Taking up driving again in pregnancy

[hellymum21]

Hi there,

Looking for some thoughts/stories about starting driving again in pregnancy. I have had a licence for 8 years but haven't driven for most of that time (various reasons, moved to Australia years ago, also I'm a nervous driver....) so fast forward to now and I'm 5+4 weeks pregnant. Don't want to rely on hubby to get me about when baby here. Have told myself I'd just get bus but part of me thinks I want independence when baby arrives so do I just bite the bullet and get a car?! I worry about driving and think it's the gear changing that gets me most anxious so maybe I'm best with automatic?

I guess it's a question of when do I do it cos I'd be nervous driving anytime but more so with a new baby in car. So it means getting out there and building confidence while pregnant....again not something I'm sure I fancy!!

Any stories of similar experiences to share? Words of wisdom? We will go looking at cars this weekend and that might help!

Thanks for reading!
Helen

Hi!
I bought a car in October (not when I was pregnant) but hadn't driven properly in 8 years. It was the gears that terrified me too as I didn't like having too many things to concentrate on and always stalled.

So i bought an automatic and did a couple of refresher lessons and it's the best decision I ever made as they are so easy to drive, especially for getting up to speed quickly/taking off on hills without stalling as you can't stall so I'd recommend automatic despite lots of people's opinions when they love to tell you that it isn't 'proper driving'.

Ive literally just done this at 20 weeks pregnant. Not driven in 10 years. Been practising with my other half and had a couple of refresher lessons and this week I took my first child in the car for the first time and it feels great. You can do it! Do ASAP so you're really comfortable driving by the time you're massive

@cartoontree thank you that's really good to know! Next decision would then be what car!! Something small but able to cope with all the baby stuff!!

@Wecandothis99 good for you!! This is the inspiration that I am needing thank you 😄

I had a 10 year gap from driving (worked in central London, didn’t really see the need etc). I bought my car when my baby was about a year old. I’m really glad I did as pregnant with my second now, plus with this corona virus etc not sure how I would have managed. I didn’t have any refresher lessons but was pretty nervous starting off but it came back to me very quickly. I drive a manual and never had any trouble with the gears. It’s all muscle memory and as soon as I was back in the car I knew what to do. I guess it depends how much you drove previously and how nervous you are now though.
It’s probably easier getting going again while pregnant as when baby’s new you are going to be sleep deprived.

Yes! Same for me (20 years ago now) no need for a car for 8 years and decided nope, I’m not doing public transport with a baby when we have a car on the drive. Within a few weeks I felt confident and started to really enjoy driving. Still love driving now. After about a year or so we changed cars to an automatic- no particular reason except we lived on a steep hill. Wow, loved driving that even more.

No refresher lessons either, just went out at quietish times to build it up.

@TobysMum16 @NaturalBlondeYeahRight thanks for sharing, this is all helping my confidence! I think I'm going to go for it! ☺️

We moved from Central London to Surrey and was planning on getting a car for almost a year, but was terrified. Haven’t been driving for 8 years at all, and even before I’ve had very little experience. My husband has big 4x4 and no, I’m not driving this beast!
When I found out I’m pregnant 3 weeks ago
I got myself an automatic Peugeot 208 (cute one!) to motivate me and started refresher lessons. I also went for a drive few times with my husband but he has no patience. I enjoy driving so far but still building up my confidence

@Carmelova85 that's a lovely car!! Probably similar size to what I fancy! Thanks for giving me hope that I can do it! 😆

I’m debating the same at the moment. I need a few refresher lessons and want to relearn in an automatic.

The fear is real at the moment, but I feel like such a child at the fact that DH has to drive me round everywhere.

I’ve got quite a lot of anxiety about it at the moment, but it’s something I want to have cracked in the next year.

The other thing that motivates me was the thought of telling the other mums from baby group ‘ oh I don’t drive, I’m too nervous’ when they wanted to go on picnics, or random baby groups. Someone would always volunteer to pick up the non driver but everyone would always chat about why they didn’t learn to drive.

I completely second all the PPs who say get an automatic. Mine is such a doddle to drive. It's a second hand vauxhall astra and getting really old now but never failed an mot (so proud hehe). Like you, I had a break of at least five years before driving again and I didn't take refresher lessons but they would have helped. I'd say get it now rather than later cos when your bump is much bigger it's a bit less comfortable to drive.

Ps get a really cheap car because you will scratch and dent it and lose the wing mirrors repeatedly in the first year or two (well, I did!) Bless her my car is so beaten up but I figure it makes me less likely to be burgled than my neighbours with their Mercedes on the drive! (Actually, true story, my lovely neighbours sadly have been burgled and I wasn't. Benefits of having a beat up old car!)

Yeah I'd definitely go for it. Having a car and driving makes so much difference - loads easier to get out and about when it's pouring down, you can access more places (the best soft plays here are always on industrial estates so hard to get to without a car), go for a drive thru coffee/maccies when baby is asleep in the back.

Don't get a two door. Getting a baby/babyseat in and out of the back of a two door hatchback is a real bugger. We had a Nissan Micra when our first arrived and it was as awkward as hell.

Our next car was a Berlingo. Best kid friendly car I've had.

And OP, Just be glad that your partner can drive. I couldn't when our first was born but my wife could. She drove us the 20 miles to the hospital while she was in labour. She told me in no uncertain terms that she was never doing that again...

I passed my test then didn’t drive for 3 years while I was at uni, needed to drive for a job. So I did some refresher sessions and then did a bit of driving around by myself to build up confidence.

I passed in a manual and have driven manuals for years but we recently moved to an automatic (because it suited us on all the other fronts so decided to test drive it and see how we got on). I still drive a manual for my work vehicle, so I sometimes struggle moving between the manual and automatic but the automatic is so easy to drive. Even though I have no problem with a manual, I think we’d probably prefer automatic from now on. I think automatics are a lot more common now too, which should make it easier to find one.

Thanks everyone, all swaying me towards going for it!! I'm actually excited to go and look at some cars this weekend!! 🚙🚗

@TheSandman you're so right, bless your wife there's no way in this world i would be doing that 😂😂