Honey It's Time: Rushing to the Hospital!

Lucy: Ricky, this is it!
Ricky: This is it!  This is it!  This is it! 

Hilarity and delirium ensues!  Ricky, Fred and Ethel run around like headless chickens.  They all simultaneously try to call the doctor, hail the taxi cab, and retrieve Lucy's hospital bags.  They run out of the house leaving Lucy behind, before coming back to get her. Classic comedy gold! They then all proceed to rush Lucy to the hospital.

I've been told this was the first "television birth and delivery (1950s TV style)." Thus, television's first "hurry up we have to get to the hospital, the baby is coming" moment.  Perhaps we have Desi and Lucy to thank for this fallacy.

The third thing we learned in the my labor and delivery class was that we could let go of that preconceived idea.  There will probably be no need to "rush" to the hospital.  Under normal circumstances, you will have hours, not minutes to get mommy safely to the hospital.

(That went double or quadruple for me, since the hospital is only 5 blocks away - maybe a mile a so.  In fact, we could have used to the walk to help jump start cervix dilation, if that was a good idea.  And if you read my previous post "Contractions Starting! Don't Go for a Walk!" then you already know it's not.)

To get back to the point, a women usually begins to feel contractions 12 - 24 hour before actually delivery.  The contractions normally intensify throughout the day.  As long as you live within a reasonable distance to hospital, dad and mom should have ample time to rest, gather themselves, load up the trunk, confirm with the The Catcher (Obstetrician) and head over to the hospital.

The obvious exceptions would be premature and/or abnormal births that require immediate medical attention.  So dads-to-be, don't worry about practicing your Formula One skills or figuring you'll have a free pass to break the sound barrier for that all important drive to the hospital.  Once again, TV has lied to us.

The drive to the hospital will most likely be far more uneventful than you imagined. (Hint: keep a towel over moms chair, just in case. Towels are easier to clean than upholstery.)   Once mom is admitted and as comfy as a pregnant woman in labor can be in the circumstances, there's probably even time for you to run back home if you've forgotten anything.

My wife and I arrived at the hospital and the nurse diagnosed her as being nine inches dilated (10 inches is fully dilated.) My son wasn't born for another eight hours or so.  There was not a whole lot for me (or any dad) to do at the hospital (mostly trying to sooth my wife during the contractions.) There was a lot of down time (plenty of time to master car seat installation).

Did I mention, no need to rush to to the hospital?  There will probably be plenty of time to get the mommy-to-be to the hospital, checked-in and comfortable. So relax.

What about all those baby's born in cabs, elevators and living rooms rooms, you're asking.  I probably don't need to tell you, but neither a doctor (making a house-call) nor 911 operator has advised anyone to "boil water and grab clean towels" in quite some time.  I'm guessing, unplanned non-hospital birth are rather rare, and normally an anomaly (severe weather, disabled elevator, etc.) or user error (traveling too far from home and trying to get back to her designated hospital, going to the wrong hospital, etc).

If you disagree or had a different "getting to the hospital" experience, please share your experience or comments below.

Correction: My wife was 9 cm dilated, not 9 in.  Thanks, Gerard.

     - Clark's Dad