Hellobee Boards

It's federal law that if you are labor any hospital has to accept you for treatment. They might transfer you somewhere else but they can't turn you away.

@Mama Bird: Good point. I was just thinking in an emergency situation not normal labor!

@Becky: I feel like I called my insurance about this with one of my pregnancies because there was a holiday we were supposed to travel out of state for, and they had a cutoff week where if you traveled and delivered elsewhere out of state you’d be on the hook for a much bigger portion of the bill than if you delivered where you were expecting too. But I have pretty crappy insurance so it could just be that! Definitely give them a call though!

All my OBs advised strongly against travel greater than 1hr after 36 weeks, so I would ask your OB this question. Mine brought up extreme tiredness and risk of blood clots as reasons beyond just being away from their office/local hospital. It's surprising your work would want to take on the added risk. Also, I always had to preregister at the hospital for delivery, so if that wouldn't be done, there may be extra steps/documentation required for checking in if you went into labor.

If 6 hours takes you out of state, you may want to understand any local laws that relate to pregnancy. In IL, for instance, it was (may still be) law to check for HIV in the 1st trimester AND the 3rd, otherwise without the second test results, my OB said there was a risk the baby wouldn't be handed to the mom until she passed the HIV test after birth. Crazy stuff.

Also, you'd probably want to be familiar with labor/delivery guidelines at those hospitals, if you weren't already. I've recently learned that after an emergency C-section, policies can differ as to whether the mom sees the baby right away.

Personally I wouldn’t go. Are you driving? That’s a long time to drive there and back. I can’t believe your work would allow you to travel that late.

I have three kids. Two were born past 41 weeks and I had to be induced. One came exactly at 37 weeks. I even went for a doctors checkup that morning and she told me I was only 1cm dilated and it wouldn’t be for awhile. I started having contractions at 2am, got to hospital at 3am, and had baby by 5. It was super fast and even though I was pre registered, they haven’t processed anything yet so there was all these unnecessary questions and check in procedure hold up during which the baby transitioned and it was too late for epidural. I had also taken by step b test that morning and it came out okay but they didn’t have any paperwork so they gave it to me anyway to be on safe side.

I was supposed to travel at 36+5 to a major city about a 2 hour flight from my house. My midwife told me to check which hospitals near my office have decent NICUs and to bring their emergency number. My first birth was precipitous and required a NICU consult, which was the concern.

There was a snowstorm that came in that threatened my flight getting cancelled and me having to be there until 37 weeks. My midwife raised concerns because it would be bad if I went into labor on the plane. My work refused to let me go because the amount of paperwork required if I gave birth in Illinois was just not the benefit of going.

Honestly, I was really bummed, but given a history of precipitous labor I would be hesitant to drive more than an hour away. I was put on a 30 minute radius at 37 weeks (which meant I was pulled out of work). While my first baby came in 3 hours and 20 minutes from the first sign of labor (and about 2 hours from active labor), my second was much faster--an hour from timeable contractions to delivery.

@Becky: so I had to work today and I asked my boss what the big deal was about me getting stuck in Chicago when very pregnant. She said that there's a whole bunch of complicated paperwork that results if you deliver while in travel status. There's a bunch of ambiguity about who pays for your hotel at lodging for the 5-6 days you are out of the hospital before you're cleared to fly) drive long distances and you can't go on maternity leave while on travel status (but can't work because your caring for a newborn). Hence why her boss out an absolute veto on me traveling that far along.

To me it seems like a totally solvable problem, but I didn't realize how much of a ban there was until this time. I only mention it because your company may have something similar if they know your due date (mine did due to being on work from home restrictions)