1 hour trip to hospital, how did you cope? when did you leave?

[~*Niadalla*~]

Hi there!
I am 100kms from our hospital (which happens to be an hour) and dreaded the drive in!!
I was preparing for a roadside birth.... just in case.
My plan originally was to head into my parents (who are 15 minutes from town) when my contractions got to around 7 minutes apart. Well.... I kept trying to tell myself I wasn't in labour. LOL
I ended up calling the hospital at 10am (my contractions had started at 4am), when my contractions were 5 minutes apart lasting about 45 seconds. I wasn't overly concerned that I was going to have my baby anytime in the next hour, but I just thought I should see what they said. I was asked to go in.

I got to hospital at about 11.30, and had DD at 6.08pm. The ride was ok... nowhere near as bad as I expected but I wasn't having the most ridiculously painful contractions until about 4pm. I was cracking jokes with Hubby and texting a few friends to let them know that I was going in to get hecked out, and telling them to send me labour vibes.

Nowhere near as freaked out as I thought I would be and the ride really wasn't too bad at all. did however have a highway trip all the way in and it was a Wednesday so the traffic near the hospital wasn't too bad.

Good luck! I know how worried I was about making it and I made it with ease.

[Rommy'sMummy]

We will need to travel around 1hr - 1.5hrs depending on traffic. We are going for a VBAC too after a non-laboring c-section with a very sick bub first time (snap with you I think).

As we are VBAC I will be heading in straight away. There are plenty of parks and cafe's nearby if I dont need to stay in hospt from the start.

We had to drive in while I was in threatened pre-term labor with DS. Classic middle of the night mad drive but with sick baby and only 24 weeks so not much fun. Pain was bad but only because A) posterior B) way too early in pg and C) knew bubs needed heart surgery and wouldnt live at such a little gestation. SO very stressed therefore the pain was bad.

This time I am starting to look forward to that drive in as I will be welcoming the contractions this time (as long as it is after 36 wks!). I really think that is going to make the diff for me.

Are you doing any visualizations or meditations on having a positive birth experience? I have just started that and hope to be relaxed this time.

[Early Kids]

First pregnancy I lived approx 5 hours from my chosen hospital and just over 2 from the closest maternity hospital, I was down for antenatal appointments and staying with my mum when my waters broke at 28 weeks, we drove the 1.5 hours to the NICU hospital. I wasn't in labour though so it was quite smooth going.

Second pregnancy, we live 1.5 hours from my chosen hospital and 5 mins from the closest maternity hospital. Went into pre-term labour at 26 weeks, went to the closest hospital who put me in the ambo to the NICU hospital. It was quite scary, but I was very Naive and kept thinking it was a dream.... I then spent 8+2 weeks in and out of labour, in and out of my local hospital and then went into full labour at 34+2, again went to my local put in an ambulance and rushed to the NICU hospital. This time I knew it was real and there was no stopping it, I was very nervous and it was quite difficult to get comfy on the ambo bed... they arent wide enough or long enough!

I think you just do what you have to do at the time.... adrenaline takes over and you just cope.

All the best

[*TripleJ*]

we had an hour and 20 mins and we stopped halfway which was ok the second half was the hardest the car ride was only slightly more uncomfortable than the way home i had stiches the bumps were fun not

[Junglemum]

We had an hour trip in. It was really no problem. Actually DH loved using the emergency lane on the freeway during peak hour. lmao.

I was having cx 10 min apart from 2am. At 7 am they were 6 min and i rang the hospital and said "Hi there, this is my second baby, but i was induced for the first and i have kind of forgotten when i'm supposed to come in, do i wait until the cx are 5 min apart and 60 seconds long? It's just that we have an hour drive and peak hour traffic will be starting" After a few Qn's she said "You should definatley come in now, if your water breaks in peak hour traffic the baby may arrive in hurry" So we jumped in the car and headed off. Cx were 4 min apart all the way there but i coped fine.

As it turned out DD2 was posterior and my labour slowed down, i was at hospital for a good 12 hours before i had her! The midwives were so amazing. On the phone i told them i was planning an intervention free birth and didn't want to come in too early, then i again told them when i arrived. They were so supportive and amazing and not once i i feel pressured to sway from my goals. They were nothing but supportive.

So the hour trip in was no biggie, but they did advise coming striaght in once labour was established.

I think often the 'don't go to hospital early or you will end up with intervention' is not always true. If you are clear about your goals and are able to speak your mind then things can work out just fine. Well they did for me anyway. So don't let that worry you!

[DaintreeDream]

Thankyou so much everyone, you have made me feel so much better about the trip. I wasn't completely worried as I plan on leaving for the hospital once I know that I am definatly in labour, would hate to drive all that way for a false alarm!

The trip is also mainly on a quieter freeway, we are going to a country hospital, so there is 10 minutes to the freeway and then under 5 minutes to the hospital at the end of the freeway so it should be on pretty smooth roads, well they feel smooth now anyway!

Rommy'sMummy - We do sound like we are in a similar sitution. I believe this time around we do not have any medical problems to worry about in baby but this will be checked again and confirmed at our ultrasound next week so then I think I will relax and plan a little more, I think this is still hovering in my mind alot. I am definatly going to start meditation/hypnobithing etc once this ultrasound is done and I know everything is fine.

Falguni - I am a bit concerned about arriving to early when I will be on a time frame for a VBAC but I haven't discussed this with the hospital yet, I am back there in 3 weeks and I plan to go through it all then, I think you usually have about 8 hours from arrival, I have no idea if that is enough time or not. It will be summer though and we could always do what RM said and go to a park or for a walk before we actually book into the hospital if I feel we still have a long time to go, at least we will be close by if we need to go in. Oh I really do not have any idea yet. I am sure it will fall into place though.

Thanks again everyone.