If you have to go to hospital in an ambulance and have to take a dc with you, what happens to the dc?

[MuffinMclay]

Will someone look after them for an hour or so until a relative can get there to remove them? I have visions of social sevices whisking ds (21 months) away, kicking and screaming.

I know it is worst case scenario stuff, but I just want to prepare for all the possibilities. I asked a mw but she didn't know (a locum one attached to a different hospital to the one I'm giving birth in).

I am sure they will look after him for a while, I can't see them getting SS involved for the sake of an hour! You may find that he can even stay with you (with a nurse or whatever actually watching him) if that's what you wanted.

depends on age of dc, most hospitals have an on call person who will assess risk vs need.
Where are you muffin could a local mner help maybe?
I'd offer if you were nea rme at all

if you are in labour and can tell them that someone would be there in an hour, I'm sure there would be a spare student midwife or someone around to take care of them

watched a baby programme the other day, where a couple had no-one to look after their 2 year old DD, so the hospital said she could be with them for the labour.. when they mum was pushing, an auxilllary took their 2 year old to the other side of the room and distracted her .... so definitely worth discussing, i doubt SS have the time or resources to take away a child for a couple of hours

hang on, why would you need to go in an ambulance, are you talking about transfer in from a homebirth?

That depends though TMMJ, my last labour was 2 hours from waters breaking to him being born.

If it is even quicker this time, with how far we are from the hospital, I might not even make it!

And I have one DS at home, one at school, a DH who could be anything between 2 and 4 hours away, and absolutely no one at all to be able to call on to look after the DC's.

I must be mad wanting to go through all this again.....

I think if it's a worry you should try and find a parent at the school or a local childminder or someone who can do emergency care.

Where I live is about half an hour from the hospital, and DP is normally an hourish away from home, so to get to the hospital could take around an hour and a half depending on time of night/day/week.

We have spoken to a childminder that does school drops/pick-ups and she is willing to collect DD from school until someone (probably BIL) can pick her up, and have arranged for father-in-law to meet us at the hospital as soon as we arrive (He's retired so no problem there). I must admit I was bloody worried about where the DC's would go and who they would be with until I had this plan in place so I'd get it sorted and you'll be much calmer.

I'm kind of thinking of daytime scenarios. Dh doesn't have any overnight trips planned for the next few weeks, thank goodness.

I do have a couple of neighbours lined up for emergencies, but they are out and about for much of the day (part-time work, school runs, everyday life etc). I'm just thinking through what would happen if they are out, or if I went into labour out and about somewhere - (although I'm not going out that much at the moment).

Last time labour was only 5 hours, so it could all be very quick this time. Dh is 1.5 hours away at work. I don't know if I'd have the nerve to wait for him to get back before going to hospital. Suppose it depends on how quickly things get going. The hospital is anything from 15-45 minutes away, depending on the traffic.

I know I'm worrying about situations that probably don't need to be worried about. I was expecting a c-section or induction (pre-eclampsia symptoms for weeks, abated since resting more), so would have had some warning for arranging childcare etc, but now my mw thinks I'll get away with a normal birth and the spontaneity of it all has got me a bit worried (I do worry easily ).

I would ask someone to be on standby. When I called an ambulance to ds3 the paramedics took one look at ds1 (severely autistic & very excited to have an ambulance parked outside) and said 'we don't have to take him do we?'. They didn't - my mum was on the way- but I assumed that they meant he would have come as well if need be.

My DD had to go in an ambulance and they wouldn't let me take my 3 week old with me. My neighbour had to have him and my other son until my inlaws and husband got back.

What would they have done if your neighbour hadn't been around? Would they have waited with you until someone got there?

This is the kind of thing that worries me. I live in a small village with very few actual near neighbours, and I'm often the only one around in the day.

I've decided I will go into labour on a Saturday morning, as that will be so much easier.

Muffin
I should think the hospital will be able to tell you their policy. You can't be the first person to be in this situation.I wonder if in the case of the ambulance, it depends who is doing the pick up on the day?! I wonder if there is some no you could ring to sound them out (barring 999 itself).

I think you're right to give some thought to this - two recent friends - no 2 in 2 hrs (husband missed birth), another 'felt some twinges' baby born 45 min later!!