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

[M2T]

Neither DH nor I drive.... although DH is starting lessons next week I doubt we will be able to afford a car before the baby is due(7months time).

Our local hospital has closed it's antenatal and postnatal wards and we now have to travel about 18 miles to the nearest hospital. My parents stay further away so can't take me and DH's parents are 400 miles away. 2 of my friends drive and live relatively close (within 5 miles). But surely I don't have to rely on friends to take me to hospital when I go into labour.

I don't want to have to phone an ambulance as the MW told me that it could take 2 hours or more to get to me as I would be lowest priority! Even if I'm pushing?????? My 1st labour was 7hrs even though ds was posterior presentation so I think that is quite quick. I am so frightened about how I will get to the hospital that I'm considering a homebirth...... even though I would rather be at hospital.

Are there no provisions put in place for those who do not have there own transport?

Any views would be great. Is the safety of me and my child really that unimportant that an ambulance would take 2 hours???

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.

Thanks Norma - I have got friends who would love to help, but the only 2 that live nearby live a bit of a party lifestyle and you are hard pushed to find them home and sober! (those were the days eh?)

I thought you had access to entonox (gas & air) for a homebirth anyway??!! Don't the midwives have a portable thingy? And I thought they could administer the syntometrin as well! Or am I sadly mistaken?
Another crap thing about our antenatal care is that you never see the same MW twice. We are assigned a team of 10 midwives! I would love to be close the MW that delivers this baby.... just doesn't seem possible here.

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?

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

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.

lol Zebra - Some of them should try it themselves!

No... I was just responding to Normas post about having an ambulance there. I thought she was saying that its better to have an ambulance there to give gas & air and syntometrin. Perhaps I misunderstood.

I didn't realise they gave diamorphine at homebirths too! WOW.... but I had that last time and didn't like it at all. Will try without this time.

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.

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.

I suppose that's true about support in hospital for BF'ing. I didn't know about MN when I had DS. HOW DID I EVER MANAGE!

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.

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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.