# Homebirthers: How far from hospital are you?



## Mum22GTTC

Hi ladies,

Could those of your who've had or are planning a HB tell me how far (minutes wise) you are from your nearest hospital?

No traffic for me it's 15-20 mins, but during rush hour it would be 25-30mins at the very least. That seems like a long time to me, so that scares me from a homebirth perspective if something were to go wrong.

But at the same I'm also worried because my labours have got quicker each time, last one was super quick, just managed to get to the birthcentre (which is on the same grounds as the hospital) & into the pool in time. LO was born less than 10mins after I got in the pool! So I'm also worried that I may not make it to the birth centre in time & end up giving birth in the car or carpark :wacko:

Obviously I've got a long time to make a decision, but I really don't know which way I'm leaning towards most. If the hospital was 2 mins away I'd definately go for the homebirth, but with it being (what seems to me) a fair way away I just don't know!


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## Mum2b_Claire

My hospital is 15-20 mins away normally, quicker with blue lights obv. I never thought of that as being far away really...


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## RoxyRoo

I had my baby at home and my nearest hospital is a 35 minute drive away, although quicker under blue lights obviously.


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## dwl

I live 10mins away. 

But I also have the added bonus of where you get the ambulance sometimes sitting in a place waiting for a call, well there is always one sitting just 2 minute drive down the road from me. So hopefully it won't be out on a job when I need it! :thumbup:


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## Tacey

About 15 minutes unless it's school pick up (lots of schools on route. It took over 45 minutes last time we went there!)

I've always thought that was pretty close. I remember our NCT teacher saying how if there was an emergency, it would take 10-15 minutes to get a team together and a room sorted anyway.


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## becstar

I can see the hospital from my house!


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## Jayneypops

Hi,

I live roughly 16 miles from our nearest hospital, on the motorway it takes around 25 mins so I suppose with blue lights around 15 mins?

Consider whether you may be anxious having a home birth (for the reasons youve given). You dont want to be at home worrying that you may not get to the hospital in time if you need to). You're best to be as relaxed as possible, and if that means you go for a hospital birth rather than home, then maybe that would be best for you?

Im all for home births - you will know what feels right nearer the time Im sure

Good Luck x


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## Mum22GTTC

Thank you everyone. So it seems I'm not far away from hospital at all really.

As soon as LO was born I said I'm having a HB next time and DH agreed. But now DH seems to be becoming more & more reluctant and he was saying how far away from hospital we are which has sewn the seed of doubt - how I can I be relaxed if he is not!

I've told him about this thread, so fingers crossed!


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## Fuchsia1412

I live about 30 mins on a good day from hosp, but i'm not worried about it. I think that the chances of having a good delivery due to being relaxed at home outweighs the chances of something going wrong (I mean literally, not like one is more important than the other but that being at home so dramatically increases the chances of a fab labour) Remember if you are worrying that it's already very unlikely that anything would warrant a transfer to hospital, and even if it did, the vast majority of transfers are not crash-type emergencies than need attending to in the following 10-15 mins. I hope you get the kind of birth you want. :flower:


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## TheyCallMeMom

I'm about a 15 minute drive from the nearest hospital, 20 minutes if traffic was really bad. I figure by ambulance the ride would be 5 minutes, 10 if traffic was bad.


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## bbyno1

We live about 7 minutes away (no traffic)
Ambulance station is across the road from me though


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## bettny

35-40mins (in rush hour traffic) 25-30mins normal and dunno not long with blue lights.


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## NaturalMomma

We are 12 minutes from one hospital and 20 minutes from another.


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## JellyBeann

15-20 minutes, 5 with blue lights though!!


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## VioletRose

I live about 15 minutes from the hospital and intend having a homebirth BUT I live on an island and the hospital is on the mainland. A road bridge connects the island to the mainland across a narrow channel and like I say, it's normally about a 15 minute drive with no issues. However, if for any reason the bridge was up or was blocked (say with an accident), there might be a problem. It's never happened yet since I've lived here but I wonder if I'm taking too big a risk planning a homebirth just in case something does happen? Any thoughts?


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## Ju_bubbs

My nearest hospital can be anywhere from 20 mins, up to 1.5 hours away! lol I got there on baby number 3 in 20 minutes, but it was 3am, no traffic/snow.rain etc, and my mum pretty much drove at near 100mph the whole way without stopping for red lights :haha: (baby was crowning as we got to hospital!)

But, if its anywhere around sort of 7.30-9.30am or 2.30-6pm.. its an hour and half drive in awful traffic!

My last 2 labours were under half an hour, so there is no chance I'm even considering attempting to make it to hospital.. blue lights can get to me easier than I can get to them IF anything medical is needed! (well... if the barriers at the train station at the end of my road arent down! lol)


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## ljo1984

Hiya I was transferred due to Mec in waters. We have two hospitals one about 5 mins drive the other 10 obviously longer in rush hour traffic. The ambulance took about 5 mins to arrive, and I chose to go to the furthest away hospital as that's where I would have gone if having a planned hospital birth. Took about 5 mins to get there with blue lights at lunch time ish.


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## Mervs Mum

Half an hour away. Longer with time for them to arrive and get there. I had a client who was an hour from her nearest hospital which was why they have a high home birth rate in the area.


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## ttclou25

ours is about 5 minutes - but dont they have a ambulance on standby for each homebirth. This is what my midwife told me.


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## ljo1984

I was never told that. Not sure if my mw rang 999 or wymas number like I would at work for blue light transfers (I'm a nurse) but they sent a first response car too which was unnecessary as he had nothing to do lol. X


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## Mervs Mum

No they ring 999. I'm from a family of paramedics and dispatchers and my dad retired a director and no they don't have enough vehicles to have one on standby per homebirth. It would be a huge waste of resources as they're mostly not needed.


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## Ju_bubbs

So are they meant to send 2 midwives to home births then?


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## ttclou25

Mervs Mum said:


> No they ring 999. I'm from a family of paramedics and dispatchers and my dad retired a director and no they don't have enough vehicles to have one on standby per homebirth. It would be a huge waste of resources as they're mostly not needed.

I thought the same that it would be a waste of resrouces - i wonder why she said it, seeing her on tuesday maybe i understood her wrong. Ill ask her again.


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## Mervs Mum

Ju_bubbs said:


> So are they meant to send 2 midwives to home births then?

Yes. One for you and one for the baby. The second often gets called by the first when you're in established labour :)


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## Ju_bubbs

Mervs Mum said:


> Ju_bubbs said:
> 
> 
> So are they meant to send 2 midwives to home births then?
> 
> Yes. One for you and one for the baby. The second often gets called by the first when you're in established labour :)Click to expand...

Ahh thanks, that will explain why I only had one then.. since she didn't arrive til after birth! lol


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## NuKe

10 mins max!


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## Mervs Mum

I was at a birth where it went off really fast and the second Mw came first as she lived closer! The baby beat the pair of them! :lol:


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## Ju_bubbs

I'm kinda very quietly hoping that this baby beats them too.. I'm sure I'd have been a lot less relaxed and calm had there been midwives there fussing around! :haha:


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## kate79

I was thinking of having baby at v nice birthing centre near Canary Wharf area. Lovely huge rooms with double bed for you and your partner, sofa, tv, stereo, en-suite, birthing pool, balcony, dedicated mw just for you, massage, tens machine, gas and air and all free on the NHS. the thing that put me off was the transfer time to hospital if they needed to do anything (they have no doctors - completely mw led) which was 45mins. i thought that was alot and have decided to go with a home birth. the thing is, THEY didnt think that 45mins, in an ambulance no less, was that long at all, they seemed to think it was quite a short transfer time, nothing to worry about. i think if your mw is happy then its maybe its ok. having said that i have chosen the homebirth with the ten mins transfer over the v nice bc with 45mins transfer for that very reason :)


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## Mervs Mum

I think the thing to remember is that what ever the transfer time is they have already factored that in. If anything mws at home or in a standalone birth centre are anticipating things earlier than in hospital. So if you have a situation arise at home where they're thinking it might be something to transfer in for, they will make the move quicker to factor travel in. If you were in hospital and the same scenario happened they would probably let things go on for longer as they're is no extra time to factor in. Most transfers are not true emergencies but for more pain relief, tired mums or just to follow protocols rather than life of death situations. In a true emergency where there's a possibility that theatre would be needed you can't just get in there in 5 mins. From decision to go to theatre to incision is often 45 mins or so anyway. :) your mws will factor transfer in if it's 10 mins or 1 hour :)


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## moomin_troll

I was about 10 mins away, although it took the mw over an hour ti get to me when she was 5 mins up the road and the second mw didnt turn up for an hour after corey was born then when I needed to go in after for stitches it took the ambulance an hour to get to me and then took them 20 mins to drive me to hospital....they even admitted they were wasting time as they could go home after dropping me off.


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