How to get to hospital when in labour?

[Homeinwales]

I’m wondering if anyone can give me some advice, I’m a first time mum and I’m 35 weeks pregnant. Me and my partner were going to go to the FMU which would take us no longer than 20-30 minutes to get too however my consultant and midwife has encouraged me to go to a hospital. Our local hospital where the FMU is, closed down their maternity units so the closest hospital is about 15 miles or so. Me and my partner don’t drive my parents live hundreds of miles away and the only people who drive in my partners family is his mum and sister. Our relationship with his mum is strained and his sister has a child of her own. How do we get to the hospital when I go into labour? The taxi service here is hit and miss. Sometimes you can’t get a taxi at all and when you do it’s extortionate. Looking at about £30-£40 to get to the hospital that’s not including my partner having to make his way back home after the birth to get the car seat and making his way back to the hospital and then us and the baby getting back home. On public transport it’s about an hour and a half from where we live and again after a certain time all public transport goes off and the timings are spotty sometimes waiting an hour for a bus. I have no idea what to do because In taxi fairs it’s gonna cost us almost £120 and it’s just money we can’t afford to pull out

Friend, neighbour, taxi and take the car seat with you in the first place.

Or:

Taxi for you in labour. Partner goes home via public transport and brings car seat back the same way.

Unless you live in a big city with good public transport one of you should really learn to drive asap. Life with a baby/child/children will be very difficult otherwise.

Considering how much pressure is on ambulance services now that even people with life threatening injuries are looking at 8 hours wait for an ambulance, I think you really must pay for a taxi. It wouldn't be right to use an ambulance for something that basically amounts to poor planning.

You need to ask a friend or pay for a taxi. I suspect you want people to tell you it's fine to call an ambulance but it is not.

You need to resolve this issue, and quickly. My daughter has had over 30 trips to hospital in her first two years - we've been unlucky but it is to be expected that you will need to transport your child in an unplanned emergency (that isn't serious enough for an ambulance). Perhaps use this opportunity as a trial run.

Yeah just bring the care seat with you.

Its too late to learn to drive now, so you will have to get a taxi or maybe think of a home birth so you probably won't have to worry about getting too and from hospital.

Just a word of warning when baby is here, my youngest was born with hip dysplasia which meant appointments every 2 weeks at the hospital for scans and adjustments to her harness. This went on for 6 months! If something like that happens to you it would be much easier if one of you drove!

We recently just moved into a new flat as we had to move due to problems with my MIL and currently only have one income due to me having to leave my job due to severe hyperemisis. We have enough money to live but we can’t just pull out all that money for taxis. We aren’t entitled to UC as my partner makes just over the threshold to be entitled to any help until after the baby is born

It’s just one taxi, though: to the hospital in labour. The baby can come home on public transport too you know!

You get a taxi or someone to give you a lift, those are the only two options really aren't they.

Asking a friend or paying the taxi is your only option I'm afraid. Another one saying be prepared for this after baby: my 6m old has had 4 a&e visits already- none serious enough for an ambulance but 3 of them I definetly wouldn't have wanted to be messing around with public transport for as they were breathing related. That doesn't include the 2 paediatrician appointments at the hospital as well

Do you not have any friends at all that drive?

Absolutely do not call an ambulance. The way things are with the poor ambulance services right now you'd likely end up giving birth before it arrived.

Are you in the uk? Have you talked to your midwife?

There will be a way to get to hospital.. they can help you and talk you through your options.

No idea why you've have so many awful comments!

And yes if you need an ambulance then call them! That's what they are there for

I’m a first time mum away from all my family and friends. It’s really only me and my partner. I was learning to drive before I fell pregnant and ended up having severe hyperemisis and had to stop driving and then lost my job soon after. It’s been a rough few months for us from having to move out of where we lived only a few months ago because of my MIL and then this issue with the hospitals. I would never call an ambulance because I know the strain on the NHS as I worked in healthcare for the past 6 years and the whole pandemic so I’m not looking for an excuse to call an ambulance. We have several hospitals around some more accessible than others. Our local hospital only has a freestanding midwifery unit which my midwife’s all told me we could go too until last week. We go to another hospital to have our scans done as our local hospital doesn’t have a radiology department but the hospital we go too to have scans doesn’t have any labour and delivery departments which means we have to go to a hospital further away. We were told by our midwife we couldn’t take our car seat with us until after the birth because they don’t know how long women will be in labour for or how long they would have to stay in after birth and can’t have a car seat on a ward. Because this is my first time I just wasn’t sure how to deal with this

Yes of course if you need one for an emergency. But not just as a taxi service!

Speak to your midwife to fully understand why you can't use the closer hospital and whether it would actually be a possibility.

Take the car seat with you when you go into Labour. I did and it was fine.

Would/could you consider a home birth?

If you turn up with a car seat they aren't going to turn you away. If you're worried just put it in a large bag and say it's one of your hospital bags, some woman take loss of stuff in.

*loads

@onmywayamarillo yeah i live in South Wales and tbh most of my midwives I’ve seen haven’t been that useful when I ask them questions regarding this as they don’t want to overstep what the consultant says. All the midwives I’ve spoken too don’t agree that I need to go to a hospital as the baby is growing fine however the consultant keeps telling us our baby is weighing small even though baby has grown several percentiles over the scans and weights correct for her size but none of them want to challenge a consultant and have told me to just go to a hospital “just Incase” I’m not sure why I’ve received mean comments I was only asking for help.

Whoever told you that you can't take a car seat on the ward is taking rubbish.

I don't want to be mean op, but surely this is something that should have been thought of much earlier?

Why can't DP learn to drive?

@LilacPoppy i don’t understand why your being so mean? I was only asking for help as I don’t have any friends or other pages to ask. I don’t have a support group to ask so I posted on here. My midwife told me at the hospital we couldn’t take the car seat as if I have to go on a ward there would be nowhere to put my bags and a car seat and that my partner would have bring it when I was ready to be discharged. Like I explained this is my first baby, I’m away from an area that I know as I’ve not lived here very long and I don’t know how these things work. I was only looking for advice so I wasn’t sat overthinking it

Join any local facebook groups, there may be someone who would give you a lift or work at hospital. We have a community charity care group here, where volunteers give lifts to people needing to go to hospital.

Probably a bit of a push for people who limited on funds to learn to drive and buy a car in-the next 5 weeks so not a very helpful comment.

OP be assertive but polite and explain to the midwife that you would prefer to use the local hospital and if there isn't a good reason why you can't then you want to have that listed as the place you will attend.

Take the car seat with you in the taxi. It will just stay by your bed, yes space is limited but limit the size/number of your other bags to account for that.

You do need to have a taxi or lift planned, with the demand on ambulances there's no way you could count on that as a means of transport so that leaves you with:

• lift

-taxi

• public transport

You have to make one of those work or have the baby at home.

your partner has time to do an accelerated driving course. It sounds like you can’t manage without it.