I agree completely that there are some really irresponsible people who abuse the ambulance service for ailments that barely warrant a trip to the pharmacy let alone an ambulance. But as a new mother, I would like to put in a word of defence for those calling ambulances during labour (and I speak as one who used our own car to get to hospital and am generally so reluctant to put a strain on the health system that I was told off by my doctor for not coming in sooner when I last saw them). We are told that we are not allowed to go into hospital until we are at least 4 cm dilated (i.e. in established labour) and I know of several people who called the hospital to ask for advice and were told that if their contractions were such that they were still able to talk, then it was too early to come into hospital. The result of this is that by the time a pregnant woman is "allowed" to go into hospital, she is likely to be in a lot of pain (so the gas and air available in an ambulance is very much needed and sitting buckled into a car for the journey likely to be extremely difficult), or, as in several cases I know, are actually very close to giving birth and it genuinely is an emergency requiring an ambulance. As I said, I didn't use an ambulance, but having read this blog, I feel a bit uncomfortable that, should I feel like I require one in any subsequent pregnancy, I am likely to feel that the ambulance staff will be thinking that I am wasting their time. Having said all that, I'm a big fan of the blog in general!