Can I drive home after C section if baby discharged today?

[Agrette0]

Hi, probably a daft question but I’m really not sure what to do and I don’t want to get in trouble.

I had my baby girl on Friday morning by C section, she came a bit early while we were up visiting family in Preston. We actually live in Great Barr (Birmingham area) and were only meant to be staying the weekend but my waters went suddenly on Thursday night.

Baby’s doing well and they’re saying we can be discharged later today. The problem is we’re quite far from home and I don’t really have anyone who can come get us. My partner can’t drive (we usually use my car) and my mum doesn’t drive either. Everyone’s saying wait a few days but we’re stuck in hospital and I just want to get baby home and settled.

I feel ok in myself apart from being a bit sore when I get up or twist, but I can move around fine and it’s an automatic car. It’s about a 2 hour drive mostly motorway (M6).

I know they say not to drive for 6 weeks after a section but is that like an actual rule or just what they recommend? I’d obviously take it slow and stop if needed.

Has anyone here driven sooner and been ok? I’m desperate to get home now and baby’s not sleeping well here at all.

Thanks x

And as a pp said - even if the dh had started to learn to drive 9 months ago the chances he would have passed his theory and got a date for his actual test in that time would be close to zero.

OP I understand you wanting to get home, that’s great you have found kind people to help. Remember to take regular rest breaks. Or if you are already home I hope you have settled in well and can now take the time to rest and get to grips with your early arrival. Congratulations

More embarrassing /sad that she had to be the one to chase and organise transport after just having a baby too. He sounds like a bit of a wet weekend.

Yes, any decent partner would be taking care of that for her, as she has just given birth to their child and gone through a major operation. What sort of a man does nothing and lets her have to think about all the homecoming arrangements, as well? She picked a turd to breed with. Any decent husband (or partner) would be making all these arrangements for her so she doesn't have to worry about a thing. It's literally his job as her partner to make these arrangements. Not her. What use will he ever be as a father even. I feel very, very deeply sad for the OP. she truly is all alone. And you just know he won't go to the hospital on the day and carry her bag and the child, while he walks her supportively out of the hospital with his other arm. You know she will be carrying the lot. Aside from the fact her partner is as deadbeat turd, you'd think she'd have a friend, neighbour, someone, anyone. Yet someone above said they had to wrangle a pushchair down a flight of stairs, all on their own, as well as their baby leaving the hospital. Even if that poster was a single mum, didn't that poster have any relative? Even a cousin? Even one friend? A neighbour? What has happened in society that women who have just given birth have to find their own way home on public transport from hospital and manage a baby, luggage and pushchair after having a major operation? Something really bad has gone tf seriously wrong.

OP has now organised transport, but it sounds like she had to do it, her 'partner' didn't arrange it by the sounds of it. And like I said we know he won't show up at the hospital to help her into the car and ride back home with her. I feel very, very deeply sad for her.

OP's actual problem is - her husband.

He didn't get round to learning to drive even though he's a grown man.

He didn't get round to using common sense to realise that asking her to drive soon after might not be wise or safe.

He didn't get round to planning how he and his wife and new baby were going to get home safely a few days after she'd undergone major abdominal surgery, even though he'd rather known she was pregnant.

And it appears he didn't get round to taking the initiative so his wife could rest and doing the thinking, phone calls, emails etc needed to arrange the trip home - and left it all to her?

OP - please be very wary. You may be going to have to parent him too at this demanding time in your lives.

Oh noooo, don't drive just after a c section. You could do so much damage to yourself.
Just have to take the hit and get a taxi. Much more important that you get home safe. And your partner should really learn to drive..

Of course you shouldn’t drive, get a taxi so you can get settled.

Could you make an appeal via the hospital or social media for a Good Samaritan to drive you back. You could pay for their return home by train. The hospital may have a list of volunteers who drive patients to hospital, my SIL used to do it for her local hospital. You would have to clear it with your insurance.

I did but like you I had no other choice. No your not insured and bad idea but... mine was a 30 min drive

Some people just don’t want to drive!
FFS!
They don’t need to have a medical problem not to drive!!
Some people just don’t need to be able to drive, I know of people who live in an area where they’ve got everything near by, so no reason to drive!

Well clearly in this situation it would be helpful if he could drive. Just because you have the skill you don't need to drive every day or have a car but it is useful in an emergency. Instead his poor wife has the stress of worrying about how she will get home or is even considering driving herself!

Fair enough but he didn’t even have the decency to arrange transport after she’d just come out of hospital. It was left to her!

At the time of posting this thread the OP wasn’t even sure if they were going to be discharged

Well that's plain laziness and irresponsibility if you're a father. That's it. Pure and simple. Sometimes we have to do things whether we want to or not. Getting a job, paying taxes, learning to drive. It's all the same. Though I've never come across a male that didn't want to drive, I find it very odd and it would be emasculating imo and a major ick and turnoff. What a pathetic excuse for a man.

She knew she would be discharged sooner or later, FFS! She wasn't going to be living in the hospital, was she? She is going to have to leave the hospital some day! So that's why she was making plans. Because that deadbeat thing she bred with wasn't going to lift a finger.

😱😱🤣🤣🤣🤣

Blimey, even being a passenger 2 days post section was agony, let alone being a driver moving legs to accelerate and break etc, I don't think it would be doable

Just maybe, he was waiting for a specific date and then he was going to arrange transport to get her home!!

Sure.... 😱😱🤣🤣🤣🤣

What made you assume that? Op did it herself

Do you get a specific date for discharge? My experience is drs come round and say you can go home (or you need to go to the hospital pharmacy for medication) and then you are pretty much expected to leave within an hour or so. Certainly no number of days notice so ops P absolutely should have been looking into various options of getting his partner and premature baby home. Maybe he was and op hasn’t relayed that, maybe baby was sleeping so she decided to go on mumsnet and see if anyone had any good ideas which is absolutely ok. Or maybe her P is a wet drip who left it all to her.

6 weeks is an urban myth

you are perfectly fine to drive so long as you can carry out an emergency stop

i had a crash c section with twins and was driving within the week

When I called my insurance to check, they told me 6 weeks or signed off by a GP to drive earlier