2nd time moms - getting to hospital in labor?

[cosmowife]

What are your plans for getting to the hospital if you go into labor in the middle of the night and DH/SO needs to stay with LO#1?

We are planning on calling my in-laws - they live about 30 minutes away. However, they travel a lot. We don't have a back up person yet but are brainstorming. DH suggested that in the worst case, I can get a cab to bring me. Does this sound feasible? I live in the suburbs so it might take a bit of time for the cab to get to my house.

With DS, my water broke at 1:30AM and he was born less than 7 hours later, with contractions on top of each other the entire time. There was no advance warning. There is no way I would have been able to drive myself. If things come on really, really fast this time, should I call an ambulance?

[Deleted]

I had dumb luck on my side. I was induced with DS1. The night before DS2 was born, my sister was over for dinner. I asked her if she wanted to spend the night because he husband was traveling and so was mine. Around 3am my water broke. Thankfully she was there. I drove myself to the hospital got checked and called DH. He got the 7am flight home. Hospital sent me home and told me to come back when I was in labor or 12 hours which ever came first. I went home. Sent DS1 to daycare, arranged for my sister to pick up DS1, waited for DH to get home and then we went to the hospital and I got induced.

[Deleted]

We plan to have a list of people to call. But if no one is available for some reason, the plan is for H, with DD in tow, to drive and drop me off at the hospital. There's no way I'm drivin myself or waiting for a cab.

[pamela]

Living in the suburbs it would take me over an hour to get a cab. It would be better to bring DS to the hospital with us, check me in, DH leave to drop him off and come back.

Our plan is to ask one of my coworkers to come to our house and sleep there. For 2 of the 3 of them, DH would probably run back to get him ready for daycare if it's a weekday, for the 3rd who is a mom of 2, she'd be able to handle it while her husband/mom dealt with her kids in the morning.

Of course, I don't really expect to go into labor spontaneously unless there is a problem. If the next goes like the last one, we induce early to make sure I'm off my blood thinners and we're not subject to the increased risks of late pregnancy.

[nonsenseabound]

My parents live 30 min away, so we had the neighbors come over to watch dd when my water broke early and parents were still on their way. They arrived about 15 min after we left.

Otherwise, my dd best friend's parents totally would've kept her in a pinch. We would do the same.

[mrshandy]

Need to figure this out. We'll probably call friends or maybe have family come into town when I'm due.

[liveintheville]

We have a lot of friends in the area and had a list going. #1 was my neighbor across the hall. I ended up being induced and called her and she and my other friends worked out the schedule to stay with kid 1 for the next 24 hours. My husband stayed with me in the hospital and we left a day later.

[Deleted]

A lot of DH's family is in town, so between his parents, brothers, and then extended family we'll find someone to cover it.

I should ask my sister what she ended up doing. They have zero family, and I know her closest friend ended up being her labour support because her DH was out of town (they thought the baby wouldn't come at 37 weeks...).

[divajane]

My inlaws live a couple of blocks away, so the plan was to call them. However, they were out of town the weekend my water broke (at 5:30 am), so we called our next door neighbor, who came over to watch DS sleep until the inlaws got into town.

[matildasun]

We are good friends with one of our neighbors, so the plan was if I had to go in the middle of the night that she would come over.

What really happened was that I started labor in the morning. I called my mom who scheduled a flight to come in around 5. My neighbor was flying home from Chicago, so I left messages for her to call as soon as she landed, and then called another friend who told me she was going to the Preakness and could help the next day.
I called my friend who was coming with us to the hospital, and arranged for her husband to take my daughter if my other friend didn't get home in time.

When she landed, my friend called me right away and then went to have her hair done. I continued to labor at home until I started transition. I called my friend who was finishing with her appointment. She got a cab home and we ran out the door as she walked in.

My son was born 45 minutes after we left my house.

[littlemermaid]

If I were you I would just all drive to the hospital together. Your husband could wait in the waiting room with your DS until backup came to get him from the hospital.

[pugz]

we would likely call a neighbor until family could arrive.

I am going to the hospital immediately next time when my water breaks since I delivered 3 hours after water breaking with my first.

[DarcyLongfellow]

My inlaws live 10 minutes away, but I plan to have a deep bench just in case :-)

My plan if things are quick (which I don't really expect them to be, but you never know) is to have DH drive me to the hospital with DD. Then who ever is going to watch DD will meet us at the hospital to pick her up. I'd be okay in the hospital room alone for a bit.

As far as who to watch kid #1, do you have any friends with kids? I have so many friends with kids DD's age, and I plan to put some of them on stand by :-). I did the same for them -- they had family to help, but I said if they were stuck, to just call me. Watching another kid your kid's age is relatively easy!

We're also going to have my BIL on standby. He's young and unmarried and has never changed a diaper or babysat, but he adores DD and would be happy to watch her (especially now that she's potty trained!).

[Deleted]

We called my BIL both times. Calling a cab would have worked but my concern would be DH getting there in time.

Do you have a friend who would be willing to take your LO as a backup plan? Hopefully your inlaws will be in town and you won't need it.

[niki]

We plan on asking our neighbors, on both sides, in case one has to be at work. Then my parents will pick him up when they get to our house (about 22 minutes from mine). My midwife said he can be in the delivery room until my parents get there, but I don't want my divide my husband's attention, if I can avoid it.

[h]

We don't have any local family. We had various people lined up depending on weekend/weekday and time of day. Had I needed to go to the hospital during a weekday while DS1 was at daycare, he would have gone home with a friend whose kid attended the same school. Weekend we would have dropped him off with a different friend with kids. My mom was planning on coming into town a few days before my due date, so any time after that she could stay with him. Middle of the night labor before my mom got into town was the only contingency we didn't fully plan for--we told some friends we might call them in the event of a middle of the night emergency, and beyond that just figured we would deal with it if it happened.

I did end up going into labor in the middle of the night. We called friends at 4:30am, and they came right over to watch DS1. We also called my mom and MIL in the early am. My mom started driving to us (about a 7 hour drive), and my MIL got on the first available flight. We got to the hospital around 5am and right around noon my MIL arrived at our house to relieve our friends and my mom and step-dad got ti the hospital to see the baby born.

We bought our friends a gift certificate for a fancy brunch out to thank them. It all worked out fine.

[dragonfly08]

My parents and ILs live at least 3 hours away. I didn't have any neighbors I'd have felt comfortable calling in the middle of the night. Combine that with some pregnancy-related health issues I was having and you get the reason why #2 was born via scheduled induction. I'd had a medically necessary induction with #1 that was a great experience, so I had no problem doing it again assuming I was already starting to progress on my own by that point (if I hadn't dilated and/or effaced at all by the checkup just prior to the induction date, my OB and I agreed I'd cancel the procedure and wait it out...I'd have had to come up with an alternative in that case).

[dcrunnergirl]

The ILs live about 25 minutes away in no traffic, so we'd probably call them. If it was a really huge rush/emergency, we could call two sets of neighbors or our daycare provider, who is just 0.75 miles away. She's helped other parents in situations like this. I also have a few friends that might be willing to come over who don't live too far away.

[Deleted]

We are super close with our neighbors who are a childless couple. We will probably call one of them in the middle of the night to come sleep the rest of the night at our house. My parents live 1.5 hours away so we can call them to be sure to come relieve the neighbors by the time they have to go to work.

[knitty]

A cab might not take you. Definitely buy some depends so you're not leaking fluid everywhere during the trip.

Ask around, I'm sure every other preschool parent has had the same anxiety and will be willing to help out. I have been number who knows what on several people's lists of people to call, from memory every single one of them could get their first person.

How about a doula? If you gave a doula, will they drive you and stay with you?

I stressed about this through my whole pregnancy, really stressed. Turned out like a textbook, though. My olde one's nap schedule wasn't even interrupted!

[cjeanette]

Ds rode with us and my parents met us there.

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[elocrates]

Our parents live about an hour away. We have 2 sets of friends who live about 15 minutes away but work crazy, unpredictable hours.

With DS2, a co-worker of mine lived about a block away. He came over at 3:30 in the morning to stay with DS1. DS2 was born at 4:08am.

With DS3, my co-worker no longer lived nearby. We are not close with any of our neighbors, but knowing how quick my labors are we asked 4 different neighbors if they would be wiling to come over in a pinch. We were surprised at how willing everybody was to help out. Good thing, too, since we did have to call on one of them to help us out. I actually drove myself to the hospital with DS3 since I just "didn't feel right." Active labor started at the hospital and DS3 was born 31 minutes later. We called my mom before I left, and DH left our house as soon as the neighbors got there (about 5 minutes later). He made it to the hospital (a mile away) about 20 minutes before DS3 was born.

Our other plan was to just bring the boys with us. We figured they wouldn't be the first children in the world to see a delivery. DH also did some research ahead of time on how to deliver a baby at home, just in case.

Anyway, I strongly suggest asking neighbors ahead of time. People love to help out for events like this. It took some anxiety away to know we had several plans (and back-ups to those) in place.

[hopeful2012]

Taking a cab is not ideal. I went into labor with my first at work (water broke) and had to take a 45 minute cab ride from downtown out into the suburbs where my dr/hospital was. Believe me, it was not a fun experience. I had DS about 7 hours after I got to the hospital, so I had plenty of time but still, not fun.

Our plan is having in-laws/parents/siblings all of who are in the area pick up DS when #2 comes. If I go into labor at work again chances are that will all play itself out before I make it to the hospital. Really hoping that doesn't happen again.

[SusanBAnthony]

We had a home birth

Most of my friends who had no family in town hired a doula to be their childcare, basically. That way they had peace of mind that this person was being paid to be on call for the birth day or night. They had them come play with the older child twice before the birth instead of "prenatal" meetings.