A number of pregnant women from Alberta are being sent to other cities to deliver their babies because of a lack of neonatal beds in Calgary.

At least five Alberta women with high-risk pregnancies have been transferred in recent days. Mandy Martin of Lethbridge, Alta., who is expecting triplets, was flown alone to Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre on Feb. 5. Her husband Devin Martin, and her father flew in to be at her side Sunday.

The 23-year-old mother of two, who is in her 25th week of pregnancy, was transferred to the Ontario city so that doctors could closely monitor the developing fetuses when the Calgary Health Region couldn't find a vacant local neonatal bed. 

Four other Alberta women were flown to Montana. Caroline Lupypciw, 20, gave birth to a girl in Great Falls, Mont., on Thursday. She and her baby flew home to Alberta on Saturday when a neonatal bed opened up for the newborn at Calgary's Rockyview General Hospital.

Alberta's booming economy has resulted in a population boom that has caught officials off guard. To make things worse, Calgary Health Region said there are no neonatal beds available in Western Canada.

"I wouldn't say I'm angry about everything, just disappointed in the system," Martin said. 

In the past, B.C. doctors have flown local women who were about to deliver preemies to Edmonton or Seattle, Wash., because of a shortage of neonatal beds.