Getting to hospital in labour if you have no car. HOW?

I had this problem when I was expecting my first child last summer. I had no partner, was living with my mum (who didn't drive), and had no other family in close proximity who could drive me, nor any friends who offered, despite knowing my predicament (nor any whom I felt 'close' enough to to ask, given that I might be leaking various fluids over their cars at 3 in the morning).

In the end I was booked for an induction at 42 wks so I drove myself to hospital and drove myself and ds home again three days afterwards. However I was incredibly angry at the attitude of the midwives before it got to this stage. I raised the issue of transport and they said, have you got any friends who could help out? No. Are you sure? Yes I'm quite bl**dy sure, I've been panicking about this for ages. Oh well, something will turn up, just don't call an ambulance because it's not an emergency.

Well, sorry for needing NHS resources for this (possibly) once-in-a-lifetime event, where any one of a million complications could occur, but if I were in labour with my first baby, on my own, then I certainly would have called an ambulance. If they go to folk who have got drunk and tripped over a pavement, they can jolly well come out to take a labouring woman safely to hospital.

Message withdrawn

M2T - I am 22 weeks and last week mentioned the possibility of a home birth to the community midwife after some discussion/support from mumsnet. She was quite enthusiastic which helped me. Midwives definitely supply gas and air and you can get a prescription for pethidine which you collect from the chemist at about 37 weeks. If its not used they watch you destroy it. I think I will get the prescription anyway even though I didn't use it last time.

One of the reasons for opting for homebirth is that the hospital is about 15 miles away right through the town centre and the 40 minute rush hour journey while in transition last time wasn't pleasant (had 9 hour labour with long second stage). My family don't live near by and DH could easily be working 2 hours away. Fortunately for me I have neighbours with young children I could rely onfor DS at least until my family could pick them up. Another reason is that I feel that the aftercare between the midwife and my DH would be better than I received in hospital. DH was initially anti but has come round after consideration of the facts, icrcumstances etc. Its up to you whether you go for the home birth but if you do there is a great thread with lost of helpful advice from people who've done it. HTH.

Hi M2T, have just caught this thread again and realise I replied without reading the bit about you now considering a home-birth. Midwives present at a home-birth would have all that you mention, yes, although even they wouldn't hesitate to call for another two pairs of hands if an emergency were to occur during your labour.
I was just trying to encourage you to call for an ambulance at any stage re getting to hosp. without you worrying about wasting their time/costs etc. If you are going for a home birth then I envy you, and wish you all the best.

M2T - it's funny you should mention that breastfeeding is one of the reasons that you'd rather be in hospital. With me it was the determination to get b/f right that was one of my main motivations for choosing a homebirth. I felt that I had no support in hospital with b/f ds1. Infact they even took him away and gave him a bottle, albeit with my permission. The permission I might add of an exhausted, distraught first-time mum, who had no understanding of the b/f process. I didn't ask them too, infact I was quite upset about it, but it was the only suggestion they could offer me.

The reasons I thought b/f would go better at home was that I'd have an intervention-free labour. Interventions can hamper the natural process - the most obvious example being pethidine making the baby sleepy. I'd also have my family around to wait on me hand and foot so that I could just concentrate on b/f. In hospital, the midwives just left me to my own devices, and were incredibly short with me if I asked them for anything. Also in hospital I got that much conflicting and just plain bad advice, that it's a wonder I was still b/f ds1 when I came out. I'm sure my confidence never recovered, and that's why I eventually gave up after about 3 months.

Your best bet for b/f support is getting hold of a b/f counsellor. The NCT have a b/f hotline on 0870 444 8708.

Anyway, this is just my view. I hope you make the decision that is right for you.

I know lots of people that HAVE gone to the labour ward in taxis, but personally i would have hated it, a complete stranger, bad driving, those horrible smeely air freshener things that make you feel sick. At least ambulance crews will be used to huffing, puffing and 'breathing'. I'd say homebirth or ambulance, in your position.

My homebirth midwives brought gas and air and syntometiyn with them.

Yes you on offer are Entenox (& pethidine, & syntometrin, yuck, yuck, yuck, hate the stuff) for a homebirth, but if you're going to hospital for the birth in a taxi, you obviously won't get any pain-killers until you arrive... unless the taxi drivers in your neck of the woods carry all sorts of interesting alternatives?

M2T I think it is a matter of reacting to the labour situation when it happens. If you have got friends who can take you to hosp. in the early stages then fine, and I'm sure that any true friend would be delighted to help out. If there are no friends around when you need them and you are in early labour then call ask your midwife to call an ambulance for you. It will be prioritised as an 'urgent' case rather than an 'emergency', but if at any stage you feel you need help 'now', then you only need to call 999 yourself to get that call upgraded to a rapid response preferably within 8 mins. A normal delivery at home is only a normal delivery with hindsight. At the time it may well save lives to have an ambulance crew trained in neo-natal resuscitation, and able to give syntometrine to help stop post-partum bleeding and iv fluids to replace any blood lost.
Not to mention the assistance of entonox should you need it. I hope all goes smoothly for you, but don't hesitate to call 999 if you need help with transport sooner than you think.

M2T - ds born in hospital, stayed in 3 days to try to feed him - huge problems getting him to feed, eventually managed, but by that time he was on mixed feeding. Not what I wanted. Dd - born at home - now 5 months, still exclusively breast fed.

I know with dd I sort of knew what I was doing, but it was so much easier being at home. The nurses in the ward I was in with ds didn't have a clue, but were supposed to give me support in feeding. They just kept taking blood samples to check his blood sugar, that was the only "support" they gave me!

Good luck whatever you do! I'd recommend home anytime.

Phoned an ambulence, here within 30 minutes... I never even considered a taxi. I suppose not wasting NHS resources is a good argument, but a £35 taxi fare is a big discinentive... besides, the ambulence men carry Nitrous Oxide . I had had a show but otherwise it wasn't urgent. Did homebirth the time after that. I got bugger all help with breastfeeding in hospital, M2T, wouldn't rely on that!

Message withdrawn

Sheila Kitzinger did a good book called something like 'Having the birth you want' - worth reading!

M2T, you say you would rather be in hospital. Have you really looked into the facts concerning home v hospital deliveries?

I eventually opted for a homebirth with ds2, but only made the decision at 28 weeks or so. My decision was not based on practicalities but on the fact that I'd had a traumatic hospital labour with ds1 resulting in a ventouse delivery after a 4 hour 2nd stage. I knew I wanted something to be different the second time but couldn't get my head round the supposed risks associated with a homebirth.

I did a lot of reading. Can I recommend something which I think is called "Safer Childbirth?" by Margorie Trew. (I'm going on memory, somebody else might be able to correct me if I've got that wrong.) It's full of facts and figures, and a bit hard-going, but very interesting. I read Sheila Kitzinger's "Homebirth" which I think is out of print, but she's just brought out a new book which I think is along similar lines. Anyway, gradually I came round to the idea of homebirth, and, indeed, saw it as the safer alternative. I went on to have a wonderful homebith with ds2: so,so different from my experience first time around.

The thing is, if you opted for a homebirth, you'd have two midwives with you, who at the first sign of a problem, would be able to call an ambulance - which would come there and then. I was told that the ambulance service were aware that there was a homebirth going on and ready in case of an emergency.

Anyway, don't stress yourself too much about this. I'm sure whatever you decide, things will work themselves out. Oh, and don't worry about the midwives saying that they have to assess whether your premises are fit for a homebirth. I'm sure they're only checking that you don't have rats running around. If you don't, I'm sure it will be fine!

m2t - if you are a way away from a hosp, you have difficulties getting there, and you are worried about a fast labour (which you should be if you had a fast 1st labour and your mum had v fast labours), then HAVE IT AT HOME! Honestly, it will be great. Or at least think about it. Go on, we will all support you all the way and you won't regret it. And as everyone says, if you decide you don't much like it once you are there and in action so to speak, your ambulance will come quicker and at least you'll have a MW by your side in case it doesn't come fast enough!

My dh and I don't drive either. And I may find myself in a similar situation to yourself. We're also in Scotland.

When I had our dd (6 years ago) we were told that if I was in labour I could phone an ambulance and tell them I was in labour and I would get one, if once at the hospital they found I wasn't in labour they would charge us £99 or something like that. But that was for our local hospital. In the end we didn't need an ambulance and we got a taxi to the hospital.

Our local maternity unit is now under threat, I'm due in May and if they get their way and close down our maternity unit before I deliver (we're all still fighting for it to stay open) I'll have to travel 20 miles to the nearest hospital, which will be a 30 minute journey. I wouldn't hesitate to call an ambulance for me if that happens and I don't think you should hesitate either.

I'm sure that they would send an ambulance to a woman in labour if the only hospital is 18 miles away. I would think you'd be classed as a priority, labour is unpredictable. Assuming that there haven't been any major accidents etc using all the ambulances up I'm sure they would send one out.

It's awful the way they are closing down hospitals left right and centre. Our hospital was all renovated a few years back and then they started closing wards down and sending them to the other hospital. We've been fighting to keep the maternity unit open for a few years now, they keep downgrading it but not closing it completely. Our city although smallish has a population of around 48,000 people and they even wanted to close down the accident and emergency department as well, madness. Luckily they didn't, not yet anyway.

Still I digress, I think that if you need an ambulance then you should call one.

Popsycal, that labour reminds of an old friend's experience. She lived next door to the hospital so planned to walk to the MU but her labour was so fast she had the baby on her front garden path!!

Don;t hesitate to call an ambulance - a friend of mine delivered on the bathroom floor as she didnt want to trouble an ambulance....her dh was on the phone to 999 throughout her 2 minute, yes 2 minutes delivery!!