Most MSE place for your waters to break!

foreversomeday

Annie, if there is truly no other way for you to get to hospital you would have to call an ambulance. Could you elect any family members or friends as emergency drivers and get them to keep their phone on all night?

However if your waters break and there are no other signs of imminent labour you would be alright to wait until your husband or a neighbour, taxi etc could take you. If things got sudden you could always call an ambulance then, but in the great majority of cases first labours take hours.

There should be a free or low cost taxi service available for semi urgent transport to hospital, but I imagine it would be too difficult to stop people taking the mickey when they are perfectly able to get a lift

Oh as for the question, mine broke when I started pushing :P

oystercatcher

You know you're going to have a baby at some stage. If you don't have transport then you have a friend or relative 'on standby' to come and take you in.
If you think you may have to rely on a taxi then save up the £50 , you've got 9 months to do it it's part of the expenses of having a baby. If you don't run a car then you are saving a small fortune so some of that money can be justified on taxi fares, the odd £50 is much less than running a car over a year! Plan ahead, you'll need to pay for a taxi home as well, and beg, borrow or buy a carseat for the baby to go in.

Every labour ward will have a number you can phone to talk to the staff and discuss if it's time to come in. If we think you need an ambulance then we'll say so or even call one for you. There's no problem if you NEED one that's what they are there for. It's just not there for people to take advantage of.

Don't get in a panic about labour, most people go back for a second or even third time ...it's well worth it!!

Oystercatcher

brightonman123

i dont thonk taxi drivers would be happy with a messed up cab, if baby comes before reaching hospital- and would they charge ? (extra passenger, and all..)

Krystaltips

Probably the standard £20 soilage charge... I don't imagine they'd charge for the baby seeing as they charge you for the journey not the passenger amount...

2boysmum

AnnieM wrote: »

I can understand why women call ambulances to get to hospital when in labour though. The thought of going into labour scares the bejeezus out of me, and my OH works shifts and we don't have a car a the moment! What do you do?

What if you get a taxi driver who won't take you for fear of getting his cab gunky? Or if you can't get a taxi for an hour or two (which is often the case during rush hour where I live)?

Thats what happened to me with my first, my waters broke in the morning but no contraction, hospital told me to make my way down, phoned a taxi, told them where I was going and it never turned up, phoned another company and exactly the same, they obviously didn't want to get there seats dirty! Ended up walking to maternity hospital, Jamie was born later that night

Sharon

jackieb

Aww, I missed out on labour starting anywhere but hospital. I was always induced (always late!) wth all 4 of mine. Crochet hooks everytime too. I wonder how long I could have held on for? My fourth baby was 11 days late before they started me off and her placenta broke off when I gave birth (scary!)

AnnieM_3

oystercatcher wrote: »

You know you're going to have a baby at some stage. If you don't have transport then you have a friend or relative 'on standby' to come and take you in.
If you think you may have to rely on a taxi then save up the £50 , you've got 9 months to do it it's part of the expenses of having a baby. If you don't run a car then you are saving a small fortune so some of that money can be justified on taxi fares, the odd £50 is much less than running a car over a year! Plan ahead, you'll need to pay for a taxi home as well, and beg, borrow or buy a carseat for the baby to go in.

Every labour ward will have a number you can phone to talk to the staff and discuss if it's time to come in. If we think you need an ambulance then we'll say so or even call one for you. There's no problem if you NEED one that's what they are there for. It's just not there for people to take advantage of.

Don't get in a panic about labour, most people go back for a second or even third time ...it's well worth it!!

Oystercatcher

Actually, I fully intend to plan ahead, make sure I always have an 'emergency taxi' kitty (I do that ordinarily anyway - I am little miss organised ), and make sure we have a friend or colleague we can call if needs be. I'm hoping to have a doula to call on as well, if at all possible. I'm just aware that sometimes the best laid plans...

I was concerned as people seemed to be saying that unless you were in mortal danger you shouldn't call an ambulance - I had visions of women (maybe me if circumstances prevailed?) feeling obliged to deliver on their own at home so as not to cost the NHS £400 for an ambulance as there was technically no 'need'. _pale_

AnnieM_3

2boysmum wrote: »

Thats what happened to me with my first, my waters broke in the morning but no contraction, hospital told me to make my way down, phoned a taxi, told them where I was going and it never turned up, phoned another company and exactly the same, they obviously didn't want to get there seats dirty! Ended up walking to maternity hospital, Jamie was born later that night

Sharon

:eek: See - that's what I'm talking about! Those drivers/companies should be ashamed of themselves - what if something had happened to you?! I know labour-gunk can be dreadful to get out of upholstery, but abandoning a woman in labour...???

There should be a board in every maternity unit to 'name and shame' or 'recommend' taxi companies, so that expectant mothers can use firms with a good 'labour-friendly' reputation.

galvanizersbaby

AnnieM wrote: »

Actually, I fully intend to plan ahead, make sure I always have an 'emergency taxi' kitty (I do that ordinarily anyway - I am little miss organised ), and make sure we have a friend or colleague we can call if needs be. I'm hoping to have a doula to call on as well, if at all possible. I'm just aware that sometimes the best laid plans...

I was concerned as people seemed to be saying that unless you were in mortal danger you shouldn't call an ambulance - I had visions of women (maybe me if circumstances prevailed?) feeling obliged to deliver on their own at home so as not to cost the NHS £400 for an ambulance as there was technically no 'need'. _pale_

I can't imagine many women feeling obliged to deliver on their own at home if they weren't planning a home birth

My water's didn't break at all as I ended up having 2 caesarian deliveries but a colleague of mine's water's broke whilst we were in a training session at work which was a bit of a panic (her little girl was nearly two months early) - we had just got in to groups to start our team building exercise and we heard a whoosh noise and there she was bless her - looking bewildered with pen still poised at the whiteboard.
Firstaiders were called and her OH arrived to take her to hospital - having spoken to her after the birth she said she was too surprised to be embarrassed at the time - she got lots of flowers and good wishes from all of us

leviathan

If I ran a taxi firm TBH I wouln't feel like having to clean up after people.
Vomit is bad enough, but giving birth has issues of infection to consider as well. You've no idea what diseases the person in the back of your cab may have!!
IMHO a £50 clean up bill still isn't worth it.


Perhaps a career opportunity? Buy an old ambulance and get the local maternity ward on side to advertising your pregnancy "delivery" service?


Well, in the name of research, she's now marching around Tesco and Asda looking for baby clothes.
She's a nurse by trade, so will ring the correct people no doubt