The long-awaited moment is about to come – the child will be born from day to day. Expectation is mixed with fear of the coming birth – this is natural for every woman. And when the contractions begin, panic arises, in which it is very easy to forget everything that the future parents were taught in the courses of preparation for childbirth. This is where you need a memo for pregnant women , which sets out the sequence of necessary actions at the moment when the “X hour” has come. Moreover, it will be useful to study her by heart not only for the pregnant woman herself, but also for the happy father, whose duties include helping his wife get to the hospital on time and without problems.
Finding out the approximate due date is not a problem today. A gynecologist leading a pregnancy will definitely name it almost exactly at the time a woman is registered. But it is impossible to plan absolutely everything in life, so childbirth may occur earlier than the designated date – sometimes at 36-38 weeks. A note for pregnant women is needed just for such cases.
What do you need to prepare in advance?
It is very important not to make any long trips, whatever their purpose, on the eve of childbirth. If an emergency has arisen and it is impossible to postpone the trip, it is imperative to take with you the documents necessary for the admission of the pregnant woman to the maternity hospital. The mandatory list includes:
·The passport.
· Exchange card of a pregnant woman.
· Health insurance policy.
· Generic certificate.
· A contract for childbirth with a specific maternity hospital, if one has been concluded.
This package of documents should always be at hand. Even in the event that the pregnant woman is at home in anticipation of an imminent birth, it will be much easier not to forget them during an urgent collection to the hospital, if the contractions have already begun.
In addition to documents, you need to put in one bag the things that the woman in labor will need in the hospital. This is a dressing gown, a nightdress, slippers, personal hygiene items, underwear recommended by a doctor for wearing in the first days after giving birth and feeding a baby, and some other little things. A bag with things and documents, preferably, should be in one place so that the search for them does not create additional obstacles during emergency fees to the hospital.
It will also be a good idea to prepare clothes for yourself and the one attached to the newborn for discharge from the hospital. Of course, you don’t need to take them with you, but this way the woman will be completely sure that the newly-made father will not forget anything, preparing to take his wife and child from the clinic.
We go to the hospital
Ideally, a woman should come or arrive at the hospital at least a day before the due date of birth. However, not everyone wants to spend extra hours in the clinic, among strangers, in a strange environment. In this case (far from rare), the memo for pregnant women says how you can get to the hospital when the contractions have already begun.
First of all, it is, of course, a phone call to the ambulance service at “03”. The car leaves for childbirth immediately and delivers the woman in labor to the nearest maternity hospital, or, if there is time, goes to the hospital with which the pregnant woman has entered into a contract. You can immediately contact a specialized ambulance for women in childbirth and call a car, which has all the necessary equipment for an emergency delivery.
If the intervals between contractions are 10-15 minutes, you can go to the hospital in your own car. In this case, you need to go to the clinic with which the contract was concluded.
In the case when the contractions are repeated more often, after 5 or less minutes, you need to get to the maternity hospital closest to the house as soon as possible, regardless of where the pregnant woman planned to give birth earlier. If it is not the first birth that has come before the deadline, and the interval between contractions is rapidly decreasing, you need to get to the hospital as soon as possible, otherwise there is a risk of giving birth on the road.