Grandma having surgery / Travel at 38w

bloverde · May 2012

My grandma was just schedule for a triple bypass on Friday. Although I moved 4 hours away a year ago, I'm still the one most responsible for her. I'll be 38w1d on Friday, and I don't know what to do. Ideally, I'd be able to see her before she went in to surgery, but I would need to leave Thursday night or super early Friday. That would require taking a vacation day. My maternity is unpaid, so that would cut into my leave. And because of some recent terrible car luck, we're only working with one car. DH can't take a vacation day because he needs them for the hospital stay. So he would either have to not come or we'd have to wait to leave until after 5 on Friday. If I went into labor at home, it wouldn't be the end of the world. There are wonderful hospitals in our city. But if DH wasn't there and didn't have a car, we'd be screwed. I have no idea what to do right now.

FyreFlyeRush · May 2012

T&P for your family. I can't imagine how stressfully this must be right now. The only advice I can offer you is to talk to your OB before you make any kind of decision. Some OBs will put mom's on travel restrictions after 35w. This is includes car trips. You mentioned it's a four hour trip.

chloebeth930 · May 2012

I don't think that 4 hours is that bad. If you go into labor at any point you wouldn't be too far from a hospital. I think you have to outweigh the risks of going into labor away from your current home, from not seeing your grandma before surgery (god forbid something were to happen to her).

I traveled 14 hours in a car at 34 weeks and 36 weeks. The only issue I had was has some swelling in my feet. My OB wasn't too happy with me about the traveling, but it was unavoidable and they can't stop you.

FyreFlyeRush · May 2012

I think, too, it depends on where this drive takes you. Four hours west of me is smack dab in the middle of no where, with the closest major city another 2 hours away.

bloverde · May 2012

Yeah, home is an excellent healthcare city, and I would be less than an hour from other decent sized cities with well known health systems on the way. DH would drive the whole way. I would have my MW give me a copy of all my labs and records to take. I've had a very healthy pregnancy. I would be most upset by going into labor and getting an OB who wasn't NB friendly. Ugh. It's just been one thing after the other this entire pregnancy, and none of them were pregnancy related!

cltk12 · May 2012

FyreFlyeRush:
I think, too, it depends on where this drive takes you. Four hours west of me is smack dab in the middle of no where, with the closest major city another 2 hours away.

Personally, I wouldn't go, but only you can make the decision. If you do go, make sure there are hospitals along the way. If you're in a rural area driving 4 hours, 4 hours may be the nearest hospital that delievers babies. Also, I for sure would NOT go if you're driving by yourself....