Well, since we are talking about no nicu

jennype

I am planning on delivering at the closest NICU which is over an hour away.  My question is this:  If you start to labor or have complications early, what do you do? Take the chance and drive to the NICU or go to your nearest hospital?  Sorry if this is just a dumb question but I worry about taking the chance of the drive.  Also, when you are closer to due date do you just pack up and relocate by the hospital?

sail123

I used to stress about this when I was on bedrest. The hospital around the corner from me has only a level 2 NICU and the hospital where I delivered was a 45 minute cab ride. Also, there were lots of big storms here during the time I was on bedrest that would have made it even more difficult.

When I went into labour I was already at the hospital because of my blood pressure so it was a non-issue. However, I had a very fast labour (dilated super fast) and it was still like 3 hours. I would have had time to make it to the NICU hospital. 

When I had complications I always went to my hospital.  

hunt2005

I'm the same situation - I drive past 4 hospitals to get to mine (1.5 hours away in bad traffic). I've been told by doctors at the local hospitals as well as by my doc that unless I'm bleeding or having serious complications/problems to go to "my" hospital. The local ones can handle ME, but if the kiddos are delivered they'd be airlifted to "my" hospital and then I'd be at a different hospital from my kids and it would pose risks for them.

MrsB*7*21

Up until last week, I told my husband to take me to Children's Hospital - about a 40 minute drive - if I went into labor, because my hospital doesn't have a NICU and I don't want them to be taken somewhere else while I'm left at our smaller hospital. I know that any baby can end up in the NICU, even full term babies, but at this point I am comfortable having them at my hospital which is about 25 minutes away.

Funny thing is, there is a river between our house and the hospital that they are expecting to flood in the next week or so and the highway could be closed, which would make it an hour+ drive there, so we might end up at Children's anyway if I don't make it to my c-section day!

caden

I live 45min (in no traffic) from the hospital I delivered at. I went to L&D 5x for PTL issues. Each time I went all the way to that hospital w/ the III Nicu just in case. Even when delivery was imminent it was't a big deal IMO to drive 45min. An hour wouldn't have made a difference in my complications either way.

tSquared1987

We were going to deliver at a hospital that was about 20 minutes from our house. It had a NICU but not a Level III. They told me if they couldn't stop the labor, then they'd transfer me to a bigger hospital with a Level III NICU. When I went into PTL at 30 weeks, we drove to the hospital closest to our house. I was there for about 20 hours in labor and then I was *finally* transfered via ambulance to the bigger hospital. I got there and delivered within an hour.

I wish I never would've even gone to the first hospital. I should've just went to the hospital with the Level III right away. But the first hospital I was at was complete BS. That's a whole other story lol I really didn't think that I was going to deliver when I went in there though. I thought they'd be able to stop the labor, but they didn't.

Thank God that I was at the bigger hospital with the kicka$$ NICU.

GL with your decision!

 

 

praying*4one

Like others...I pass many hosp to get to the one an hour away with great NICU.

I did this all 7 times for PTL and finally they kept me. SO hosp. bedrest and they are ready for me 24/7- i guess you could say I'm relocated!~

I always felt there was time to get here rather than having the babies transf.

One time my contrax were 2 min. apart and I still made it.

GL deciding.

Kim777

We live an hour to an hour and a half away from the hospitals I delivered at. Any time I have needed to go in we have gone to those hospitals (my OB switched after Rhett was born, but they are both in the same general area).

With Rhett, I was having really frequent (every 1 to 1.5 minutes and very regular) and painful contractions for the last two weeks. I had a really hard time figuring out if they were real because they were so painful and so consistent. I went in a couple of times and was sent home because I wasn't dilating. I kept asking them, if I can't use any of the typical things y'all tell people to use to figure out if the contractions are real, how in the heck am I supposed to know when to come in? No one really had a straight answer so I packed up and went to my parents' house near the hospital. When I finally did start making progress my contractions were only the tiniest bit stronger, but not any closer together or anything so I'm glad I did what I did. However, I still would have had plenty of time to get to the hospital since it was my first baby and I had no complications.

With the twins I went through the same ridiculously long early labor stuff again. It was two weeks of constant contractions but thankfully they were not as painful as the first time. I decided just to stay at home. When we initially started to the hospital I wasn't even sure I was really in labor but because my contractions were already regular and close together and had suddenly gotten a bit more painful they had me come in. While we were on the way there they got really painful and I decided it probably was the real deal. Got there and everyone was thinking I was probably going home because of how I was acting, you know since if you can talk and smile through contractions you aren't really in labor (BS!!!). They finally got around to checking me and I was 6 cm dilated. Oops! Since my babies were stubbornly breech and transverse I needed a c-section so they started desperately trying to get fluids in me, everything was so rushed and they were causing me to be really nervous with all that. Part of me wished I had been at my parents' house because by the time they actually got all of the fluids in me and got me prepped and over to the room for my spinal I had progressed really far and had been in a lot of pain with the contractions for quite a while. I'm a big baby. I had always planned to get meds ASAP and had not ever intended to progress so far without them!

I think depending on your situation relocating might be a good idea if you have an indication that you  might be close or if  you have complications. With a first pregnancy, you probably will not progress so fast that you would be as far along as I was within just two hours of labor beginning, but there is no guarantee of course. If it was not your first pregnancy then I think I would give more serious consideration to relocating temporarily if I was close to my due date or thought I might be in early labor. I would choose relocating over going to the smaller hospital because I would hate to be separated from my babies. It is also really hard to tell at what point you would be "safe" from NICU time too because I had my boys at 36 weeks, 3 days and one of them spent 12 days in the NICU.