave birth to her daughter.

“Despite experiencing very painful contractions, I was told that I was not yet in active labour by the midwives, and that my husband needed to leave,” said the 36-year-old, who did not wish to be named.

“I ended up labouring alone in the hospital room until it was time to push and my husband was hurriedly called back to the hospital. Sending my husband home only served to heighten my anxiety in a situation that was already the most stressful and painful of my life.

“I am relieved that the hospital now allows fathers to stay with their wives and babies after the birth. However, allowing them to stay with their wives throughout the labouring process is equally important.

“Until that happens, my excitement over the birth of my second child this spring is tempered by my concern that she arrive during visiting hours.”

Mothers are regularly admitted to the maternity ward when they are not considered to be in active labour, for example, if birth is being induced or if their waters have broken.

A BHB spokeswoman said: “King Edward VII Memorial Hospital has a labour room and a maternity ward. A partner has always been allowed to stay with a labouring mother throughout the process — to birth of the baby.

“After the baby is born, the mother and baby are transferred to the maternity ward. On the maternity ward it used to be that partners could not stay beyond 8pm. This is where the [new scheme] is being piloted. Partners can only take advantage of this service if the baby has been born.”

She did not respond to a question about visiting rules for fathers whose partners are admitted to the ward but are not in active labour.

In 2014, 568 babies were born at KEMH.

• The public can e-mail suggestions for improving the pilot scheme to public.relations@bhb.bm