How far would you travel to your preferred birth place?

[Picahu]

Hi all,

I am currently 38 weeks (with my second) and need to make a final decision sharpish on my preferred place of birth.

My first was a different city and we were about 20/30 mins (traffic dependent) equidistance from the hospital / stand alone birth unit, so was fairly easy to make the decision to go to the stand alone birth unit.

This time we are in a different city and live fairly close to the hospital, about a 10 min drive, with the usual variables of traffic and parking. We went to visit the midwife unit at the hospital and it seemed okay and I settled because it was close. However, I have been reading bad reviews on the hospital and there are very high levels of c-section / intervention, which frankly scares the sh@* out of me adn gives me a lot of anxiety.

I was in labour for a long time in my previous birth and I asked the question afterwards that if I was in the hospital, would I have had to had medical intevention and the answer was 'probably yes'.

The closest stand alone birth unit is in the adjacent health board and is around a 22-35 min (google) drive from our home. The outcome from the inspection last year was wonderful and the chances of medical intervention drops down to almost nothing - I know this is my preference and would love to birth my baby here.

My question is, is it silly to go to the birth centre given the journey time is so much further?

My midwife kind of thinks it is, she is supportive of whatever however keeps reminding me that second babies can come alot quicker..

Help!

Thank you :)

Go to the 2nd hospital. It's not far.
Most people travel that or more to their nearest.

Your second option isn’t about what it took me to get to my closest hospital so I’d go with that without a worry.

Thank your stars you're not living in a more rural town. I'm 45 mins - 1.5hrs from our "local" hospital/midwife led unit, depending on traffic. TBF, my friend who lives even further out ended up having her second at home (unplanned), but a) she labours at the speed of light, and b) she is never in any hurry to get going/is so laid-back she is practically horizontal. So unless you had a very fast labour last time or plan to stay at home until you feel the baby crowning, the second unit sounds perfectly normal, or even helpfully close, distance to travel.

I live an hour from the hospital so 35 mins sounds fine to me. I'm sure you'll feel better to be in your preferred place.

You’ll be fine, that’s not far at all. Takes an hour and a half to get to our hospital, not ideal!

My wife and I are choosing to birth at home, this may be a solution for you?

25-35 mins is fine - for lots of people that is their closest hospital.

Spent 2hrs in labour in the car with DD1 to reach closest hospital (usually an hours, but there had been a crash...)

DD2 was born at home... but nearest hospital was 45mins. However that Unit was closed to new admissions when I went into labour so planned homeborth was very fortuitous. They were trying to find beds for several women in neighbouring counties!

Have you considered home birth? If you had a straightforward (if long) labour and birth last time, and you are currently considered low risk in this pregnancy it could be a great option. There is almost no difference between standalone units and home birth in terms of number of midwives supporting you, equipment, pain relief etc. plus you are at home which is lovely afterwards.

I moved house in between my two children being born and chose to have DC2 at the same hospital as DC1, despite having 2 hospitals closer. It was 40 mins away. But I wanted to go where I felt comfortable.