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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

Original poster

How long was your car journey whilst in Labour?

56 replies

chargedproton · 06/08/2018 15:47

I have been staying at my mums whilst our house has been refurbished.
Therefore my car journey to my hospital will be about one hour when I go into labour. Is this unreasonable?

OP posts:
annlee3817 · 06/08/2018 17:40

It's difficult to say as it depends on your labour, how quick or how slow it is. Also, if you drove all the way to the hospital to then be told you're 2cm dilated and sent home again that wouldn't ideal at all. Mine was a 10-15 minute journey, and I struggled with that, quick labour though.

nomorespaghetti · 06/08/2018 17:45

Mine was 15 min, and absolutely horrendous, but when i arrived i was 8cm dilated and very dehydrated from vomiting, so that didn't help! We also had a very small car at the time and it was very uncomfortable. As annlee says, totally depends on the labour, which unfortunately you can't predict!

MeadowHay · 06/08/2018 18:03

Mine was about 10 minutes in a taxi and the MLU midwife told me before I went in that she didn't think it sounded like I was in active labour and may be sent home. I was only 3cm when I got there around 10.30pm at night but had been having contractions since 4am in the morning and by the time I got to the MLU the pain did not feel manageable for me at all. They let me stay there in the end even though I wasn't in active labour. Nobody offered me any pain relief because of that and I wasn't examined again for around 6 hours by which time I was yelling in pain and was 8cm. I can't imagine having had to travel like that Shock. But maybe I am just a wimp!

Slatternsdelight · 06/08/2018 18:09

Assuming you've got another hospital closer though? It's actually possible for you to turn up at any hospital (that has maternity services obviously) to give birth in if needs must-if you're in established labour they won't turn you away

AmabelleOnabike · 06/08/2018 18:11

About 80 minutes. It was hellish but the nearest hospital.

Xmasbaby11 · 06/08/2018 18:13

I think 10 mins max but was extremely uncomfortable. My waters had broken and I had to sit on a couple of towels, plus every bump in the road was agony. But you do realise hospitals often send you home? We were sent home that night and had to return the next morning. My waters broke at 5pm Friday but didn't deliver until midnight on Saturday.

I wouldn't want to be an hour away.

Slatternsdelight · 06/08/2018 18:14

@AmabelleOnabike where on earth do you live?!! Bloody hell-solidarity!

EmmaJR1 · 06/08/2018 18:16

50 mins travel time - 36 minutes after arriving baby was born! I wasn't even in established labour when I left the house so that was a shock! 😂

Mammaof · 06/08/2018 18:16

40/50 mins nearest maternity hospital. It was OK, I kept thinking just get to certain points in the road until I got there made the journey quicker. Xx

28holid · 06/08/2018 18:17

Therefore my car journey to my hospital will be about one hour when I go into labour

Can you not just go to the closest mat unit?

Peanut91 · 06/08/2018 18:19

Hospital is about 0.3miles away. Takes just as long to drive there and find a space than it does just to walk there!

Gumbo · 06/08/2018 18:19

Half an hour of country roads. It was snowing, so took a fair bit longer than that not helped by DH suddenly deciding that he needed to stop off at the shop near the hospital to buy fags, while I laboured alone in the car
By the time I arrived I was 5cm dilated.

DramaAlpaca · 06/08/2018 18:19

About 10 minutes with DC1& that was uncomfortable enough. I think it was 20 minutes for DC2. I had DC3 at home, I don't like being in the car in labour.

On holiday in the West of Ireland when I was expecting DC3 I met a woman living in a remote area who was due the same time as me. She told me she was two hours' drive from the hospital, which seemed a very long way to me. I hope she got on OK when her time came.

Chinnyreckoning · 06/08/2018 18:21

An hour... tens machine was my saviour. That and playing biffy clyro at full volume on my ipod. Labour went from nothing to regular 3 min apart contractions and I didn't want to scare dd who was in the back as we didn't have time to wait for someone to take her. Dc arrived abput 1 hour after arriving at hospital.

elmo1980 · 06/08/2018 18:23

It's normally an hour but at 3am it took us 40mins - it was agony. I recommend telling the labour ward how far you have to travel when the time comes though ours were really helpful by timing my contractions over the phone then saying ok better come in bearing in mind how far you are away etc.

AndNoneForGretchenWieners · 06/08/2018 18:23

Just under 10 minutes. I don't remember the journey there though, I just remember phoning my mum to tell her I was in labour and needed her to take me to hospital, but telling her to finish watching Coronation Street first...

YouCanCallMeNancy · 06/08/2018 18:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

endofthelinefinally · 06/08/2018 18:28

45 minutes in traffic.
I delivered 1 hour after arrival.
The next one I called an ambulance. They arrived in 10 minutes. It took 15 minutes to get to hospital and I delivered 10 minutes after arrival.

Stellarbella · 07/08/2018 07:49

Mine is 3 miles away, 20 mins in the car on a good day, but it’s taken me 2 hours in rush hour before. Fingers crossed for a baby that comes in the middle of the night!

TheBiscuitStrikesBack · 07/08/2018 07:54

Should have taken half an hour but we got stuck in traffic going over the Kingston bridge through Glasgow and it took closer to an hour. I was close to getting out on the motorway!

silkpyjamasallday · 07/08/2018 07:56

About ten minutes for me. Which was good as I was expecting to be sent back home, because I was told on the phone that if I could still talk it wasn’t time to come into hospital yet. I was 8cm dilated as it turned out so it was a good thing we’d ignored their advice.

Every labour is different though OP, my journey wasn’t too bad as it was short, I managed without pain relief for the vast majority of my labour as I could keep moving, so for me an hour in a car would have been horrendous. My labour was about 19 hours on total, but one friend had her first baby out in the world after only 3 hours of labour total, I was just pushing for that long!

tabulahrasa · 07/08/2018 08:01

75 miles... so coming up for 2 hours, it wasn’t the closest hospital but it was the closest one with obstetricians and paediatricians so the one you were booked into for first deliveries or ones they anticipated not being completely midwife led.

UbercornsGoggles · 07/08/2018 08:22

55 minutes outside rush hour. It caused us some stress/worry but in the end it was fine - slow first labour. Plus there was a midwife-led unit closer if things had progressed fast.

DrMadelineMaxwell · 07/08/2018 08:27

30 mins.
With dd1 I drive myself in. Not something I'd recommend tbf. But I had an antenatal apt to get to and was a bit naive that I was in full blown Labour.

Dh drove me in with dd2. Much better.

LanguageAsAFlower · 07/08/2018 15:20

An hour! But they kept sending me home. 3 times I did that journey!

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