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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

How far away is your hospital?

31 replies

Kinsters · 18/12/2018 06:29

I was pregnant and planned to deliver at the hospital closest to me which is 5 minutes from home and probably one of the better hospitals in town.

However I sadly had a miscarriage and ended up getting treatment at a different and smaller hospital further away as my Dr at hospital 1 was not willing to perform erpc. DH and I really liked the Dr who looked after me at hospital 2 and if I got pregnant again I'd love to see her for ante natal care and deliver the baby with her (we live overseas so choose a consultant and pay privately).

How far is your hospital? This smaller one would be half an hour in rush hour, 45 minutes on a really bad day. Would that be too far? I'm also not sure if it would be irresponsible to choose to give birth in a smaller hospital which may not have such good facilities.

I'm a bit against hospital 1 also because it was where we found out our baby had died and MIL died there last year so right now it doesn't seem like a good place for us.

Sorry for rambling. This is all so hypothetical right now.

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Taffeta · 18/12/2018 06:41

Sorry for your loss

I’ve had two babies and four pregnancies

MC 1 (and ERPC) and DS at hospital 20 minutes away
MC 2 (and ERPC ) and DD at hospital 15 minutes away

With your first birth you may find labour longer so being close to the hospital may be more of a concern for your subsequent births

Certainly for me, DS labour was 2 days, where I had to cross my legs with DD and had her within 4 minutes of arriving at hospital

rach2713 · 18/12/2018 06:50

I Am in the middle of 2 hospitals one is a midwife lead unit so only takes women who are low risk or can't make the big one and then transfer then after as there are no doctors and that is 20 mins away. My second is the big one where I have had 2 out of 3 there am pregnant with number 4 and worried I won't make it as its 45 mins away..

Jummynbean · 18/12/2018 06:50

This is my first time pregnant and both my nearest hospitals are 45 mins away. I have elected for the hospital that's classed as out of my area as I believe this to be the better hospital. Only pain is that the process of bloods and scans ect is taking longer to process As I have to wait for a referral. I suspect that I'm close to 9 weeks ATM and the only medical contact i have had is a meeting with midwife where we sorted out paperwork and took my blood pressure. She said if I was at local hospital they would have done blood and urine too, but I need to book that in myself now.

Penny04 · 18/12/2018 07:00

It's my first pregnancy and our hospital is 45minutes away (over an hour in rush hour traffic), everybody says labour will take forever so fingers crossed we are fine! there is a closer hospital that is 35mins from our home but it's not as specialist x

Buggeroffbingbunny · 18/12/2018 07:01

Nearest to me is a 50 minute drive.

SoyDora · 18/12/2018 07:02

Closest is half an hour, longer in traffic

Bitchfromhell · 18/12/2018 07:04

We had planned to use our nearest midwife led unit (15 mins away). Unfortunately we need to deliver at the big hospital 40 mins away due to complications.
If I were you I'd not put too much pressure on yourself to preplan this. Hypothetical decisions will be useless in the real world as other factors will come into play when you come to make your final decision. Stop stressing about things that don't matter yet

Original poster

Kinsters · 18/12/2018 07:06

Oh wow OK, now I feel better about it being a bit further away.

OP posts:

TakingtheLeap · 18/12/2018 07:58

Another 45 minutes to the nearest hospital here. I'd have loved a home birth but couldn't justify the risk - if I'd been closer I'd have asked.

le42 · 18/12/2018 08:16

Our hospital is central London and we live in zone 3 so it’s 30 mins on a good day and 45/50 mins in traffic, plus we have to get a taxi there. 🙈

FrazzyAndFrumpled · 18/12/2018 08:26

My hospital is about 15 minutes drive away... or an hour on the bus! Stupid buses.

SuperstarDJ · 18/12/2018 08:34

Local hospital with midwife led unit is 5 min drive away. I had to be consultant led for various reasons so had hospital I went to was approx 45min drive on average (about 20-25min if middle of the night with no traffic)

I was kept in for a week after DD1 so it wasn’t great that DH has to do a 90min round trip each day. I was only in for 2 days with DD2 so it wasn’t a big deal.

I was induced with DD1 and planned section with DD2 so didn’t have a panicked car journey with contractions but I think 45min is still ample time to get to the hopistal in time providing you don’t leave the house only when contractions are v v close together.

Spargle · 18/12/2018 09:11

My nearest hospital is 15 minutes away. I like it, and it looks like it has a good labour ward. It’s technically out of area for me, but it’s the hospital I use the most.

There is another hospital which is 25 minutes away, if the traffic behaves. That has a midwife-led unit and a labour ward. My plan is to use the midwife-led unit, safe in the knowledge that the labour ward is in the same building.

I’m not 100% convinced I’ve made the right decision, particularly having been driven there with morning sickness and noticing the bumpiness of the country lanes we must use to get there (only about half of the journey! Perhaps it might be a day to take the motorway detour, though. Thank you for giving me reason to think about this. You might just have improved part of my labour significantly!) - I don’t think I will enjoy the journey one bit! But women tend to have fewer interventions at midwife-led units, which tends to lead to better outcomes. That is worth some extra discomfort!

PBobs · 18/12/2018 09:13

6000 miles at the moment. At 36 weeks I hope to be about a 15 minute drive away. All a bit seat of my pants at the moment.

Original poster

Kinsters · 18/12/2018 12:42

I've asked around and the reputation of hospital 2 seems pretty good so that's that decision made. It seems like a 30 minute journey is pretty standard. Hopefully we'll get a chance to make use of it sooner rather than later!

OP posts:

Stephisaur · 18/12/2018 13:03

Half hour- 1 hour depending on traffic. 8 miles ish, I think.

Conveniently went into labour in the middle of the night and the taxi got us there in about 20 minutes.

TheSubtleKnifeAndFork · 18/12/2018 13:04

Hospital is 45 minutes away.

Midwife-led unit 5 minutes away.

Used to have a hospital 20 minutes away, but thanks to NHS cuts it has been downgraded to midwife-led only and so the other (large) hospital is the only obstetrics-led care in a large area.

All being well I'll be giving birth in the unit 5 minutes from home... although I can't pretend that the idea of having to transfer if things to wrong isn't worrying me.

Lovewinemorethanhusband · 18/12/2018 13:09

My hospital is about 20 minutes away parking will take you another 30 minutes though as it's a nightmare and is the only one in the area so we don't really get a choice, if you prefer the other hospital go there it's better for you to be calm and happy where your giving birth x

Tinlegs · 18/12/2018 13:11

45 miles (nearest - Midwife led)

120 miles (proper big hospital).

But we are in a remote part of the UK.

Good luck OP and sorry for your loss.

literategiraffe · 18/12/2018 13:16

My chosen hospitalis about 30mins away, 45-50 if traffic is terrible. There is another hospital nearer (about 20mins drive).

We've decided on the further away one as I was treated there in the recurrent mc clinic and I liked being able to see doctors who I knew from that clinic for my ante-natal appts. Plus it has much better parking.

SoyDora · 18/12/2018 13:18

Ah yes, parking! It takes about half an hour to drive to my local hospital and an hour to park!

Original poster

Kinsters · 18/12/2018 13:31

An hour to park?! That's insane! Is it just circling around waiting for a space? I remember when my grandma was at the QE in bham the car park was so weirdly set up, you had one go around it then had to come out and go back in and try again if you didn't get anything.

OP posts:

SoyDora · 18/12/2018 13:34

It’s mainly a case of picking the car park closest to your department then queueing until a space becomes free! It’s a nightmare. I’m 39 weeks and the benefit to going in to labour on Christmas Day will be that parking will be easier!

MincePieMum · 18/12/2018 13:43

Our nearest was a midwife led unit with transfer to bigger hospital if complications arose. It was 20 mins away. I decided to go with bigger hospital that was 1 hr away and had consultant led unit plus all facilities for EMCS and NICU etc.

As it turned out, I went to the one 1 hr away at 36 weeks as had a bleed. They examined me and got my first contraction after the exam. I was 2 cm. 45 mins later I was 8cm and having an EMCS. We are very fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time. DS is now 7 and huge, but was only 5lb when born. We still feel very blessed. 🥰

literategiraffe · 18/12/2018 13:44

An hour just to get a space? That's crazy!
Ours has a massive multistory, I usually just head straight up to the higher levels to get an easy space

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