TTC and planning a trip

SmileyJay

Okay, I need a little perspective since I can't really ask anyone IRL without spilling the beans that we are planning to start ttc. 

DH and I are ready to add to our family and wanting to start TTC in January. Thing is, we have an international trip planned for mid May. We are going to be traveling to Russia for 10 days and have already paid for it. The thought of TTC was on our brain when we made the plans but it was months ago and we just weren't sure we wanted to. I ran it past my obgyn and her response was basically that there are women who travel for work throughout the entire pregnancy and flight attendants usually keep working until month 7.  

Basically I am trying to decide if we should ttc in Jan and Feb. If I don't get a BFP in February then we will hold off trying until May. My cycles are very regular so based on my expected ovulation dates, I would be either 17 weeks or 13 weeks during the trip if we are successful. I want to avoid traveling during the 1st trimester because of other things I have read and the possibility of morning sickness. We have travel insurance and health insurance that covers travel so we can cancel the trip and get our money back if we have to. I will also only be in large city centers with access to health care, not going rural very much. We will be traveling with a tour guide, an interpreter, and we both speak enough Russian that I could get by in a hospital setting. We plan to look up restaurants before the trip and only eat places that are main stream, along with only drinking bottled water. We don't drink so I won't be missing out on the vodka either way! 

So my question is - is it a bad idea to ttc with a trip already planned? Should we just wait until May? Like I said before, if we don't get pg before Feb then we won't try until we get back to avoid the hassle? Any tips for traveling while pregnant? 

Opinions please, thanks! 

Jags8

I guess I don't see the connection between TTC and a vacation. Unless you really wanted to be able to do some heavy drinking on your trip? I say just go ahead and TTC if that's what you want to do.

MrsRustyGriswold

Since nothing is a guarantee in TTC, I'd say keep your travel plans.

bumpuser794640

I would just wait and see. If you are KU and feel comfortable traveling, then go. If you aren't KU, go on your trip. If you are KU and you don't feel comfortable traveling, have complications like HG, etc. you can reassess.

FemShep

I'm not sure why you'd be concerned about taking the trip if you do get pregnant.  Do you have a chronic health condition that requires extraordinarily frequent monitoring?   I was considered high risk during both of my pregnancies for a chronic health issue, as well as AMA the second time, and I traveled frequently both times with absolutely no issues.

Even if you do get pregnant in January or February, you'll be in very late first trimester or second trimester, which is the best time to travel.  You're often over the worst of your early symptoms and not too big to be very uncomfortable yet.  And even healthy couples only have ~20% chance of getting pregnant each month they TTC.

I'd go ahead and start trying, and keep trying, personally.

Ducktale

GnomeSweetGnome said:

I would just wait and see. If you are KU and feel comfortable traveling, then go. If you aren't KU, go on your trip. If you are KU and you don't feel comfortable traveling, have complications like HG, etc. you can reassess.

This exactly.

SmileyJay

You guys are right - I am way over thinking it. I tend to do that. 

We will just try for two months and reassess. Maybe we will get lucky and get pg in Jan... no one knows. I was mostly just trying to decide if I want to risk being pregnant and the possibility of morning sickness and other symptoms while being on such a trip. Not expecting health complications but mostly concerned about any risks to the (hypothetical) baby and my comfortability during the long trip. There will be a lot of walking, staying up late, jet lag, and being on a plane for up to 9 hours at a time both ways. I am not worried about throwing up, if it happens it happens... mostly just about it affecting how much I enjoy the trip. We have trip insurance and can cancel anytime so not much financial risk. Just trying to see if I am nuts to actually plan to ttc when we have a trip planned... my family would definitely think so, so you guys are a big help!!

@gnomesweetgnome - this is what we will do TTC is definitely no guarantee so we will just reassess if I do get pg. You were the most helpful!

Thanks! 

dogperson11

For what it's worth, my family has a big Hawaiian cruise planned for the end of March. My 85 year old grandmother planned it and has been talking about it for literally 8 months. We began TTC in October and if this cycle isn't our BFP we will not try in January and February and resume trying in March. We're choosing to take the break because I don't want to have morning sickness during the trip. I know you never know if you'll be sick a lot, all the time, or even at all, but we want to make sure the vacation is everything my grandmother has envisioned. That said, this will be the only time we take a break.

laurenstar18

I was also going through this same situation. H and I are going to the Philippines to visit family and vacation in Boracay in 3 weeks. We got married in March and decided to wait until during/ after this trip to TTC. We decided to wait because I wanted to really enjoy this vacation and not worry about anything. We're planning to cliff jump, eat sushi and raw foods, drink, etc... I'm not a big drinker anymore but i just don't want to think and overanalyze if i was pregnant.

This really is a personal choice. I wouldn't worry about if you don't have any crazy activites planned. If it weren't for my need to cluff jump during this trip, we would've started sooner.

Best of luck!

MrsMac613

Its really a personal decision. We have a trip to California planned for June. For us TTC was more important and not something we are willing to put on hold. We will still take our trip I just might be limited in things I can do such as drinking, partying, amusement parks. But I decided that I was perfectly fine with that. It's all about your comfort level.