Am i being a bit daft about driving?

[sammyleh]

Hi ladies,

I'm 29 weeks tomorrow and definitely feel as though I've come into a new stage of my pregnancy. After being very active and easy going throughout the whole thing, I'm feeling shattered and anxious about things that don't normally bother me. Driving being one of them.

My commute to work is a 30 mins drive through mostly rural roads, however the road is busy so if something were to happen I know I'd be able to flag someone down for help or turn around and get home or to hospital quick enough without trouble. I don't have a big bump so no worries about rubbing on wheel and I'm confident in my driving ability. BUT I'm thinking its probably a good idea to start working from home next month which I'm probably going to do. the problem I'm having now is driving long distances alone. I've got family that live about an hour away and I'm always confident in driving to them (they live right out in the sticks) and there's very few house and places to stop en route. Today is the first time I've stopped and said 'I'm not going, its too far' and worried about what I'd do if anything were to happen. Instead, a family member is going to pick me up and drive :) which I'm much more comfortable about.

So I just wondered how everyone else felt about driving distances on their own and at what point they stopped, if at all. Just looking for a bit of reassurance that I'm not being overly careful at 7 months xx

I think you're probably being over cautious. I drove the 70mile round trip to work on my last day at 38+4, my only problem was that if I got caught in traffic i would have to stop en route for a wee. As long as you feel ok and can fit behind the wheel then I don't see why you can't keep driving. If you just want to work from home and can then fine, but i'd think the driving thing at your stage (unless there are other factors not in your OP) is a bit of an excuse to justify that.

I always get quite anxious in pregnancy, apparently it's quite normal. So I don't think it's particularly that you should be worried about driving, just that it's the thing that makes you anxious iyswim!
I got worried about crossing a busy road by my house, about certain people being in my house, my in laws were all round for the evening and I couldn't go in the lounge because my BIL who I'd known for 5 years was in there! Silly little things, I stayed at my moms one night and my DH had a couple of friends round and I had to throw away all the glasses they had used!

I did google it and it's very common so don't worry, if getting a lift etc makes you feel better then that's fine. It does go away btw!

Are you worried about going into labour in a country lane in the style of a tv show? I worried about my waters breaking when I was shopping or whatever but I think it was because I watched too much tv. I know hundreds of people who have had babies now and none of them went into labour whilst at sainsburys.

I didn't stop, I worked until 36 weeks and DD was born at 37. Working from home wasn't an option for me, I had a 90 minute commute to work and 90 minutes home again, sometimes my shift pattern meant I was making that trip late at night too but I had no choice.

If you have the choice and it makes you feel more comfortable then go for it, you need to do what makes you feel happy.

savoycabbage I think thats it! the idea of something like my waters breaking and I'm on my own down some random country lane nearly an hour from home... this is my first pregnancy and like a lot of women, i just don't know what to expect from one week to the next. Reading my OP back i feel like a douche because normally I'd be like 'whatever, I'll drive' but you just get over thinking things and then you imagine the worst case scenario. I think its probably made worse by the fact my DP is away this weekend :) I cant see why anything WOULD happen, my pregnancy so far has been completely trouble-free... touch wood!

You have a looooong way to go yet. Hundreds of babies are born every day and not many are born at the side of the road! not in real life anyway. By the end of my pregnancy I would have happily given birth at the side of the road rather than be pregnant another minute!

Very few labours begin with spontaneous breaking of waters, no idea what the stats are but I don't know anyone it's happened to.

Sorry for hi jacking! Just wanted to say sammyleh, you're due same day as me :) I am 29 weeks tomoro too due the 22nd October x

Notmyselfatall Woohoo! I have a due-date buddy hehe :)

It's absolutely normal to be anxious, but I'm sure you will still be perfectly safe to drive for many weeks yet. Almost all first-time labours start slowly, so even if you were out in the car you'd have plenty of time to get home or to the hospital. Even on the hour-long drive to your parents', you're never more than half an hour from home or your parents' house. And even if your waters did break (and as others have said, very few labours start that way), it would probably be several hours before actual active labour kicks off.

Yeh sammyleh you sure do

I'm an anxious person normally so in pregnancy this is heightened. I don't like going more than half an hour away from home now (37+4) and havent since about 30weeks. I've missed a few family gatherings because the journey was 1.5hrs plus (not including m25 possible ques). Im not exactly sure what I'm worried about, the journey just makes me feel panicky/heart beats fast and I get the urge to pee almost instantly! This feeling went away after dc1 was born- so I hope it does with dc2 too! I feel a bit pathetic really :(

MamaGeek my labour started at 39 weeks with spontaneous breaking of waters. I rolled over in bed then pop! It did take DS another 17 hours to arrive though.... so OP, even if it did happen to you down some country lane I'm pretty sure you would have plenty of time to get to hospital :)

I think that if you don't want to do something them don't do it! I've been avoiding driving as I feel generally stressed and think that driving will not help (am relatively new driver).

Thanks everyone... I took the lift that was offered and was pleased I did, about half way through I threw up with all the winding roads haha!