How far will you have to travel to give birth?

[Sassysas]

Thank you for all your replies
I'm not as worried now but I am starting to hope for a early hours in the morning labour. That way I hopefully won't get stuck in traffic

 

[LockandKey]

45 mins and out of state to get to my birthing center as the nearest birthing center to me does not take our health insurance, so I can choose to either go from West Virginia to Maryland, or to Virginia instead. Looks like our next LO will be born in Virginia

 

[xx~Lor~xx]

Hopefully only 10-15 mins to the midwife centre, but if we have to go to the hospital it'll be about 30 mins..

 

[Bunny_Boo]

Found this thread very interesting! I have an hour and a half to travel and although I'm very early yet it's a big worry of mine. Surprised at the amount of ladies who have to travel a fair distance!

 

[Guppy051708]

1 hour, on a sunny day with limited traffic.- if i decide to go to the FSBC.
I could go as little as 10 minutes away, but i dont want another hospital birth. These MWs that im seeing are only one of 2 that my health insurance is willing to cover. The other MW is 1 hour 45 minutes away. I want an out of hospital birth, so it's really my only option.

 

[Sassysas]

Found this thread very interesting! I have an hour and a half to travel and although I'm very early yet it's a big worry of mine. Surprised at the amount of ladies who have to travel a fair distance!

So am I! I thought 40minutes was too long a time to travel but it seems that this is quite an average time...I guess I was quite spoilt with the location of my maternity ward before it got downgraded as it was only 5-10 minutes away.

 

[Bunny_Boo]

Found this thread very interesting! I have an hour and a half to travel and although I'm very early yet it's a big worry of mine. Surprised at the amount of ladies who have to travel a fair distance!

So am I! I thought 40minutes was too long a time to travel but it seems that this is quite an average time...I guess I was quite spoilt with the location of my maternity ward before it got downgraded as it was only 5-10 minutes away.

I have a maternity ward in our hospital a few minutes away but it only has two beds and for very low risk and if anything goes wrong then you have to travel an hour and a half so would rather travel that to begin with so I'm in a safer place if god forbid anything did go wrong. Plus my maternity ward shuts at 8! How mad is that!

 

[darkriver]

An hours drive. I have to go to a specialist hospital and the nearest is ten miles. It sounds like I am getting induced early there so probably wont have to worry.

 

[Sassysas]

I have a maternity ward in our hospital a few minutes away but it only has two beds and for very low risk and if anything goes wrong then you have to travel an hour and a half so would rather travel that to begin with so I'm in a safer place if god forbid anything did go wrong. Plus my maternity ward shuts at 8! How mad is that!

That is mad! What's their rationale for that?

 

[Bunny_Boo]

Our hospital has been downgraded over the years from a full proper hospital to a hospital that is barely open! Our accident and emergency has even been downgraded to a burns and scalds unit and that's really it! I was even told by midwifes that if i have extreme pain or bleeding to straight away travel the 75 miles/hour and a half to that hospital and not to even attempt contacting the local hospital!

 

[Loui1001]

The hospital I'm icing to is 25 miles away, so about a 30-45 minute journey depending on traffi

 

[Sassysas]

Our hospital has been downgraded over the years from a full proper hospital to a hospital that is barely open! Our accident and emergency has even been downgraded to a burns and scalds unit and that's really it! I was even told by midwifes that if i have extreme pain or bleeding to straight away travel the 75 miles/hour and a half to that hospital and not to even attempt contacting the local hospital!

This is exactly what's happening to our hospital. It'll soon be just be a large nursing home. They are even downgrading the paediatric ward and and there are talks about A&E being moved to another hospital as well.

 

[Bunny_Boo]

Our hospital has been downgraded over the years from a full proper hospital to a hospital that is barely open! Our accident and emergency has even been downgraded to a burns and scalds unit and that's really it! I was even told by midwifes that if i have extreme pain or bleeding to straight away travel the 75 miles/hour and a half to that hospital and not to even attempt contacting the local hospital!

This is exactly what's happening to our hospital. It'll soon be just be a large nursing home. They are even downgrading the paediatric ward and and there are talks about A&E being moved to another hospital as well.

It's absolutely disgraceful! They are compromising people's health. Our proper A&E is an hour and a half away, how can that be possible!?

 

[Pearls18]

I could have given birth at my local hospital but it is a rural cottage hospital, no pain relief and if anything goes wrong you have to wait for an ambulance (as it isn't an ambulance depot) then travel 40 miles to the nearest hositpal. So I decided to go straight to the main hospital for my first just so I had all the options, it took over an hour I was 6cm and frankly the worst journey of my life, by the time I got there I was 6cm and gave birth within the hour. Having said that as it was my first I feel like it was the right decision, I needed to be somewhere I felt safe, next time I am hoping for a home birth but the transfer time to a hospital is much quicker as we have moved.

 

[jellybean87]

the hospital i'm going to is about 35/40 mins away with no traffic, in rush hour it's an hour or more. I'm hoping I go into labour in the middle of the night!

 

[3boys]

my hospital is an hour away and my last birth was 28mins which makes me kinda nervous.

 

[Pearls18]

my hospital is an hour away and my last birth was 28mins which makes me kinda nervous.

Surely they'll induce you with those stats lol?

 

[3boys]

my hospital is an hour away and my last birth was 28mins which makes me kinda nervous.

Surely they'll induce you with those stats lol?

they did on my last pregnancy because my previous labour was 45 mins and i hemmoraged but trying to induce me is an absolute nightmare, my babies never engage which means they cant break my waters as its too dangerous so it was 3 days of gel and countless internals which really hurt and they never did before so im guessing the gel irritated me, anyway they were about to give up and section me when i went into labour on my own. Seconds before he was born i was examined and i was 7cm and his head was still high. The doctor said to the baby doctor that she could go as there wasnt going to be a baby born any time soon and then his head popped out. I couldnt go through an induction again.

 

[Pearls18]

my hospital is an hour away and my last birth was 28mins which makes me kinda nervous.

Surely they'll induce you with those stats lol?

they did on my last pregnancy because my previous labour was 45 mins and i hemmoraged but trying to induce me is an absolute nightmare, my babies never engage which means they cant break my waters as its too dangerous so it was 3 days of gel and countless internals which really hurt and they never did before so im guessing the gel irritated me, anyway they were about to give up and section me when i went into labour on my own. Seconds before he was born i was examined and i was 7cm and his head was still high. The doctor said to the baby doctor that she could go as there wasnt going to be a baby born any time soon and then his head popped out. I couldnt go through an induction again.

Gosh that's crazy! Would you consider home birth if you're low risk?

 

[3boys]

i would absoutely love a homebirth but i live in the country about 30 mins from the nearest town and it costs about 2500 before you rent pool etc. and with having hemmoraged before i dont think anyone would take me on and i would be nervous of how long it would take to get to hospital if something did go wrong but i am trying to prepare myself to give birth alone. What im hoping for is a sign of labour like a show/waters breaking which i have had on the 2 pregnancies before my last one so i was able to be in hospital when labour started. My 3rd son my waters broke so i went over went into labour there and his labour lasted 1hr 20 mins then with my daughter i had a show so i went over and her labour started there and she was born in 45 mins so hopefully i will have warning.