Pre-labor-mess readiness?

[Essence]

This is about the sloppy messiness of early labor and the way to the hospital.

The ride to the hospital for me will be just over 1 hour long, and it will be February/March (Canadian Winter so.. snowy, icy and cold) when the time comes. Our car is sort of an asset that we want to keep clean in case of resale, etc, it has always been well taken care of and I was wondering what sort of things can we do/pack to prepare for an extra 'messy' journey to the hospital? (TMI perhaps but in case of breaking waters, blood, urine, etc) The car has cloth interior if that helps any.

Also, how about for yourselves? I plan on of course bringing an extra package of really cheap underwear, but all I can picture is getting to the hospital soaking wet from the waist down, messy, grumpy, and not to mention verrry cold from the walk from the car to the doors! Did you toss an old extra blanket in the car to cover yourself (And your wet, messy clothing) as you went in to the hospital, to wrap around your waist or anything? I know that I am worried about this now, and may not be concerned with being embarrassed about being messy later, but I think just in case I do become self conscious I should be ready!

(((I should mention... Already just because it is winter we carry a large bag of extra blankets/coats/gloves etc in the backseat of the car,but I would rather pack separately from the current bag and have the current bag as extra back up incase of a car breakdown etc.)))

So, any suggestions for keeping the car clean/covering the seats, etc? And any suggestions on what to bring for yourself as well? And.. am I the only one worried about this??? Lol!!

 

[sun]

My water broke while I was staying overnight elsewhere - it was unexpected because LO was 4 weeks early. The water gushed everywhere - it soaked my pants and 5 large bath towels, so if it had happened in the car I definitely would have been wet from the waist down. But after my water broke initially, I changed and took a cab to the hospital with a hand towel in my underwear and there was no more mess. You can put some kind of plastic or liner on the seat in case your water breaks, but if it does and is like mine (sometimes water just leaks instead of gushes) then you won't be able to stay dry!!
As for blood - there probably won't be much of that - generally blood/mucous is easily contained during early labour. In the hospital I just wore the hospital scrubs - I didn't want to mess anything I had - but for me, apart from the initial water breaking, it wasn't that messy
xx

 

[Mervs Mum]

You might go into labour without your waters breaking....it's not ALWAYS a messy business....

 

[suzib76]

you could be lucky, my waters never broke with leah and they did it at the hosp after a few hours of contractions, with jack the contractions were well underway for about 4 hours before waters popped in hosp

i would recommend pampers bed mats or towels and waterproof matress protectors just in case though

 

[Essence]

Excellent thanks ladies! I really like the idea of a towel tucked in to my undies, lol, sounds odd but I can really see it working at least somewhat. We are thinking of covering the passenger seat with a garbage bag just in case

I know it may not happen, but I want to be prepared so that we dont say "I wish we would have done this.... to prevent a mess and.or extremely expensive clean up for the interior!" Lol

 

[topazicatzbet]

my waters went at dinner yest and i ve been a wet mess ever since as they have been trickling out everytime i sneeze/cough/move.

i ve gone through several pairs or knickers and trousers as the pad just gets soaked. in the end i have found my grans incontinent pads are working the best. and im saton a bin bag to save the sofa.