When did you go to hospital and how far away you lived from hospital ?

[Theeasypeasywoman]

Hiee lovely ladies, I am currently pregnant and need some information which I can not find anywhere. I currently live 40 mins away from the hospital where I planned to give birth and I am not sure when to go to hospital when in labour. I know that I should go to hospital when contractions are 5 mins apart and all but what if your hospital is not that close.

I want to know how far your contractions were when you went to the hospital and how far away was your hospital ?

I first went in when my waters broke at midnight. They told me to call them when the contractions were 3 in 10 minutes and 1 minute long or if contractions hadn't started by 6pm (I was booked in for an induction at 10pm because of my waters breaking and the increased risk of infection) I called at about 7.30 when my contractions were 3 in 10 and 1 minutes. Our hospital was a 15 minute drive away, I was only 2 cm so got sent home. I got home about 9am but by 11 am I was struggling to cope at home so I called back. The first midwife was reluctant to have me back in so soon after my first examine but she spoke to the midwife I had seen earlier said there was room for me in the midwife led unit and to come it. I arrived and was 10 cm and ready to start pushing!! The midwife had thought ahead and already filled the birth pool, baby was born within an hour of arriving at the hospital. It's not typical to progress so quickly the midwife said had she not have done both examines!

Each time I went in or spoke to them they asked how far away I was from the hospital and I think that they take that into consideration when asking you to come in or get sent home

Just ring them when your contractions are say 10 mins apart, and they'll tell you when to go in.

But they will try and make you wait as long as possible!

When they were 1 minute apart lasting at least a minute. Hospital was a 30 minute drive.

My advice is literally the opposite of what the hospital will tell you.

I say go in ASAP, as soon as you know you are absolutely in proper labour.

I say this because with #2 I called up when I was having contractions every 5 minutes lasting a minute, and they told me not to bother coming in as they could "tell I wasn't in labour from the sound of my voice".

I went in. By the time I got there, my contractions were very close together indeed. They didn't examine or triage me as they were "very busy", but they repeated what they had said on the phone, and told me to go home.

I didn't. I waited in the hospital corridor and then the waiting room. I asked about three times to be triaged and was refused. Finally, I had to pretty much beg... at which point I was finally examined (grudgingly) and then immediately rushed through to Delivery Suite. MW then went off to get my notes and arrived back just in time for baby to crown.

If I had followed their advice, baby would have been born at home/in the car park/wherever...

@2Cats3Kids how quick was your first labour?

All the midwives, HV and gp have said that based on my first labour that if I have another I should head to the hospital as soon as I'm in labour as the second labours are often quicker

@2Cats3Kids

I agree, I told my midwife on the phone I thought contractions were 5 minutes apart but wasn't entirely sure, she told me to run myself a bath. My waters had already broken which they were aware of. I told DH to get in the car and start driving, 30 minutes to hospital and i was fully dilated when they examined me, i couldn't even walk from the car, i needed a wheelchair. DC was born about 45 minutes after arriving so if I had have listened to them I definitely would have had my baby at home.

I was told when they were 3 in every 10 minutes and 1 minute long. They didn't actually get to 1 minute long. I called 3 times and the first two times they said I didn't sound in much discomfort. The third time I had to say I want to come in now. The hospital is 7 mins away and I was 8 cm when I got there. Baby didn't arrive for another 6-7 hours though.
I would say don't call between contractions which is what I did, call when you are having one.

With DD were were similar distance from a hospital - maybe more like 40-50mins (they closed my local maternity hospital mid pregnancy)

Anyway - at the time my DH couldn't drive (well he could but as a fairly new driver the insurers refused to insure him on my car! 🤷‍♀️) so I had to drive myself

I basically told hospital as soon as it started we'd be in even if had to sit in the cafe or something as couldn't risk going up and down the bloody motorway

In the end I needed a c section though

@Superscientist My first labour was an induction at 39 weeks for GD and reduced FM. The actual induction took three days, but it was only about three hours or so from my water breaking naturally (at a Bishop Score of 2!) to uterine hyperstimulation, to an assisted delivery without anaesthetic due to foetal distress. Nothing normal or average about that, so you can't base much around it.

In my notes it says that my (spontaneous) labour for #2 took about 20-30 minutes, or something silly, but that's not true. That's just the total time it took to be triaged (finally), get into Delivery Suite, and actually deliver! I had a fair idea I was going into labour by about 10AM, was fairly convinced by midday, called them up at around 9PM for the first time, and baby was born around midnight.

Looking back, it was really unsafe considering what happened during my first labour. If the baby had become distressed during labour then there was no way they could have done anything about it, because there was no foetal monitoring. As it happens then the baby was poorly positioned, as well, with their arm around their head, but because I had so much damage from the first birth then they came out easily enough because all of the scar tissue basically exploded! I do sometimes think we were very lucky. I wouldn't want to take a chance like that again.