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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:
LanguageAsAFlower · 07/08/2018 15:21

Oh second the Tens machine advice

hairypaws · 07/08/2018 15:22

40 minutes which was awful as I was crowning and pushing, was terrified. He arrived 10 minutes after arriving at hospital.

PortiaCastis · 07/08/2018 15:29

45mins in an ambulance but didn't get into the hospital on time so dd was born in the a&e ambulance bay outside the hospital and the midwife came out to me but she was too late as dd was born about 5mins before, really grateful to the paramedic who delivered her

Lightsong · 07/08/2018 16:16

About 20 minutes but it felt a lot longer at the time. I was 6cm when I arrived.

Sandstormbrewing · 07/08/2018 22:54

10 minutes. Had 3 contractions in the car. Felt like forever. Couldn't face going home even though I was only 2cm so say in the hospital cafe!

WhyBird2k · 08/08/2018 06:42

10 minutes first time round, 4cm dilated when I got to hospital and DD born 7 hours later.

This time round the above hospital has closed and my journey will be more like an hour. Trying to imagine staying calm in the car. Parking situation is renowned for being awful.

TillyTheTiger · 08/08/2018 06:45

15 minutes, but I had to do it three times because it took me over 24 hours to go from 3cm to 7cm so they kept sending me home. There were loads of speed bumps on the route. That was a fun day.

YeTalkShiteHen · 08/08/2018 06:48

DS1 - 20 minutes with a street full of bloody speed bumps!

DD - 4 minutes which was handy because she was born 8 minutes after I got out of the car at the door of the hospital!

DS2 - 4 minutes again, but he wasn’t born for another 6 hours because my labour kept slowing Angry

blinkineckmum · 08/08/2018 07:22

10 mins and I could not have coped with any longer (each of the 3 times).

lapenguin · 08/08/2018 07:42

Ten minutes, my waters had broken but no contractions.
If we still live here next time then it'll be half an hour in either direction!

olderthanyouthink · 08/08/2018 07:56

Why do I read things like this? Slightly freaking myself out that baby will come quickly and I won't get there in time or that I'll get sent home a few times (racking up a huge taxi fare debt).

I'm 30-40 mins from my hospital and 20 mins from the nearest ( both in same direction). It's 10-15 mins from work to my hospital. But no car so add time for getting a taxi please baby don't come at 3AM when there are none

DrMadelineMaxwell · 08/08/2018 18:53

I got stuck in a traffic jam with no way of pulling over once by realised that I was having contractions. I nearly left my seat with each one and left hand prints in the steering wheel! Then I could only park in the furthest car park space and the walk back into the hospital was NOT fun.

Luckily dd1 took ages to arrive, so NOT that dramatic.

SiolGhoraidh · 09/08/2018 13:51

It's 45 minutes to my hospital, which is the nearest. Am really hoping bump does not choose to arrive at rush hour, otherwise it's more like an hour and a half. Apparently this hospital is notorious for trying to send you home again too :(

loveshinealight · 12/08/2018 20:40

I drove the 20 min journey.. not a bother! 😂

DeadDoorpost · 20/08/2018 02:43

40 mins. Country roads. Arrived 9cm dilated, baby born within the hour. 1st baby born in the new maternity suite too. Wouldn't have happened had I gone to the maternity unit 5 min drive from me but they didn't think I was far along enough and another woman was in there already ..

BexusSugarush · 22/08/2018 08:53

We were only about a 10 minute drive from our maternity unit but on the day of labour we drove there and back 4 times before finally being admitted; each time they told me I wasn't dilated enough/baby was in the wrong position so we had to go home again.

Sorry if anything I say next has already been said by others in this thread:

Based on the fact labour can be so unpredictable and even stop and start, I'd recommend speaking to your midwife, seeing if there's anywhere closer you can go to give birth, but also speak to her about your travel worries. My suggestion would be as soon as you think you're in labour, get going to the hospital and when you get there, TELL them how far away you live and your worries about the time it takes to get there. Labour can progress very quickly in some cases, and they'll need to take your travel time into account.

LooksLikeImStuckHere · 22/08/2018 08:56

DC1 - 45 minutes, with a lot of speed bumps. It was utterly awful.

DC2 - 20 mins and a total breeze but I wasn’t as far along.

GreenMeerkat · 22/08/2018 08:57

Mine was 20 minutes over speed bumps.

Grim!

LooksLikeImStuckHere · 22/08/2018 08:58

Urgh, yes what ^^ Bexus said. I refused to go home with DC1 but they did want me to. I would have just sat in the car if they’d absolutely insisted.

Chocolateismyvice · 22/08/2018 09:08

I gave birth in he MLU which is about 15 minutes away, but it was 4am so even quieter than normal. The other main hospital with obstetricians etc is 20 in good traffic but could be over an over in rush hour as it's right on the other side of the city through the town centre, with about 14 sets of traffic lights from my house to there. I had a quick labour so lucky to get to the MLU as it's mostly motorway.

fluffyblanket17 · 22/08/2018 09:31

Hospital is about 10-15 minutes away from me. With my second there was one route to the hospital closed because of an accident, and the other route was all backed up with the extra traffic, made worse because of a football game, and 4 days before Xmas, my water had broke and was bright green so my dad just drove straight past all the traffic with his hazards on 🙈 third baby my mum drove, I was asking her to pull over on the way she wouldn't I had her 10 minutes after arriving at hospital, luckily was early hours so didn't get caught in any traffic or anything.

needtogiveitablow · 22/08/2018 09:36

10 minutes. Was 3cm on arrival and whilst she was sorting some pain relief before planning to send me home DD was born (25mins after arrival)! It was a good job I went when I did or she would have appeared on the side of the A1!

HopeAndJoy16 · 22/08/2018 09:38

10 mins. Had to do the journey twice within an hour... sent home not in established labour. That journey was bad enough. Srom'ed within half an hour of getting home (thick mec) so back we went. I was in AGONY and we got stuck behind a fucking bus in rush hour. By the time i got to hospital i was fully dilated!

QuietNinjaTardis · 22/08/2018 09:41

We did a 45 min in 15 mins at 3am. Got there at 3.15am and I’d given birth by 4.02am

QuietNinjaTardis · 22/08/2018 09:42

*45 min journey (in traffic) in 15 mins