Travelling at 36 weeks preg for Christmas

[jodes7001]

Hi all - just wanted some advice. I am going to be 36 weeks preg the week of Christmas (first time pregnancy), and my partner wants me to go to very rural Scotland (rural Highlands, west coast) where his family lives for the holiday. I am very nervous about travelling that far at 36 weeks and being physically uncomfortable for a 10-12hr drive in possibly bad weather conditions and not near my hospital. He and his family are saying I am worrying too much and it's very unlikely I will go into labour and I will be fine, and that they are about 30 miles from a hospital.

My family are in Los Angeles, so I am staying in the UK this year.

Am I overreacting by wanting to stay in London 4 weeks before my due date? Thanks for any advice! xx

Shouldn’t have opened this thread. I’m doing this exact same journey at 36 weeks but in reverse. I like my hospital 30 miles away; never had an issue getting there before. What I’m worried about is the gawd awful traffic that means my new hospital is closer but what’s close if you’re stuck in traffic!
I’m not looking forward to the journey but needs must. We’ll be stopping a lot and may stop off at a hotel for the night. There are loads of cheap ones if you book early.
It’s ultimately up to you though. No one here knows if you’re likely to be early, you could be 2 weeks late! You could have a Labour where you have enough time to go and see a couple of movies or you could have a super quick labour (although statistically unlikely). What’s more relevant is that you don’t know if you need medical assistance.
And there’s the journey back home....

I had a straight forward pregnancy but was in agony with back and hip pain in the last month. 30 minutes in a car was hideous.

It looks like you've told them no, good for you. What twats.

Good for you.

It'd be the pissing that would do it for me. The amount of toilet breaks at that stage doesn't bear thinking about.

Could you get a train most of the way OP and then hire a car?

She's not going. And rightly so.

Nope. Way too uncomfortable in the car that long at that point, plus risk of DVT if by some miracle you don't need to pee every 40 minutes or so. 10-12 hr drive gets a lot longer with that many pee stops...

Late pregnancy is uncomfortable. Even if not in a car for most of a day!

See how you feel after this journey. Find out exactly if the 30miles away hospital does deliveries, and if it’s just midwife or consultant led and SCBU etc. Then find out how long exactly it will take.

But it’s the 12hours in a car and you’ll be wanting to stop every 45mins. Of course there are peooole that we’re running marathons and gave birth whilst up a ladder fixing a roof at 43 weeks, but you can feel how you feel and most people wouldn’t want to leave home that far along and some people can’t walk by then.

If it's too much for the dog, it's definitely too much for you

It's a no from me. Isn't it lovely that they consider the dog's comfort more than yours? It's not just a 10-12 hour journey while 36 weeks pregnant. It's also the return journey so you'll be travelling in a car for almost 24 hours while heavily pregnant. Isn't it amazing how people can happily suggest these things when they aren't the ones 36 weeks pregnant?!

If you end up going into labour, you might go into labour while in the middle of that journey. What do you do then? Or if you go into labour up there, you're away from your own hospital and also you'll have to do a 10-12 hour journey with a newborn which will probably need to be broken down into a few days because a newborn is only supposed to be in a car seat for very short bursts of time so I'd say you'll need to do overnights on the way back.

All this hassle for what exactly? One bloody day? Not worth it. I'm starting to dislike Christmas because of all this expectation and pressure people get out under. And I have always loved Christmas.

@ BIWI

Actually it's NOT ridiculous at all, it's statistically correct. I said MOST, not ALL. :)
You are obviously in the tiny minority of 1st time mums who deliver early. :(
And babies DON'T shoot out like greased penguins, though I know there are plenty of us who wish they DID :)

Is it a tiny minority of first time mums who deliver early? Both of mine turned up at 38 weeks. DS1 was slightly earlier than DS2.

But the point is, @nowayhose, the OP doesn't know if she's going to be one of those women or not!

towardsdatascience.com/are-first-babies-more-likely-to-be-late-1b099b5796b6

Interesting statistical analysis. First babies are more likely to be early (12%) or late (15%) than subsequent babies but the majority arrive around the due date.

I don’t think 12% is a tiny minority

nowayhose
It would appear that 85% of first babies arrive on or before their due date.

Your partner and family need to get their heads straight. WTF are they thinking!? You don’t have to justify anything. Love the dog thing 🙄.

Seriously though your partner needs to sort out their expectations.

In my nct group of 10 two of us had them early. Nicely freaked out the rest of the group by rocking up to last session with newborns

No OP YANBU

A. The long drive

but also B. What if the weather turns bad and you do go into labour ? Not trying to scare you but would the ambulance guarantee to get there via thick snow ? Too close to due date in my view.