travel time to delivery place

let me preface my question by saying that i'm not pregnant
but i'm curious...
for those who chose to birth at a hospital or birthing center, how far from your home (travel time) was the place where you delivered? what do you all feel is an acceptable travel time?

for those who chose to birth at a hospital or birthing center, how far from your home (travel time) was the place where you delivered? what do you all feel is an acceptable travel time?
Poodlehead wrote:Ah, it all makes sense now. Goldy is the puppet master!
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not sure if i think there is an "acceptable" time. i know in my birthing class the teacher addressed this for the people who live out in the county or more rural areas. she basically said, get to the hospital as soon as possible. the hospital is very accomodating to people who lived far out, so if you got there early, they wouldnt kick you out and tell you to come back.
The car ride from the house where I was laboring in to the house I gave birth in was a 10 minute drive. Every bump made me want to cuss.
you bring up a great point webbie..
i'm a planner so i've been thinking about this stuff (no we're not trying either
but i don't want to deliver in the local hospital (part of the system i work for), and i don't think my insurance would cover a birthing place or homebirth (and i'm not sure i would want to do either).. i've found a hospital and an ob/gyn/midwife group that sounds great, their office philosophy is natural birthing, try to avoid episiotomies, allow the mother choices, etc.. and they do their deliveries in a hospital down the street from them that follows the same philosophies.. it would be out of my insurance network (though insurance would cover some of the costs), but it's somewhat far.. not real far but farther than the local hospital that i refuse to deliver in (unless emergency)..
so i'm just trying to see the average travel time most ladies here have/had..
As for the ride- I don't think I posted this with my birth story, but I ended up driving myself to the hospital in the middle of the night this time around. SO was sick and I couldn't fathom having both of us throwing up all the way over there. I called him before I left to check, but there was no way I was going to pick him up the way he sounded. All of my friends have young kids, so none of them were an option, and really I knew I didn't have time to wait. I don't know, something about doing the actual driving and needing to focus on that took a lot of the discomfort out of the ride. The last 5 minutes were a killer, though, I didn't think I was going to make it.
So 45 minutes, while not ideal, was ok.
amen!
I used to ponder if there ever was an emergency should I bother calling 911 or just walk. Luckily I never got the chance to figure out which was faster.
If you itemize your taxes, you may be able to write midwife services off as medical expenses. I'm not sure about that 100% though.
Everytime I see you in here I think yeahhhhh...
Ah, but then not really a reality :toothy7: :laughing7:
I will say, unless you have family/friends to help- the hardest thing for us was the dog. I ended up in the hospital for 4 days with Maggie and my husband having to make the drive to take care of the dog because we had just moved and have no family near by- was a huge factor. So if you have any pets or other kids at home, the distance post-delivery might be a consideration.
Goldy I seem to remember you're in FL and if so your insurance company pretty much has no choice but to cover a homebirth or birth center. It's some legislation I can't remember at the moment.
There's a freestanding birth center around here that's right next to a major teaching hospital and women will drive an hour plus to get there. It's very popular and even when you arrive early you'll know you won't be badgered by the midwives.
The bumps were awful. Also, I could tell when we arrived at the hospital that my contractions slowed down some. While I was in triage, waiting on the nurse that seemed to take forever to check me in, I really focused on relaxing and on my contractions instead of whatever the nurse was doing. I totally tuned her out during contractions, and things seemed to pick up again after that. So how weel you can mentally shift gears is definitely something to consider.
FWIW, I asked while pg about traveling 3 hours away to see DH (didn't actually work out though) and the midwife said they have patients travel that far to deliver at that hospital, so she couldn't really tell me no. :shock:
Wow! Driving myself to the hospital while in labor was something that's crossed my mind a few times just in case. I figured with all the breathing and doubling over, one would have to call a cab if no one was around to take her to the hospital.
Where I'm located now, the drive to the hospital is 15 minutes. Where I'm moving to, the time will be about 25 minutes. Both times are acceptable seeing how first time moms are usually in labor for several hours ...
The hospital I went to was the farthest from me of the 3 major hospitals in town. It was about a 15 minute ride when we went in the middle of the night with no traffic. It was the most awful 15 minutes EVER, but I think it was worth having the better hospital.
Here's all you have to know about men and women: women are crazy, men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid. ~ George Carlin
This was my third baby and I have a history of turbo births, so I was under instructions from the midwife not to worry about timing my contractions- just get over there before I was too uncomfortable, giving birth in the car, etc. The contractions got progressively more painful but they were manageable until about 5 minutes before I arrived. The walk into the hospital carrying my bag sucked, though, and when I made it up to the nurses station in the LDR area, I started to cry. The nurse brought me right to my room- no triage for me! But I held it together until then- I guess you do what you have to do.
Sorry for the slight derailment...
ITA - it seemed like that damned hospital got farther away when I was in labour with DS. As long as I wasn't having a contraction, I was fine - but if I was having one, I felt every bump in the road. I also had the pleasure of being driven to the hospital during rush hour.
We moved and now are probably about 25 minutes with no traffic and up to an hour drive with traffic. Should be interesting!!
When I was pg with Sophia, I had a scheduled c-section, and my MIL was coming down from PA to watch Lucy, but everyone was asking me what I was going to do if I went into labor before that. I didn't really have a plan, and I was seriouly considering just driving myself and leaving DH home with Lucy.
I figured if my contractions were 5 minutes apart, I could leave as soon as one finished and I'd be at the hospital, with the car parked and everything by the time the next one came.
In reality I probably would have just taken a cab if I had to, since driving while in labor is probably not the smartest thing to do.
maybe i'll look into it.. since our health insurance is actually a hospital insurance (established for their employees) i figure they want us to deliver in their hospital with their docs.. but i work for the company and i used to work the mother/baby units and i won't deliver there.. but it's probably worth a phone call to the insurance to ask about the home birth and birth center.. on another site i found the statute saying insurance has to cover it..
thanks..
the hospital and practice i was looking at is about 40 minutes from us..
I pray none of you ever has to live in a communist state.
Geeky is my hero. She's the true badass. The badass who doesn't even need to be a badass. There aren't enough O's in cool to describe her.
and I went away hungry from the inhospitable board.
-Henry David Thoreau
Famous last words, my friend.
With my first, we were only 10 minutes away from the hospital. With my other two, we chose a midwifery group that was affiliated with a teaching hospital 40 minutes away. Both times, it took us under 40 minutes to get there.