Forget a honeymoon, a babymoon is definitely where it’s at these days. Many first-time mamas are taking advantage of the last couple of months of ‘freedom’ by jetsetting and venturing somewhere with their partner. I, of course, was no different.
My pregnancy was somewhat of a surprise to Ben and I, so when we found out we knew we needed to make adjustments to our travel plans. Most airlines won’t let you travel past 37 weeks and so venturing back to England for Christmas was off the table. I wasn’t going to let this stop us from taking time off to relax though. Instead, we pushed the travel dates up so that we were flying overseas during my second trimester.
It just so happened I also had a work trip to England and Ireland already scheduled and planned during my first trimester. Having traveled in the first and second trimesters, there are definitely a few things I would have done differently.
Considering traveling while pregnant? These are the mistakes I made, hoping you won’t make the same!
Consider bringing a doctor’s note
This one surprised me the most. I knew that most if not all of the airlines I was flying let me travel until I was 37 weeks pregnant and the latest gestational week I was during my trips was 20. I never considered that I could run into any problems.
When I was in Rome trying to check into our flight home, the person behind the desk asked me if I was pregnant. When I smiled and responded yes, he asked me how far along I was. I told him 20 weeks and he asked me for a doctor’s note to prove it. The strangest thing to me is that my belly was actually quite small considering how far along I was.
He ended up leaving and having to check with several of his coworkers before one finally came to my rescue.
Research the cuisine
Most people when they’re pregnant become obsessed with what they can and cannot eat. It’s not hard to see why, there are so many restrictions and new studies coming out all the time. I was no different, obviously wanting to stay away from the food that wasn’t going to be good for our little guy.
The mistake I made traveling while pregnant was not researching how food can be different in other countries. I had no idea that mozzarella was okay to eat in North America but not in Italy. Mostly because it’s obviously must fresher in Italy and therefore likely not pasteurized. I found this out way too late into my trip and spent the rest of the time worried if I had done something bad.
Wait to book
Every pregnancy is different. From what I’ve been told, even the same mom can have two completely different pregnancies with different babies. For this reason, I would recommend seeing how you feel in those first few weeks before going ahead and booking a trip.
Even though I was super tired in my first trimester, I found that once I got up and going I was fine. I would crash at night but that was fine because when I’m traveling through a new city I often wake up early to get a headstart. By the time dinner rolls around I’m exhausted anyways. I was also super lucky not to suffer from morning sickness. I can’t imagine how miserable it would be venturing through a new city or even having to be on a flight feeling sick.
In my third trimester, we traveled to the UK for a week to visit family and friends and then I ended the trip in Italy. I was heavy, tired and quite frankly bitter about not being able to enjoy a beer at a pub or a glass of wine in Italy. Even though the trips were awesome I probably would have chosen different destinations had I known how I was going to feel.
Know your limits
I actually don’t necessarily know my limits in the best of times but I was especially guilty of this traveling while pregnant. During our weekend in the Peak District, we decided to venture on some hikes. This was not a smart idea at 7 months pregnant. The inclines at times were too steep for me to walk up on my own (Ben spent a lot of time pushing my fat a** up hills).
The other mistake I made was traveling around too much in a short time frame. Flying while pregnant was more difficult on my body than I expected. I definitely didn’t take this into consideration when planning my trips. It was manageable but it probably would have been better to consider that prior to the trip and choose itineraries with less movement.
Reduce stressful situations
Not all travel is stressful but I do find that when you’re trying to put together a multi-country or even multi-city itinerary, you can run into undesirable situations. This is especially true when traveling while pregnant.
When in Cinque Terre, there were a number of trains taken and trying to navigate through a system you know nothing about can be stressful. Especially when you’re dealing with the Italian transit system.
It probably would have made more sense to rent a car for this trip as we traveled from Milan to Cinque Terre to Florence to Rome. That way the timing would have been our own and there would be more reliability of where we were going and when.
