Flying advice

mtk612

I got the OK to fly (19weeks tmrw) from my doctor with advice of walking every 2 hours on the plane and to wear compression stockings.. (Heading to Hawaii from NY = 10 hour flight) But I am not the biggest fan of flying. Anyone have any suggestions that helped them? Many thanks!

oywiththepoodlesalready

Pack snacks and make sure to stay hydrated. I find that drinking water constantly on the flight helps me to remember to get up and move because I have to use the bathroom! For general flying nerves, I always have calming music loaded and ready to go during take off and landing. When I went to Hawaii I wasn't pregnant but what helped me deal with the long flight was having a couple books (I think I read all 3 50 shades of gray books on the flight there and back!) a movie, magazines and music. Keeping hydrated will help with the jet lag when you get there but take advantage of the time change, nothing better than being the only one on the beach at 6am and feeling wide awake!

oywiththepoodlesalready

Oh and spring for a travel pillow and blanket, you can use the pillow for back support and sometimes the flights are really cold!

mtk612

Thank you so so much!!

groovylocks

Don't drink.

Although I am of the belief that a few drinks throughout your pregnancy does no harm whatsoever, drinking in the air is a different animal. Normally for people afraid to fly, i recommend alcohol since it obliterates fear in the air for some reason. But it hits very hard due to changes in pressure and less oxygen. So don't drink. 

If you can fly with somebody else, do that. Especially somebody who is lighthearted and fun to talk to. If not, there are websites that work like dating sites and actually allow you to choose your seatmate based on your personal preferences. The agents will match you up with your ideal flying companion I've never tried them but i remember somebody sharing a link about one such site once. 

If it makes you feel better, I'm flying every week I hate it and don't think it's good for the kid to be flying SO much. I used to be a nervous flier too. 

phyllisnefler

@groovylocks I'm like you - I have to fly constantly, although I'm hoping it will settle down substantially after next week once the super-busy season ends for me at work. It hasn't bothered or worried me yet, but I'm starting to get to the point where I feel like it can't be great to be in the air so much. Plus, soon enough it's going to get a lot more uncomfortable.

I haven't worn any compression garments yet (I'm 18 weeks.) I do try to drink a lot of water, get an aisle seat so I'm not too shy to get up and move around -- I was in a window seat yesterday and only got up once, which isn't ideal -- always have a movie loaded on my iPad, and get sleep on the plane (eyemasks ftw!) as much as I can. But that's about all I've really done.