Taxi to hospital?

[AdelaMia]

Hi,
If you don't have a car and no-one who could drive you, I assume you get a taxi to the hospital? Could anyone share their experiences with this. Is it not super stressful getting the timing right for when to go to hospital, and then you might be waiting a while for the taxi, and have to endure a taxi ride while in advanced labour (aren't you meant to go in when you have three contractions a minute?!)?
Does it end up actually stopping your labour because of the stress/ not feeling quite safe?
Tia! x

It is a bit stressful to be honest. First time around I got a taxi to the birth centre at 7cm dilated and very much in pain and the second time around there were no taxis or Ubers availability so we asked a neighbour to drive us. Just as well as I was 9 cm!

Unfortunately if you don't have a car there aren't many alternatives. Are you near to the hospital? Have you got friends or relatives you could call on?

I got a ten minute taxi in Labour - amazingly I didn’t have a contraction whilst in the car, and one came on just as I got out. It was absolutely fine. I waited a few mins outside before it arrived and it was fine!

Oh I was 6cm when I arrived

If I were you, I'd get on a local fb group and ask if there would be anyone willing to be on call and drive you.
I bet there are lovely grandmother types around who would be happy to, and it would be a nicer journey than a taxi!

Hospital is about a 15 min drive away. I have one friend nearby with a car but she has three DC herself, including a baby, and so I really don't feel I could ask her, especially at whatever time of night it might be.

I got a taxi in my second pregnancy. It was fine! Obviously the taxi ride while having contractions wasn't fun.

I lived in a city and it was about 3 in the morning, so taxi arrived quite quickly. First labours are usually quite long so you're unlikely to be in a rush.

I took a taxi. Friend flagged one down while I stood back! Contractions were horrid, driver didn’t help with the door etc and I crawled out. Funniest thing was the driver was completely unreactive about a woman in advanced labour in the back of his cab!

That's good to hear that it can be okay, even if horrid for that time frame. Did you feel safe enough in the taxi or did you freak out at having contractions next to a random taxi driver? It's my second rather than first so I do worry about getting the timing wrong, and what kind of mind space I might be in in that taxi.

A taxi will be fine, and tbh when you're in labour you wont care if you fly by pigeon to the hospital, your surroundings are completely irrelevant you just want to get there!

Maybe flying by pigeon is an option I hadn't yet considered! The poor pigeon though!

In all seriousness, thank you @BeautyAndTheBump1 - this is really reassuring to me to hear.

I’m going to get flamed for this, but don’t people ring ambulances in this situation?

Wonder if a home birth would be easier for you maybe?

I used taxis for both of mine. No problems at all. Both drivers were kind and wished us luck. It's pretty normal where I am to get a taxi, as most hospitals don't have much in the way of parking and lots of people don't have cars / drive.

Home birth would be lovely but not an option sadly.

@LunaNorth See that's why I'm wondering - in what kind of labour situation do you call an ambulance versus a taxi? Surely if you were at home until then it's impossible to know how far along you are and how suddenly baby might come. I wouldn't want to waste an ambulance but equally I think of nicer things to happen in life than to give birth in a taxi.

I've done it twice. First time I think I did go in a bit too early, and being a bit worried about leaving it too late to call the taxi probably contributed to that. Second time, I had a list of people happy to be called if needed, and the fact that I had that list meant that they weren't needed, iyswim.

DH was with me both times and sorted ringing the taxi and paying etc. Taxi drivers were great. Took incopads to sit on (again for my own peace of mind more than anything else - I've bled on a taxi getting to A&E to get stitched up after being knocked off my bike, and didn't want to repeat that!).

Thank you @Doveyouknow, that's really reassuring to hear.

Ah yes that makes complete sense @Spindelina, thank you for sharing this perspective!

We got a taxi to a north London hospital as parking is atrocious. My waters had broken but contractions weren't painful, it was a 10 min journey and I was quite excited. Nothing negative to report, good luck xxx

PS. know someone who ended up getting an ambulance, as they left it too late to call a taxi. They had a very rapid labour and were unable to walk downstairs from their top floor flat.

I got a 10 - 15 minute taxi and it was fine, the taxi driver knew which entrance to drop us off at and was absolutely lovely. DH was with me to carry bags and I sat on a towel just in case my waters broke!

Thank you, all! This is all incredibly reassuring to hear! I feel much less worried now than I did - thank you.

Specifically on the question of when to call a taxi vs when to call an ambulance... it's very nearly the same question as when do you get your DH (/mum/whoever) to drive you. Either way, you don't want to go in too early or too late. Ambulance should never be plan A.

Differences that made it more stressful from my POV were:

• what if there are no taxis available and I need to wait too long? That's what my list of people happy to be called was for.
• don't want to make a mess of a stranger's vehicle. Take towels, incopads, whatever
• contractions in front of a taxi driver. This, you have to get over. My experience was that they were great (DH tells me one of them tried to refuse payment!). TBH you won't really care.
• not easily reversed. If you're in a private car, it's easy enough to change your mind half way. Or to go back home if you arrive too early. If you've gone in a taxi with a car seat and all the baby stuff as well as your bag, and you're going to need to pay for more taxis, that's trickier. I think this was behind my stress at the timing.

And just another word of caution:
Second time around, I gave birth on Friday and stayed overnight. The newborn checks didn't get done before I went home on Saturday. I got a phone call on Sunday telling me that they didn't have anyone who could come out to me, so I needed to go back to the hospital. I only had cash for one way, and DH stayed at home with DD. So that was a fun afternoon 48h post partum traipsing round the hospital with DS in a car seat looking for cash and a taxi home. I'd have asked for the checks done before we were discharged if I'd known.

I got a taxi alone when in labour with DS2 at around 6am, because DP was staying at home with DS1 until nursery opened at 8am and then coming to join me. I was having reasonably frequent contractions but they stopped for the entire 15 minute journey until we pulled up in the car park outside where I had a really big one - maybe nature knew I had arrived safely? Ds2 was born at 6.32 am, well before DP could get there, so it was a close call for that taxi driver but I had no idea as we travelled that DS2 was only about 20 minutes from being born! It was fine and I sat on a towel and even managed small talk...

I live in London and it’s completely the norm to get taxis to hospital - I hardly know anyone with a car. I’ve done it twice now and was very straightforward - I called one at the time I would have if I’d had my own car. I took some absorbent disposable mats with me to sit on in case my waters broke but they didn’t either time. Journey was 25 mins.