Where hospitals aren't always that close by

We're having a small hospital in Longyearbyen and I were able to get all the maternity controls there. But they don't want to get any planned deliveries in Longyearbyen. If everything goes fine, giving a birth isn't a problem, but if there is some complications which need special expertise, mainland is far away. That is why all the pregnant ladies need to leave the island latest two weeks before due date. Of course, it's safest to leave little bit earlier, because you never know when baby is ready to be born.

I wanted to give a birth in Tromsø, not in my small home village where there is long way to a hospital. We're having a health center in my home municipality, but they don't either have a maternity clinic there. Distances in Northern Scandinavia can be long and it's not that unusual that it can take some hours to get to the closest hospital. We were lucky to have a good friend in Tromsø where we were planning to stay and wait the delivery. Actually Tromsø is a nice town anyhow to stay. But just few days before we should fly to Tromsø our child decided otherwise - he wanted out now. For to avoid to get a delivery in Longyearbyen an ambulance flight from the mainland was called and we got transported to Tromsø. It gave me a real perspective for how far away from help from outside we are in Longyearbyen. It took about eight hours from the point the flight was called to we entered the hospital in Tromsø. That was in good weather - if weather is bad, it's not quaranteed an ambulance flight can be send up straight after an accident.

Everything went just fine in our case even though I wouldn't think to travel to Tromsø on that way. But just asking from the proud mother: I think we got the most beautiful baby in the world!