40 minute car journey to hospital - any tips for labouring on the move?

[lemoncurdcupcake]

Full term with baby #3. Last two were born at home. We used to live 10 minutes from the hospital/birth centre.

Hoping for a home birth again but we've moved to a more rural area with reduced midwife capacity so am mentally preparing myself that a hospital stay is more likely (esp with the school holidays!) Unfortunately this is a minimum 40 minutes journey along windy, pot hole filled country lanes.

The idea of sitting upright through what is likely to be several surges doesn't thrill me. 😭 I usually walk/keep upright throughout, or sometimes on all fours with a ball.

I've heard nothing but horror stories about labouring in a car and I'm feeling increasingly anxious about the possibility. Largely because of the discomfort and distance but also DH is fabulous when all is calm, not so much if I am visibly in pain or panicking. Then he tends to panic 🤦🏼‍♀️

Anyone have any tips, tricks or words of encouragement please? Is there anything I can do to prepare/make the car more manageable?

TENS machine.

Tens machine and contraction app just to distract you really. Just go at first hint of anything happening!! Good luck 🍀

Do your children have Tommie tippee, 360 cups or camal back water etc? One of them is not yours for the car ride as you cannot drink from anything that’s open like a metal water bottle.

Not sure about the safety of putting your seat back as far as it can go. I did when I was on my way to the hospital but looking back it might have been a bad choice.

Make site your aircon is gassed in your car.

To be honest in your situation I’d either be going for a private midwife to ensure you have a home birth, or scheduling a c section

My advice is go as soon as you feel the first twinge!

Our hospital was 40 minutes away and I ending giving birth in the passenger seat last month. Was very expensive to get the car professionally cleaned!!

Tens machine did nothing for me, but my advice would be to go earlier to the hospital rather than later. For DD2, i only had a 15min drive but as we are in London, theres always the risk that traffic turns that into a very long journey. As it went, contractions started before rush hour, were intense from the get go and she was born after a very short labour (1hr 15m). If the hospital hadn't been willing to accept me, my plan had been to wait in the cafe for a bit / keep walking around to try and speed things up to avoid having to make a long / traffic filled journey when contractions were already close together. But I was relaxed about a hospital birth, expecting a fairly fast birth based on DD1 and my mum's experiences, and not worried about slowing contractions etc. I appreciate not everyone feels the same way.

I had very similar journey length etc
i used a sleep eye mask, head forward on a pillow, legs wide open doubled as far over as I could. Car windows wide open. Deep hypnobreathing. It really did help.
I told dh not to speak to me and just to completely ignore me unless i spoke to him directly.

I was silent the whole journey as we also had dc1 in the car (no part of the plan!) so I didn’t want to panic them or dh. I was completely silent, baby was born 10 minutes after getting to the hospital. It was if my body knew I could finally relax as we had made it!

TENS machine for sure. I never really liked it anywhere else but it does help in the car.

Also since it's likely to be warmish if it's soon, go before you're desperate and do some walking around near the hospital before actually going up to the ward. I had an August baby during covid, so they wouldn't let DH in until I was in established labour so we did a couple of hours' walk circling the hospital in the evening cool!!

I knelt on the front seat facing backwards gripping the headrest as I was fully dilated very quickly. Luckily our hospital was a 5 minute drive as I gave birth as soon as I got on the bed.

Get someone to drive you of possible so your husband can focus on you,

This may not appeal at all, but also may not have been something you’ve thought about…women sometimes do request inductions for similar reasons.

Tens machine definitely and something soft to sit on! I remember each bump in the road being horrendous and my journey was only about 15 minutes.

What options has your new midwife given you? You must have a birth plan since you've moved?

@Arlanymor options in what way? She's been to the house, done the home birth assessment, then very plainly said that she wanted to manage my expectations that they don't achieve many due to staff shortages and if I go into the summer holidays that it'll be even less likely so we should hope for the hb but be packed and make sure the car has fuel and we have somewhere for the kids to be if (made it sound more like when rather than if) we need to go in. To which we said okay, have packed accordingly.

We know the route to the hospital, have the bags packed in case we're not at home etc etc etc. so either it works out and they come to me or I have to get to them by being in the car for 40 minutes, which brings us to me posting the thread!

No matter how much you want to move to find a more comfortable position, do not put your feet up on the dashboard in front of you.

(Obviously this applies when not in labour, but you’re more likely to be moving to different positions to try and not be sitting upright if you’re in labour)

Thanks for the responses.

I have a tens machine (loved it with #1, loathed it with #2) ready just in case it's helpful this time. Can see how it would be good for a journey! I mentioned going earlier to a medical friend when DH was away a few weeks ago and I thought there may be a possibility of me having to drive myself there, but she said they'd just send me home if I wasn't dilated enough. Wasn't sure if that means they didn't even want you wandering around the hospital grounds trying to keep things moving, so that's good to know.

The eye mask is a good shout thanks @Scaryspicer. I do tend to retreat into myself so blocking out external distractions with loops and a mask might be worth a go.

Would not have thought about a water bottle with a straw, thank you @WannabeMathematician ! We're way out of sippy cups (though heading back there again sooner rather than later 😅 ) but I can add a straw to my drinking bottle.

@itchyelbowsandswollenankles it makes sense now you've said it but the existence of private midwives has never occurred to me before!

Go in early, don’t let them send you back because you’re not dilated enough (from experience, this is where DH looks them in the eye and says a firm No).

And sit on a couple of folded up towels on the way in and make sure DH avoids the potholes.

@WhatAMarvelousTune the size I am right now that would be a miracle to manage!!!! 🤣

Don't put your feet up on the dash, I think it was a Chicago med episode or Greys Anatomy.....put the fear in me as I had done this on my 45 min drive to hospital, but fortunately wasnt comfortable

Def make sure youve a straw enabled water bottle, tens machine may help and is worth a shot. Don't wait til contractions are 5 mins apart, as soon as they appear regular get on the road.

I went in the back seat and wriggled around a lot even lying down at times. I had the seatbelt on but moved around as much as possible within it pulling my legs up to the side and lying sideways.

@SabrinaThwaite I'll get him practicing. We can both be complete people pleasers/pushovers who tend to do what we're told, so that comment will be in the back of my brain if we need to stand our ground 💪🏼

I got sent to walk around the supermarket (admittedly this was in Germany lol) as they said I wasnt travelling home. Ended up forcing my transactions as they kept going irregular.

My contractions would start at 2 mins apart and stay that way for as long as it took.

With DC2 it was snowing and 1 am and no way was DH taking me home again as there’d be no chance of getting back in if the snow lay.

perhaps google the local area around the hospital. 24 hour supermarkets, McDonald’s, kfc that are 24 hours, service stations etc that kind of thing, so that if you’re sent away you can stay a close drive or walk to the hospital and have somewhere to have a walk around or grab some food to kill time if you’re not comfortable staying at the hospital itself. Although I wouldn’t feel bad; they can send you away from the ward but they can’t make you leave the grounds etc.

Practice the journey a few times beforehand. I was horribly unprepared for my 40 minute journey, we’d only been to the hospital on public transport during pregnancy, and we’d already fitted the car seat in the back, so I had the legroom of a Ryanair flight. DP took the wrong exit off the motorway and seeing the GPS add 5 minutes to our journey time was the worst!