Most comfortable position to be in when travelling in the car at high speed to hospital

[MoshiMoshi]

... I should add when in active labour! My problem is always that after a relaxing and calm labour at home, we then have to dash to hospital whizzing through London to get to hospital to deliver the baby. Obviously, this undoes all of the good work done up to then and I find it distinctly uncomfortable positioning myself in the car. Does anyone have any tips for good positions in the car in this situation?

Thanks for any responses.

Thank you for all your input. It is really useful getting feedback so that I can visualise the scenario beforehand which will, hopefully, make it less fraught and therefore smoother when the time comes!

The hospital we are with won't do a homebirth where I am living so it is too late to elect for that option unfortunately. I chose it as it was where I had my three other kids and thought it best to stick with the same place for convenience. We did use to live 5 minutes from it but are probably now more lke 15 in good traffic.

Could I change at this last minute? Even if I could, I am not sure DH would be happy which is important to me as I wouldn't want him to be at all nervous and another (perhaps more practical) reason is that we have just had the builders move in with us so, depending on what time of day it is, a homebirth may not actually be the most relaxing set up after all!

On reflection, it is probably best to stick with the original plan but to be as well prepared as possible. My babysitter is my sister who lives 2 hours away so I do have neighbours who can jump in at a momment's notice if we need to disappear quickly. The other issue is that if it is during office hours, DH is at least an hour away which means I have to get myself to hospital and him to meet me there. So the black cab option is a good one to have as a back-up, especially as I can lay on the back seat/moo like a cow on all fours on the floor of the passenger area .

Phew. Tires me out just thinking about it all!

why won;t they do a homebirth?

it is not too late to change

i really think you are putting too much on what is better for your DH, when a homebirth would cut out a lot of the stress

if you stick with a hospital birth, i would go to teh hospital at the first twinge, and potter around there, if your waters break, i woudl consider an ambulance as you might find baby follows very qucikly afterwards

jojay - GOOD POINT RE CLEARING THE BACK SEAT! Will try remember to do that when I get the first signs it is proper labour.

LLisgtaA - I have moved too far from the hospital for them to send a midwife out for a homebirth apparently.

DO NOT DO WHAT I DID:

Fit car seat to the car, behind passenger seat before going into labour, thus meaning that I couldnt get into the back on all fours or recline the front seat.

Thus mean I was facing backwards in the passenger seat, which in hindsight was ridiculous as I suffer from the worst montion sickness known to man.... I threw up the chilli that I had for tea 3 hours earlier all over the back seat, then was in labour for 14 hours on one of the hottest days of the year, while the car sat outside... It took dp a day to scrub it clean, and literally months to get rid of the smell

hmmm..... i would question that with them , or move to a hospital that will send a MW to your home

far better to have planned for it, than have paramedics delvier you or deliver on the way

Agree potter around hospital and wouldn't spend too much time worrying about DH.

I was on my knees facing the back of the car, in the passenger seat (really couldn't sit down!

Sit managed to tell dh off for driving too fast though!

dittto kneeling on front passenger seat facing the rear biting the head rest!