To ask when you stopped driving in pregnancy?

[drivingquestion]

Name change as asked in my due date groups under real name!

When did you stop driving in pregnancy? I’m 5ft nothing with short legs and finding at nearly 32 weeks that it’s harder to fit behind the steering wheel. I have adjusted my seat and the steering wheel as much as possible. I can’t lower the seat anymore or move further back as I wouldn’t be able to see or reach the pedals.

Attached pic - am I still ok for now? I have about an inch between my bump and the steering wheel. I’m concerned about whether it is safe or if I need to hang up my car keys for a while!

Thanks x

I hated driving when heavily pregnant, I'm short and had big babies so my bump was against the wheel for the last month or two. I kept driving to work because I had to but once I was on maternity leave I effectively stopped driving (didn't announce it to the world though so nobody who knows me would say 'Oh, Janina stopped driving when pregnant'). And I never understood how I was suppose to have the belt under my bump, there's not a gap. Cars are not designed for women, and particularly not short pregnant women, it's a known safety issue. I think far more women would stop driving if they could but how else are you suppose to get to work?

I think @drivingquestion that because you have a clear gap you're as OK as you can be but if you are uncomfortable driving minimise it as much as possible.

I am also short, 5’2 & didn’t drive for the last week or so when carrying twins. They were born at 38 weeks & my bump was touching the steering wheel at 37. Wasn’t an issue as DH was on hand or I walked with DS in the buggy. It was 19 yrs ago and my car wasn’t as ‘adjustable ‘ as now! I’ve never known anyone to give up driving completely in pregnancy unless they really don’t fit!

I get why you're asking OP, you're 5'! I'm taller than you, so it wouldn't occur to me that being quite small would have an impact.
If you don't feel safe, don't drive. It's entirely up to you.

(I drove myself in labour, had to stop for contractions! Baby came v quickly!)

I drove myself to my induction at 40 weeks & I was fine. I'm not a great passenger so I always drove myself when I was pregnant.

I didn't, apart from when I was in labour...my dh drove me to the hospital and home again after.

I was overdue and still driving around.

I drove to have lunch out then drove home and went in to labour an hour later. 😂

I was still working up to 2 days before giving birth to a 10lb 4oz baby...driving 90 minutes to work and back every day. 5'1 with short legs and the size of a house! Honestly...my bump was so enormous, I thought I was going to give birth to an elephant 🐘

You do you though, there's no right or wrong 🤷‍♀️

When I couldn't turn to look over my shoulder to reverse into my parking spot. We lived at the bottom of a Cul De Sac so I had to either reverse in or out.

I'm 5ft 1, I never stopped. Couldn't anyway as I had to drive to work.

I never stopped. Drove myself in early labour to the hospital. Don't know anyone who stopped driving.

36-37 weeks. 5'2", with a huge off the scale bump (at the 38 week MW appointment, the fundus was plotted off the graph near the title at 45cm)

My bump had been rubbing the steering wheel for weeks but the final straw was the heavy snow that settled for a month. The risk of accidents became far too high, and with SPD and barely able to stand up under my own weight, there was no way I could safely shovel any packed snow/ ice from under the wheels if the car got stuck. The risks outweighed the benefits.

It was game over on leaving the house independently as regardless of the country becoming a giant super-sized ice rink, I hadn't been able to walk as far as the nearest bus stop since about 34 weeks.

By 39 weeks I couldn't use the sofa unless there was someone in the house to help haul me off.

I was in maternity clothes from 8 weeks despite rapidly losing weight from nausea (I suspect a fair part of that ¾ stone was muscle) and outgrew most of my maternity clothes at the end of the second trimester. Being a size 8 with 45" waist is not fun and I'd been driving as stretched and tilted back as I could be from about 5 months. 5 months was also when I began to have difficulties closing toilet cubicles and had to start using disabled toilets if the design was snug. It wasn't long before the grab rails became useful for hauling myself up and down anyway.

Cars are not well-designed for short women anyway. There's been many times in a showroom that I've adjusted the seat and said no immediately because the ergonomics are all wrong with pedal depths and angles, restricted views, seat base against the calves, lumber support digging in your back, seat belts pulling and rubbing the neck etc. Add in a spare human, and a swimming pool of amniotic fluid and it's no wonder that we cease to fit.

I was driving back from somewhere with DC1 when contractions started with DC2. That was quite distracting.

I changed my car when I got pregnant so fitting behind the wheel wasn't a problem I went from a Hyundai i30 to a Iona , but I did have to drive a bayon for a day around 36/37 weeks pregnant and oh man barley fit behind the wheel and getting in and out was a struggle . I was signed off work but that point so wasn't really driving a whole lot anyway

I didn't stop driving at all but remember driving on a rural road one frosty morning and doing a complete 360 degree spin on a dangerous bend.
My BP is always low and the midwife commented on how it was normal for the first time. I'm normally an advocate of carrying on as normal but I look back on horror at the implications of what could have happened that day.

Bet your parking charges weren't fun lol

Never did. I even drove the car to get back home when I was in labour as I was having a home birth

I'm not sure driving yourself IN labour is something to brag about. Bloody dangerous! But then again I went straight to contractions 2/3 min apart that were causing my legs to spasm. No way I could have focused on driving during a contraction or not driven into something during a spasm.

I'm not sure driving yourself IN labour is something to brag about. Bloody dangerous!

Really depends. For one of mine I rang DH and told him to come home from work (no rush), drove kids to childminder as was prearranged when I went into labour, then drove home to wait for DH. However for all of mine I just had water fully break, felt sick, throwing up, had equivalent of period pain but nothing else. Nadda. Ever. Process had to be assisted to progress every single time. Needless to say, I told DH not to rush home from work, and he didn’t, and my driving was only ‘impaired’ by pulling over every so often to throw up, which wasn’t an issue as a suburban roads, not like I had to use a motorway. The only issue was, in preparation, had ‘proofed’ the passenger seat with waterproof cover and towels as the amniotic fluid just keeps coming even after waters fully broken (I was well experienced with it at that point) and I had to swap it all to drivers seat😁. Then swap it all back replacing the saturated towels when he drove to hospital.

Never stopped. I'm 5'1.

Never. Partner doesn't drive so it would have been a long walk !

I think probably around 35-37 weeks, when my bump touched the wheel. Like you I'm shorter, and my bump was entirely forward, so I couldn't drive safely with the seat back any further but I felt uncomfortable/vulnerable with it touching.

We did only have the one car which my husband used for work and I had a bus pass for work, with a regular local service, so it didn't affect me too much.