What's a ridiculous distance to drive to a hospital?

brianamah · May 2011

I've been going to the same OB/GYN group practice (UCLA) for 7 years and am very comfortable there. They have a midwife group there as well and I would like to start working with them and plan for a natural delivery.

HOWEVER I live way the heck out in Pasadena, which is a 30 min drive on a good day... and the other morning was an hour and a half in traffic.

I haven't found a comparable solution elsewhere in Los Angeles and am wondering if I am crazy for thinking I shouldn't rule it out on distance alone. (And maybe explore home birth instead).

Any thoughts? Anyone else drive clear across the city?

tokenhoser · May 2011

Depends a lot how fast you go. I could have driven 30 minutes if I went in sooner in labour. 90 would have been intolerable later on (honestly, 15 was hell when I went in, but I went in during transition), and could have made me too late to get there. You'd need to be prepared to head to the hospital as soon as you knew you were in labour if you want to guarantee your baby will be born there.

amanicen · May 2011

The max I was comfortable with was 30 minutes, especially since LO was born in February when we had huge snowstorms. Our drive ended up being at 10pm while I was going through transition. Even though it was only 15 minutes it was the hardest part of labor because I couldn't move much.

If I were facing traffic like that I'd head to the hospital as soon as possible and not plan on laboring at home very long.

katcarls · May 2011

If you have a long drive, I would plan on heading in a little earlier. I was in transition for the car ride and that 10 minutes was awful. If you want to labor out of the hospital for as long as possible, you could get a hotel room nearby and hang out there until you're ready to go.

laurasuzanne2006 · May 2011

before deciding on a home birth I had looked into a birth center in the area. It was an hour away, not during traffic times. considering i also work 45 minutes away and plan to work until I pop we decided home would be the best decision for us. If we had decided on hospital I probably would drive 45 minutes (wheether traffic or no traffic) especially if it's a really good hospital

Mrs.Greeko · May 2011

I drove across the city (denver) to deliver my second child (bypassing multiple hospitals along the way) at a birth center and will do the same for the third child. It's a 30 minute drive with no traffic, 45-90 minutes with traffic. I also had a 2.5 hour labor and I made it just fine. Hopefully I will make it again and this time we have the possibility of snow, which has never been an issue before.

I don't think you are crazy.

Nechie122 · May 2011

We had the same issue. Wanted the natural birth friendly hospital on the Upper West Side of Manhattan even though we live 30 minutes (and a river crossing) away. Luckily I went into active labor in the middle of the night but even still I nearly gave birth in the car! (I arrived at the hospital fully dilated and ready to push.) I would absolutely do it again though because my prenatal care and the outcome were exactly what I wanted.

shortstuff15 · May 2011

I have the option of only 2 hospitals and both are at least 30 minutes to drive to. My husband actually tried to convince me that I wanted to give birth in a hospital 5 hours away.... I kaboshed that one pretty quickly! I would drive an hour though.

nosoup4u · May 2011

You could get a hotel room nearby to labor in until you're ready to be admitted, I've heard of women doing that.

CTri17 · May 2011

I think it is doable especially if you feel comfortable there

brianamah · May 2011

Cool! I will ask the midwives if they've had patients coming in from big distances before. Obviously I've got time to figure it out.

but it's between that and home birth right now. Talk about extremes.

ShannonMacHappy · May 2011

We are planning our birth at a free-standing birth center that's about an hour and half away from our house. It just means we'll leave earlier (no 4-1-1 for us -- more like 7-1-1). If you feel good about them, I would do it!

abell77 · May 2011

my natural birth friendly hospital is a 45 minute drive with no traffic, so I just have to take that into account when deciding when to go to the hospital, but to me the drive is so worth the peace of mind I have about the kind of care and treatment I will receive.

christinaramirez08 · May 2011

brianamah:

I've been going to the same OB/GYN group practice (UCLA) for 7 years and am very comfortable there. They have a midwife group there as well and I would like to start working with them and plan for a natural delivery.

HOWEVER I live way the heck out in Pasadena, which is a 30 min drive on a good day... and the other morning was an hour and a half in traffic.

I haven't found a comparable solution elsewhere in Los Angeles and am wondering if I am crazy for thinking I shouldn't rule it out on distance alone. (And maybe explore home birth instead).

Any thoughts? Anyone else drive clear across the city?

Wow, you've gotta ways to go until you give birth, but it's never too early to be prepared. Since you live in LA I can tell you this, my sister lives in Acton (Antelope Valley) and drove all the way to Woodland Hills when she went into labor. That's over 60 miles. So I think you'll be just fine. Just try not to go into labor during Monday morning traffic Big Smile

MustanGTbaby13 · May 2011

I am in the same boat...if we are diriving in the middle of the night...it will take 30 minutes...during rush hour with no accidents 90+minutes. We are going to decide when we want to head down based on the time of day. If it looks like I am going to be heading in in the middle of the night, we will wait longer, but during rush hour? We will probably just get to the hospital early and hang out in the lounge or something, or check into a hotel.

iloveu4ever · May 2011

30 mins not too bad but hour and half is kinda far but I live in Minnesota where the nearest hospital is 5-10 mins away.

erinb31 · May 2011

We're doing a one hour drive so we can have a waterbirth in a hospital with an amazing midwife.

JoyfulW&M · May 2011

I'm expecting a short delivery, my first delivery was under 8 hours from first contractions to baby in arms, our maternity center is an hour away. I little rediculous some people say...but worth it to me for the care I want and need.

chinadoll531 · May 2011

our hospital was an hour away with no traffic. i was comfortable with that distance. any longer though and i would had walked the rest of the way! i couldn't sit still anymore. we have a hospital here (5 min. away), but the was no way i was delivering there with the nazi OB's we have around here. I opted for a midwife practice an hour away. it was totally worth it. just don't forget to take the drive into account when labor starts. I have a sister just around the corner from the hospital so we were prepared to stay with her ahead of time if need be and probably will in the future.

brianamah · May 2011

christinaramirez08:
brianamah:

I've been going to the same OB/GYN group practice (UCLA) for 7 years and am very comfortable there. They have a midwife group there as well and I would like to start working with them and plan for a natural delivery.
HOWEVER I live way the heck out in Pasadena, which is a 30 min drive on a good day... and the other morning was an hour and a half in traffic.
I haven't found a comparable solution elsewhere in Los Angeles and am wondering if I am crazy for thinking I shouldn't rule it out on distance alone. (And maybe explore home birth instead).
Any thoughts? Anyone else drive clear across the city?
Wow, you've gotta ways to go until you give birth, but it's never too early to be prepared. Since you live in LA I can tell you this, my sister lives in Acton (Antelope Valley) and drove all the way to Woodland Hills when she went into labor. That's over 60 miles. So I think you'll be just fine. Just try not to go into labor during Monday morning traffic

Yes I'm a looong way off but I just work this way. I had our wedding planned out within about 2 weeks after I got engaged. I do everything all at once upfront, then I just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Want a personalized experience?

What's a ridiculous distance to drive to a hospital?

Re: What's a ridiculous distance to drive to a hospital?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards

Want a personalized experience?

What's a ridiculous distance to drive to a hospital?

Re: What&#039;s a ridiculous distance to drive to a hospital?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards

Re: What's a ridiculous distance to drive to a hospital?