Pregnant and Travelling: Yes, it can be done

Pregnant and travelling can be done

Pregnant and travelling?   As a mom of 2 children (7yo and 4yo), I had to do some traveling, and also wanted to do some traveling before the baby came. So, don’t let anyone tell you that once you are pregnant you have to give up traveling…not true!  Will you always be comfortable, probably not.  But again it depends when you travel throughout your pregnancy.  Most moms and doctors will say the 2nd trimester is best because your body is adjusted to the hormones and you aren’t too big so sleeping through the night may still be happening (if you aren’t going to the bathroom like 100 times, like me).  Here are a few of my travel experiences with both of my pregnancies.

First travel experience (1 month before I was pregnant with our 1st child) In August of 2007 my husband and I planned our first trip to Hawaii. We planned on visiting Hawaii in late November of 2007.  In late October, I found out I was 6 weeks pregnant!  I have to admit I was little concerned about our trip because we booked a 7 day cruise while we were in Hawaii. Plus, after that we were going to San Fran and Napa Valley.  Was I going to be sea-sick and have morning sickness?!  Luckily, I managed to keep my breakfast down the whole cruise.  There was only 1 time that I felt really nauseated but I got out of my cabin and got some fresh air on the top deck.  About 30 minutes later, I was feeling great.  The only thing that slowed me down was extreme exhaustion.  During my first trimester I was extremely tired and could fall asleep anywhere…and did!  After the cruise was finished went to San Francisco and checked out the city and also visited wine country.  Unfortunately, wine country wasn’t as much fun as I had originally planned, but I made the best of it. However, we made up for it last year when we visited wine country again, but with our 2 kids.  You can read about our adventure here. Did I forget to mention that we drove to San Francisco from Portland, Oregon?  A 10 hour drive and the drive was beautiful!

My second travel experience – 7 months pregnant and flying from Portland to Milwaukee.  I was a little naive to plan a baby shower in Wisconsin while 7 months pregnant.  Why did I wait so long?  I don’t know.  I was so uncomfortable flying and could feel my legs swelling up the longer I sat in those tiny seats.  Of course, I got stuck in the middle seat and had to pee like 10 times on the 2 hour leg of the flight.  It was also the middle of March and cold!  The baby shower was a success but lets just say I didn’t do it for my 2nd child.

Third travel experience – 4 months pregnant with our second child.  My best friend was living in Sydney, Australia for only 6 months for work.  She invited me to visit and I knew if didn’t go, I would be regretful…so off I went!  My husband wasn’t excited about me going alone because I was pregnant. So, my mom “volunteered” to come along.  It was her first time out of the country and she was super excited!  My husband decided to take our daughter on a “father-daughter” cruise while I was gone.  You can read about their time together here…a cute story!  I decided to surprise my mom with a side trip to Auckland, New Zealand while we were there.  The timing was perfect because we were there over Mother’s Day. I managed well considering the 17 hours of flying.  However, on the trip back from Sydney I did get sick about 1 hour before landing.  Let’s say the flight attendants weren’t all that happy with me, until I pulled the “I’m really sorry, I’m pregnant” card.  Their demeanor changed immediately with empathy.

Fourth travel experience – 8 months pregnant with second child. 6 hour road trip in the dead heat of summer.  It was over 90 degrees in central and eastern Washington and I held up fairly well.  We drove from Portland to Spokane and stayed in the area for a few days.  Some of the highlights were boat rides on Lake Coeur d’alene in Idaho, and also Lake Pend Oreille near Sandpoint, ID.  Our daughter was 3 at the time and loved that all the hotels had pools.  So did I!  The relief of weight swimming in the pool when you are 8 months pregnant is like no other.  The down side, you still have to get out of the pool.  I felt like I gained another 15 pounds after getting out!  Ugh! It was a great trip regardless of size.

Fifth and Final – 8 1/2 month pregnant. Another 6 hour road trip but to northern Washington and Vancouver, Canada.  A college friend of mine was getting married in Bellingham, WA over Labor Day weekend so we thought we may as well visit British Columbia since we were so close.  Bellingham is great city near the Canadian border with lots of outdoor activities and beautiful scenery.  Since I was getting ready to pop, I wasn’t really up for hiking but we did manage to see some sights.  Vancouver was also a nice surprise.  An action packed city, again with beautiful views of the North Shore Mountains as the backdrop to the city.  The only downside was the border crossing back into the US.  It took us about an hour to 1.5 hours to get across but still worth our time.

Hopefully, you will keep traveling or start to travel while you are pregnant and cherish the memories.  Take lots of photos and keepsakes of your trips.  They are great memories and our kids love hearing the stories about the places they visited while in my belly.  The passion of travel doesn’t have to leave you once you become pregnant, or become a mom.  Its our duty as parents to share our passion of travel with our children and what better way to start when pregnant!

What places have you visited while you were pregnant?  Do you have any photos to share?

Comment below!