Childbirth with no car

[Al991]

Surely I am not the only person to attempt to have a baby with no car, but it feels a bit like I am.

I do not have close family nearby, or friends who would drop everything to drive me to the hospital in the middle of the night. So I’m sort of stuck thinking - what the heck do I do?

I was planning on taking a taxi, but now I read about how many times people get sent home and asked to come back and I’m thinking wow this is not going to work. This is my first baby so I don’t know first hand, but seems even if I’ve got contractions every couple of mins I could still be asked to go home. Then it might get to the stage a taxi won’t let me in because I’m obviously about to literally give birth.

Anyone done this and succeeded?

No car here, with our first we got an Uber when my waters broke, but I wasn’t having contractions yet, however they kept me in due to méconium in the waters. Having my second soon and a bit worried about this too. I guess if things get desperate there is always an ambulance. We’re about a 15 min drive from hospital.

I went in in a taxi both times. They didn't send me home. If they had, I'd have asked for the £30 it cost in taxi fares to get there. Talk it through with your midwife as they might want to book you for an induction or CS for various risk factors anyway, which means you'll have an appointment, and if you do go into labour spontaneously and go too early and get "sent home" just go for a walk around the hospital or go to the canteen and get something to eat while things ramp up. They can't literally mandate that you go back to your place of residence!
I do advise you to talk to the taxi company in advance of labour day and arrange a) a quote for how much to the hospital and b) to check what hours they operate to/from, for example mine with DC2 didn't operate between 2am and 7am so I wouldn't have been able to get a taxi during those times (if I was close to crowning I would have had to ring an ambulance as I was high risk, but we were very rural and it was unlikely to arrive in time anyway).

Our car broke down with DC1, so we walked (only a 10-15 min walk, although took far longer)
They were going to send me home, but when I explained that we'd walked in they found me a bed.

I didn't (unlucky or lucky) I had an awful pregnancy and was inpatient over a month before birth, then neonatal after. So going home was arranged during sociable hours with planning!

I did have to get the bus in though before admission 😬 I went white as a sheet and threw up on my lap 😅

I planned to get a taxi when I went into labour but as it turned out I needed to be induced so was able to book the taxi in advance. Took the car seat with me and kept it by the bed then got a taxi home with baby.

I got a taxi in for my first (checked out which taxi firms were ok with it beforehand, as some aren't), and although they tried to send me home, when it came to it I just couldn't face the idea of another taxi journey there and back again, so I stayed in. They did say "we can't actually make you leave", so I stayed (and had progressed to nearly active labour anyway!)

Got a taxi in with my second but got sent home as was only 1 cm apparantly. Laboured all day at home and i was in agony so went in again, but apparently only 2 and a half cm so they were gonna send me home again. I demanded pain relief and basically refused. Being at home was stressing me out as i couldnt relax knowing i needed to get into hospital.

Anyway, baby was out 2 hours later so good job i dug my heels in!

We didn't have a car with my first. I had relatives who would have took us but I didn't go in until about 10.30pm and they would have been almost going to bed at that time. Also I thought they might have sent me home and I hated the idea of relatives dithering around at ours overnight or being unable to sleep themselves and texting and calling loads overnight etc. So we just got a taxi, it was fine. A relative drove us home when we got discharged two days later.

I planned a home birth. We have a car but DH can't drive due to a medical condition so I just felt better planning to stay home. I know it's not for everyone though. For me, thinking about getting home afterwards was also a source of stress, not just getting there in labour.

My maternity hospital is in central London- I haven’t heard of anybody being driven in using their own car. Everybody takes a taxi that I know.

Our midwives have a list of taxi companies who are willing to drive women in labour.

People usually just walk around the local area if the hospital says they aren’t ready.

I took a taxi for both. With first it was fine, but for sending the sent me away as only 3cm dilated and said I want in Labour. Sent me home and then a few hours later I had to come back again and was in the taxi only 50 mins before the birth! I bloody was in Labour!! Anyway it was fine in the end, but could have done without the stress ( and if they had actually listened to me.)

I took my neighbour, no taxis were available (here you have ti book a week in advance!)

No car here - we live in London. I just called an uber. My waters had broken so i put 2 maternity pads in, laid my waterproof coat on the seat and put a maternity bed pad on top. We made it fine. I was admitted anyway due to high BP, but our plan if we were turned away was to go and get some food in the hospital canteen (24hrs) to start with and see if anything changed, before deciding whether to go home / come back again.

I took a taxi. Birth was very imminent but luckily my waters didnt break until just before ds2 was born (I sat on a towel). Driver didn't blink.

Car ownership isn't especially high in our city so I think it's a fairly routine fare with less chance of mess than your average Saturday night.

I planned home births as I don't drive or have a car and didn't want the stress of having to try and get to the hospital since we live nearly an hour's bus ride away. Ended up with an ambulance first time and I didn't go into labour with my 2nd so I just got the bus to the hospital to be induced.

I'm In London and don't have a car. I took a bus for DC1, Overground for DC2, and tube for DC3 (though elective c-section for her so not in labour). Different hospitals each time, which is why the mode of transport changed! It was all fine, quicker than a car. My waters have never broken naturally so wasn't worried about mess.

Central London here so no car - got taxi both times.

Actually for DD2 I was getting induced so DH and I got the bus to the hospital 😂

I'm about a 45 minute drive from the nearest maternity unit. I threatened to get the train when we were discussing it, but my husband vetoed that idea! We had a couple of friends who would have been willing to take us, but not knowing if it could be the middle of the night etc we also checked with our local taxi company, who were happy to do it and quoted us a price which they stuck to! As it turned out it was early in the morning, my waters broke and were an odd colour so I suspected meconium in the waters, hospital wanted me in straight away, we couldn't get hold of friends so we called the taxi. The poor driver looked a bit surprised/ alarmed as I don't think the cab office had told him it was a woman in labour, but he was fine, we had maternity mats etc to protect the seat, he drove really carefully bless him. Obviously because of the meconium they wanted to constantly monitor baby (which was a whole other pain in the bum!) and to deliver the baby within 24, hours, so no question of sending us away. In different circumstances we'd have stayed near the hospital, used the canteen etc, unless it really seemed like it would be days!

We don't have a car, I'd phoned taxi firms in advance to see if they were fine with it and they were providing I brought something waterproof for the seats! It's only a 10-15 min drive. My waters broke and continued to pour but my contractions didn't start, I was group B strep positive so had to go be induced, I wore a maternity pad and took waterproof pad to sit on. Partner had to keep getting the train to and from for the 3 days it took her to be born and discharged to care for our pets. We did get a lift home from family with baby

We had moved from London where my chosen hospital was 10 min walk away and neither of us even had driving licenses as we never had a need for a car. I took a taxi when I was in labour. Very lucky it was Friday night and plenty of taxi drivers were still working. I put a waterproof mat on the seat in case my waters leaked again. My contractions weren't that painful then so I'm pretty sure the driver had no idea I was in labour.

I've never been sent home after arriving at the hospital. With my first I was very young and rang an ambulance cause I didn't know what you were supposed to do! I was able to get a lift with my others but if not I'd have gotten a taxi. They can't send you home if you've got nowhere to go. With my twins I was supposed to be induced on the Wednesday but they had to postpone it til the next day, they didn't send me home though.