Is it U to call an ambulance for labour if there is no immediate danger?

[Where4l]

Not first baby.

5-10 minute ride by taxi to the hospital or 15 mins (ish) by bus. No complications and not a high risk pregnancy. Plenty of time to get there by either of the above, as in baby not imminent, early labour but calls an ambulance to get to the hospital.

Unreasonable or not?

I have extremely quick labours and was told to call an ambulance for my 2nd if the contractions got within 5 minutes of each other, even with that in mind I wouldn't have called one! Birth is a natural thing that many women choose to do at home, so absolutely no need to take an ambulance off of someone who may genuinely need it!

DD1 caught the train, DD2 got a taxi, not a medical emergency. DD2 labour was less than 3 hours and the she was born within 30 minutes of arriving at hospital

If I'm being totally honest id probably knock on neighbours before I got a bus while in labour.
I had about 13 different situations worked out "just in case". Ended up with emergency option 14

I did sit for a while with a woman this morning who'd fallen and thought she'd broken her arm - her friend had already called an ambulance and they were still waiting two hours later. Eventually one of those paramedic cars turned up after about 2.5 hours so not a quick way to get to hospital!

And, no, I didn't have my car with me so couldn't have driven her there myself.

I would say unreasonable, when I first moved to Sheffield. A chatty taxi driver, said he took a lot of woman in labour, to the maternity hospital, as ambulances tended to take too long.
He even pointed out a couple had been born in his taxi.
Not sure why he told me, I wasn't going to the hospital, I am fat, but certainly not looking pregnant.
I was overdue with my son, so we were booked in to be induced, so a lesiurly drive to the hospital.

Emergency Services wouldn't send an ambulance if you did call. What's wrong with a taxi?

@RidingMyBike

I did sit for a while with a woman this morning who'd fallen and thought she'd broken her arm - her friend had already called an ambulance and they were still waiting two hours later. Eventually one of those paramedic cars turned up after about 2.5 hours so not a quick way to get to hospital!

And, no, I didn't have my car with me so couldn't have driven her there myself.

surely that was a classic case for using a taxi. A broken arm would not be refused by the driver. An ambulance is not a necessity for a 'broken arm' unless there are other injuries from the fall.

Second child at age 35. Husband at work . Waters broke and phoned hospital to say I would drive myself stopping to buy some nightwear en route. Shocked nurse said I must have an ambulance at oncd and sent one. Baby weighing under six pounds ( now 6 foot two ) born four hours later, just about in time to get me through the admission procedure. Be warned. There may not be all that much time. Recently, that baby, grown to a man, had to deliver his second son in the family car on the way to hospital because that enormous child (9 pounds) would not wait. Going by bus sounds dodgy to me

I had this scanario. DH was in Afghanistan and I worried how I would get to the hospital. Luckily they booked me in to be induced the day before my due date as he was due home for 10 days the day after. So it was all done by the time he got home. 11 years later I still don't know why I agreed to that 😂

Scenario

@bunnybuggs by the time I was there they'd already rung for the ambulance and waited a couple of hours. I saw them on the local High St and stopped to check they were ok. From here a taxi to the hospital would cost at least £20, I have no idea if they could have afforded that. And it was also the time of day when I know from experience taxis tend not to be available as it was morning schoolrun time and they all have contracts to take children to school.

"Birth is a natural thing that many women choose to do at home,"

Women are entitled to pain relief and reassurance. There's big discussions around this and other invasive stuff such as coil fitting. Research has shown that we don't expect men to go through equivalent pain levels. When you consider how women are treated post C Section, would we hand a man a newborn to look after straight after surgery? Just because it's a natural process doesn't mean that women don't deserve care and a portion of the ambulance budget. Stand in any A&E and you'll see at least four men come in by ambulance with indigestion.

@Where4l

No drip feed, the story is exactly as written.

To answer PP's asking how i know the details, the baby was my DSS

I'm 37+ weeks with our second and was discussing hypothetical situations with DH as to what I'd do if I went into labour before my scheduled section and couldn't get hold of him to take me.

He said just ring an ambulance.

I said I can't do that, that's taking liberties.

He said well that's what DSC mum did when her labour started. Textbook pregnancy, no complications. DSS1 was in bed asleep and nobody could get over to watch him, they weren't going to wake him and she didn't want to get a taxi or bus so they decided to call an ambulance - yes the ambulance did take her.

I was and said they're taking the piss surely, he said absolutely not.

Suffice to say I won't be calling an ambulance.

Was he there? Why did they just not wake up DC1 and all go in together? That's what we did and had to wake up 3 DCs! That was fun!

I'd say not unreasonable to call.
The ambulance might be unreasonable to go.

But it depends on the ambulance. Some ambulances are used for patient transport, not all are for emergencies, as far as I know.

Expecting someone to take the bus in labour is unreasonable.

Ideally they should organise a lift or get a taxi but if these aren’t possible then yes an ambulance.

@Scarlettpixie

Expecting someone to take the bus in labour is unreasonable.

Ideally they should organise a lift or get a taxi but if these aren’t possible then yes an ambulance.

They just need to be aware that there may be a long wait for an ambulance as it's not a priority. It could be 2/4/6hrs depending how busy

@grannieali

Second child at age 35. Husband at work . Waters broke and phoned hospital to say I would drive myself stopping to buy some nightwear en route. Shocked nurse said I must have an ambulance at oncd and sent one. Baby weighing under six pounds ( now 6 foot two ) born four hours later, just about in time to get me through the admission procedure. Be warned. There may not be all that much time. Recently, that baby, grown to a man, had to deliver his second son in the family car on the way to hospital because that enormous child (9 pounds) would not wait. Going by bus sounds dodgy to me

With all due respect, times have moved on. 20/30 years ago it was not frowned upon to have an ambulance for maternity cases. Equally there was no where near the expectation from the public that there currently is. Ambulances in many cases are seen as the "catch all" service.

The number of calls we recieve daily has increased 3 fold in the last 10 years alone.

To put it in to perspective a quick Google tells me that there are over 300 babies born each day in London, London ambulance service have around 400 ambulances on duty at peak times. Can you imagine if every woman decided an ambulance was the way to travel? There would be very limited chance that anyone else would get one. If all pregnant ladies were now told to call an ambulance an entire new service would need to be formed as otherwise the current service would fall over entirely within a matter of days.

I used to work for the ambulance service. 999 is for emergencies and being in the labour you describe is not an emergency though men may think so. A car would suffice from either friend, neighbour or taxi.

Calling out an ambulance when you have other options is not ok but sometimes circumstances can mean it is the only option. We need to be careful that we don't discourage people from calling one when they really should.

I needed an ambulance when I went into labour with DS but I wouldn't call one as I got the message loud and clear that it's not a maternity taxi service. Thankfully someone else hadn't got that message and called one for me,

In the ideal world, I wouldn't call an ambulance. I've only been through labour once though and very lucky in that I had all the support I needed - waters broke early at 37 weeks but from that point onwards I couldn't hold myself up straight - very lucky DH was with me and somehow got me there. On assessment in hospital I was 1cm dilated and contractions every 1.5mins.

Yes very unreasonable. My daughter is a district nurse and had to wait with a patient who was bleeding profusely and whos blood pressure was dropping to a dangerous level. She was told there was an hour and a half wait for an ambulance as very busy. After much pleading they got one out to her in 35 mins. The patient lost a litre of blood and was going into cardiac arrest by the time they arrived. So yes GET A TAXI unless an emergency . Ambulances are not Taxis.

@Ponoka7

"Birth is a natural thing that many women choose to do at home,"

Women are entitled to pain relief and reassurance. There's big discussions around this and other invasive stuff such as coil fitting. Research has shown that we don't expect men to go through equivalent pain levels. When you consider how women are treated post C Section, would we hand a man a newborn to look after straight after surgery? Just because it's a natural process doesn't mean that women don't deserve care and a portion of the ambulance budget. Stand in any A&E and you'll see at least four men come in by ambulance with indigestion.

Eh... the op said no immediate danger.

Labour hurts for everyone. If you're in the early stages you really need to make your own way, and should've had it planned out.

You have to put yourself in the shoes of someone in a life or death situation who needs that ambulance more. If there was an unlimited supply, I'd be fine.

If I didn't have the car available, I knew I'd be taking the bus, or an Uber. You can have your pain relief and reassurance- just make your own way there.

Yesterday 20:59 VaccineSticker

A home birthing friend told me that she had an ambulance on standby in case anything goes wrong. How is this okay then?“

Was it a private ambulance?

I don’t believe for a moment that a very stretched NHS would have an ambulance and crew sitting about waiting on your friend for hours on end, just wouldn’t happen.

She got the wrong end of the stick, clearly.

I'd call 111 if you were worried, or contact the midwives. DH just needs to make sure he is around.

I was told an ambulance would be sent even I called 111. I refused it as I thought I had a chest infection. 7 hours later in a and e I had blood clots in both lungs. I really couldn't bare using an ambulance.