Travelling with a pregnant woman

My wife will be in the fifth month in December. Friends of us have told
us that the fifth month is the best month for travelling as birth is
still reasonably far away, but on the other hand the baby is stable
enough.

Having said this, has anybody travelled with a pregnant wife and if so
what have been your experiences ?
--

Alfred Molon
------------------------------
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Olympus4040_5050/
Olympus 5050 resource - http://www.molon.de/5050.html
Olympus 5060 resource - http://www.molon.de/5060.html

Alfred Molon wrote:
Having said this, has anybody travelled with a pregnant wife and if so
what have been your experiences ?

A pregnant woman is not the ultra-delicate flower that some might have you
believe.

However, the mother and especially the baby *are* more vulnerable to
infections and other diseases, and an infection could have very serious
repercussions for the baby.

My wife flew across the US and spent a week on the beach when she was over
8 months pregnant with our first child. She loved it.

I'd feel totally comfortable doing a trip like that, or anywhere in
Europe, Australia, Japan, etc. I would be much MUCH less comfortable doing
a trip to a place where malaria, typhoid, food poisoning, and other risks
of tropical travel are present.

You've done a lot of travelling already, judging from your website. You
will do plenty of travelling in the future, with or without kids. If it
was me, I would hold off on exotic travel during the pregnancy. I don't
think it's worth the risk.

Gary

Hi - for what it is worth - we have 5 children and 1 grandchild. Whilst
pregnant, the mothers travelled all over Southern Africa on safaris. Some of
our children where one month old when they depart on there first safaris.
Today they are grown-ups and you should see them - and you should see the
grand-mother!

Koos Greeff.
Specialist Safari Operator.
http://www.afrikasafaris.co.za

Alfred Molon wrote in message
news.com...
My wife will be in the fifth month in December. Friends of us have told
us that the fifth month is the best month for travelling as birth is
still reasonably far away, but on the other hand the baby is stable
enough.

Having said this, has anybody travelled with a pregnant wife and if so
what have been your experiences ?
--

Alfred Molon
------------------------------
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Olympus4040_5050/
Olympus 5050 resource - http://www.molon.de/5050.html
Olympus 5060 resource - http://www.molon.de/5060.html

Alfred Molon wrote:

My wife will be in the fifth month in December. Friends of us have told
us that the fifth month is the best month for travelling as birth is
still reasonably far away, but on the other hand the baby is stable
enough.

Having said this, has anybody travelled with a pregnant wife and if so
what have been your experiences ?

Alfred,

my first thought, after I saw the subject line, was to recommend
against it. I would certainly fear consequences of otherwise
possibly inconsequential little infections for the fetus during
the first few months, but you're right that after 5 months these
risks are much smaller.

Another fear is to sit in a rattling, shaking, jumping car or
jeep going over rough, unpaved roads for many hours, but you
could fly the longer distances. And you should certainly try to
stay in one place longer and not move around much, which is
often a good idea even if you're not pregnant. A pleasant lodge
and lots of peaceful no-sweat off-time (like around the swimming
pool) probably can't be bad for the future mother.

Yet another fear is for the frequent little or sometimes bigger
digestion problems that befall many people when they come into
the hot climate.

Altogether it depends a lot on how the pregnant women herself
sees it and how tough she is. :-)

Hans-Georg

--
No mail, please.

Dear Alfred,
I was the 4 months pregnant wife, when my husband and I did our 1 month
drive-round in US Southwest last year in April.
Amongst other less streneous things the trip involved a trek down Grand
Canyon.

I managed both afternoon heat and distance reasonably well in spite of my
lack of general condition and trekking experience.
The trek down took 7hrs (normal average 3-4hrs) and the trek up took 12hrs
(normal average 8-9hrs). We took plenty of breaks especially on the last ½
up, where my husband also carried my backpack.
I kept my pulse below 120 at all times which became difficult during the
last stretch of the trek - should have started earlier that day to minimize
trek time in above 15 degrees Celcius.

In retrospect I would certainly travel again during a pregnancy and under
similar circumstances provided it was:
1. a *very* easy pregnancy - ie. I did 16hrs shifts once a week until I was
7months pregnant.
2. a once in a lifetime/or once in a decade chance to see a particular sight
that *I* wanted to see as well
3. a sensible travelcompanion who understood without *any* discussion that
the pace of any trekking is set by the slowest member of the party

On the other hand I would not have gone to XX if:
1. I could predict significant doubt in my/my husbands mind that a
spontaneous abortion was not related to the trip/stress during the trip if
it should occur.
2. the quality and access to health care services was too different from
Northern Europe - ie. handling obstetric complications and the like.
3. if the spectrum of infectious diseases was too different from Northern
Europe - a point mentioned by other posters.
4. there were no good reasons IMO that going with a baby/toddler/small child
later was not reasonably feasible

I could probably come up with more pros and cons but these were the most
important at the time.
You need to take a detailed and honest discussion with your wife about your
destination, the itenerary, the lodging/dining/transportation plans and what
*she* actually wants.
I would NOT recommend you to go anywhere if there is any chance that your
wife accepts a trip to XX in order to accommodate you. She might not forgive
you or herself if something happens to the foetus/baby.

Do bring a translation of your wifes health and pregnancy details on the
trip including blood type.

We went on a 1 month car trip Copenhagen-Sicily-Cph when our daughter Linea
was 5½ months old in April/May this year.
A great time to do car trips provided the baby doesn't get car sick:
1. they will usually sleep a lot of the driving time,
2. will be able to change between breastfeeding and spoon/bottle should the
breastfeeding end in a mess due to either the mother or the baby
3. they aren't too mobile or activity demanding yet

Last week we came home from 1 weeks driving around Bouches du Rhone
(Provence, France) with Linea now 13 months old. This time we did as follows
with success:
1. flew 2hrs and got a rental car
2. stayed in one place as a base - a holiday appartment (Gite) with its own
kitchen/bathing facilities
3. max. driving time pr. day 3 hrs.
4. get up and go sightseeing when the baby wakes, restaurant lunch at the
time when your child is in its best mood during the day or napping,
sightseeing or driving home, dinner at "home" at usual time 18, usual baby
bed time and relaxation for the adults
3. max. driving time pr. day

Travelling outside peak tourist season is less stressful for anyone
travelling with children.

Have a good trip w/o children
Cecilie Th. Jacobsen

"Alfred Molon" wrote in message
news.com...
My wife will be in the fifth month in December. Friends of us have told
us that the fifth month is the best month for travelling as birth is
still reasonably far away, but on the other hand the baby is stable
enough.

Having said this, has anybody travelled with a pregnant wife and if so
what have been your experiences ?
--

Alfred Molon
------------------------------
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Olympus4040_5050/
Olympus 5050 resource - http://www.molon.de/5050.html
Olympus 5060 resource - http://www.molon.de/5060.html

Cecilie,

thanks for the long and informative post. We might do a two weeks trip
to Egypt in December (her 5th month). The flight should be no problem
(around 4 hours), the only uncertainty could be the food, meaning that
in the worst case she would get food poisoning. But Egypt is touristy
enough to offer a range of restaurants so we might simply stick with the
better ones. Also, my wife is Malaysian, so she has already been exposed
to a certain extent to, let's say, not perfectly clean food.

If not Egypt, the other option would be simply to fly again to Malaysia
(if I manage to catch a flight). Here the problem is the long flight (12
- 15 hours), as pregnant women run a higher risk of thrombosis according
to our doctor. To cope with this she would need to walk a bit every hour
or two hours. Several of our Malaysian friends here in Munich flew
without problems to Malaysia in the middle of the pregnancy. Malaysia
has the advantage that her family is there and she is used to it.
--

Alfred Molon

http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm - Photos from Myanmar, Malaysia,
Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Egypt, Austria, Budapest and Portugal

Dear Alfred,
Egypt is a very nice country *imo* - plenty to see, generally nice and funny
people apart from the occasional extremist who try to destabilise the
country ;-)

I and plenty of others actually got varying degrees of touristic stomach by
eating at Sheraton in Alexandria several years ago, so don't feel completely
safe by choosing expensive dining.
Granted it was a warm buffet which is always tricky, but tourist stomach is
often caused by the difference in the intestinal flora of your home and
destination country and not necessarily pathogenic bacteria.
That means that being raised in Malaysia unfortunately isn't a guarantee -
Middleeastern immigrants living in Denmark also get diarrea when they go on
holiday "back home".

No matter where you go - do *not* accept the medicine most guides/hotels
have available if your wife gets a diarrea that you feel needs treatment.
It is efficient but might contain herbs or broadspectered antibiotics that
might be teratogenic.
However impractical consult a qualified physician who can tell you excactly
what the medication contains and whether it could damage the baby.

Besides from an unpleasant but usually reasonably harmless tourist stomach
you should also consider the risk of Hepatitis A (food transmissible) - if
your wife hasn't already been vaccinated this is usually something you wait
with until after the birth.
Maybe the Hepatitis prevalence in Egypt isn't higher than where you live
now?

In any case your wife needs to consult her physician and possibly her
obstetrician about the need for vaccinations or any other preventive
medication (ie. antimalarial drugs) no matter where you choose to go.

In principle Egyptian physicians should speak or at least read some English
since they use English textbooks to a fairly large degree as far as I know.

Best regards
Cecilie Th. Jacobsen

Alfred,

2nd trimester is the best time to travel. We travelled to Italy when my
wife was about 5 months
pregnant. The only thing I would advise is to *slow* down a bit and
drink lots of water.
We travelled without taking my wife's condition into account and she got
dehydrated (Aug in Italy)
and started having contractions. We had to go to the local Italian
hospital. Anyway after that we took it
easy and I made sure my wife had lots of water. We travelled by bus and
train as well as walked around
like normal tourists without any problem after that.

good luck
waseem

Cecilie Thorning Jacobsen wrote:

Dear Alfred,
Egypt is a very nice country *imo* - plenty to see, generally nice and funny
people apart from the occasional extremist who try to destabilise the
country ;-)

I and plenty of others actually got varying degrees of touristic stomach by
eating at Sheraton in Alexandria several years ago, so don't feel completely
safe by choosing expensive dining.
Granted it was a warm buffet which is always tricky, but tourist stomach is
often caused by the difference in the intestinal flora of your home and
destination country and not necessarily pathogenic bacteria.
That means that being raised in Malaysia unfortunately isn't a guarantee -
Middleeastern immigrants living in Denmark also get diarrea when they go on
holiday "back home".

No matter where you go - do *not* accept the medicine most guides/hotels
have available if your wife gets a diarrea that you feel needs treatment.
It is efficient but might contain herbs or broadspectered antibiotics that
might be teratogenic.
However impractical consult a qualified physician who can tell you excactly
what the medication contains and whether it could damage the baby.

Besides from an unpleasant but usually reasonably harmless tourist stomach
you should also consider the risk of Hepatitis A (food transmissible) - if
your wife hasn't already been vaccinated this is usually something you wait
with until after the birth.
Maybe the Hepatitis prevalence in Egypt isn't higher than where you live
now?

In any case your wife needs to consult her physician and possibly her
obstetrician about the need for vaccinations or any other preventive
medication (ie. antimalarial drugs) no matter where you choose to go.

In principle Egyptian physicians should speak or at least read some English
since they use English textbooks to a fairly large degree as far as I know.

Best regards
Cecilie Th. Jacobsen