AIBU to think this car park should ONLY be for mothers?

[HuwsLineIsItAnyway]

Our local big hospital has a maternity unit.

There is one small car park in immediate proximity to the maternity unit. No other departments have an entrance from this car park.

There are three large car parks on site but all are either on the other side of the hospital or the next closest to the maternity unit means climbing a massive hill to the Mat unit.
Every single time I've been here - both in this pregnancy and my previous ones - the small car park is chock full of visiting relatives, leaving a number of heavily pregnant and postpartum mums to either have to navigate the entire hospital or tackle the hill.

I view it the same way I view dads sitting in the waiting rooms and leaving pregnant women to stand.

It would be so easy to adapt the existing barriers to scan a pass (they scan staff badges) given to expectant mums.
I'm just being grumpy and sore and refluxy but AIBU to think it?

No, I had SPD requiring physio and 4m on crutches.

Still not a disability 😊

And using another car park wouldn't be so difficult we're it not for the bloody hill 😭

You know why I want advantages relating to pregnancy? Because it's bloody inconvenient, that's why

Its also a choice. Being in hospital, sometimes for weeks or even months at a time, isn’t a choice for the majority of the patients.

Diddums and yes YABU.

YABU, how do you know who is parked there? Someone who has a serious illness or disability should be prioritized above a healthy pregnant women,

Sorry but when my close relative had moments left to live and I was worried I wasn't going to make it in time, I didn't give two shiny shites about where I parked. As long as it wasn't to Blue badge space, if it was free, I was going to take it.
I wasn't going to miss my relatives last moments because someone who was 4 months pregnant might have wanted my space 😖

The OP stated that this small car park is specifically close to the maternity unit, all other departments have bigger parks closer to them, so in this case it is really patients vs visitors.

YABU , in my experience of hospital parking it can be a nightmare even finding a space so it would be ridiculous to just have a car park for pregnant ladies .

You know why I want advantages relating to pregnancy? Because it's bloody inconvenient, that's why

Don't get pregnant, then.

Massive hill?

I lived in London when I was preggo. I had to take public transport to my appointments, including waddling in for my section on the hottest day of the year.

I was still a lot more mobile than many people attending the hospital so I would have to say YABU.

I used to just get appointments outside visiting hours, or get DP to drop me off and park up, or my Dad, or I got a taxi a couple of times when I couldn't drive as it was too uncomfortable. 🤷‍♀️

I can think of a hospital in Kent that has a pretty substantial hill to most of the car parks. My mum (having chemo) can't manage it so my dad has to drop her off and then park the car.

YABU

I agree actually. If there are other car parks available to the visitors, then yes.

Also chair in the waiting room should be for the pregnant women attending appointments, and not to be used by F&F.

It's really quite hilly at the hospital where I live, and the maternity wing is a separate building with its own car park. But yes. Visitors can park there. There is a very short term drop off section for dropping off pregnant women, labour drop,off, picking up newborns to go home, etc. There is another larger car park towards the bottom of the hill, at the other side of the car park. There is some on street parking but very limited.

However, the maternity wing is also for other women's health issues and fertility too. So these people aren't pregnant but are using that hospital as patients.

I think it would be a bit of an admin nightmare to have to start issuing passes - at one stage does a women qualify for one? And what about afterwards if they need to return for any reason? And is it issued to the car or the women?

In an ideal world there'd be adequate parking for both patients, visitors and also staff.

I think the OP means family visiting the new mothers are parking there, as against other hospital patients

Wouldn't a fair proportion of the visiting husbands/family be there at some point to take the mum and new baby home?

those hospital chairs are titchy once you're accommodating a significant bump. Especially when they keep you hanging around for hours. If they made the chairs bigger and more comfortable then the men could all stand whilst the women sat.

There isn't one standard-issue hospital chair across the whole country. At our maternity unit (now closed), they had lots of absolutely huge chairs that were clearly designed in the form of a one-person chair, but could very easily fit two adults in them - so plenty of expectant couples could both comfortably sit in one!

Our local hospital (which is also up a hill) has no parking for staff (as is common) unless they pay the full visitor rate a small fortune and the surrounding streets have parking restrictions for an hour twice a day timed to be mid shift to prevent hospital staff parking there. Yet there is very little public transport and what there is is unreliable.

Fortunately I've never experienced men, or other non pregnant women, in a maternity/women's hospital being sat down expecting heavily pregnant women to stand.

I'd like to think that, if I was heavily pregnant, I'd ask for a seat. It can be hard though.

I'm not sure how you'd enforce that! Would women who were in early stages of pregnancy be allowed or just past a certain month? How could you tell if a woman was post partum or just a woman without a baby who wanted an easy access parking spot? It'd be a nightmare!

Blimey! You'd think patients comfort would be priority!

Yet there is very little public transport and what there is is unreliable.

It seems to be widespread 'official' policy, especially at hospitals with staff working around the clock, that people should be 'encouraged' to leave their (tangibly existing) cars at home and instead travel into work using imaginary public transport.

YABVU.

OP I wonder if your hospital is the same as mine, layout sounds identical.
Main car park is downhill and means you have to walk up steps/slope then round the main building and up another hill to get to the maternity building. But people park in the maternity car park because to them walking downhill to the hospital is easier and it's a smaller car park. But for a pregnant woman that 10 minute uphill walk from main car park to maternity building is hell.

Easier solution to passes would be allocated pregnant woman spaces 😂 like child and baby spaces in a supermarket

Bit of paint and it will at the very least dissuade people who aren't pregnant from parking there

I do think pregnant /post partum women are more deserving than able-bodied visitors. But I guarantee you that many of them will be lend it to their friends and family who visit the hospital for any reason during the period that pass is working.