How to prep for plane travel planned at 29 weeks?

klantzer21

They do not recommend the xray machine. Have a letter from doctor okay ing you to fly and you can refuse the xray. I didn't even get pat down just the metal detector

klantzer21

I flew at 9w and 24w/25w

annamakesthings

I just got off a plane this morning (28 weeks). Drink lots of water. I know it's a pain to go to the bathroom on a plane, but just keep drinking anyway.

&emilyjane&

I just flew overseas (8 hours) yesterday morning at 27 weeks and it was surprisingly fine. I wore compression socks, got up to walk every 1-2 hours, drank probably a gallon of water, ate regularly, and didn't feel particularly uncomfortable. That being said, it's now 3 in the morning and I'm wide awake...so it seems the jet lag is a lot worse than the flying!

nikhetti03

I was curious if any of your doctors recommended baby aspirin before flying? My husband and I are going to Amsterdam for Christmas and in doing some research I don't really like the idea of it. Thanks

bntfroggie

nikhetti03 said:

I was curious if any of your doctors recommended baby aspirin before flying? My husband and I are going to Amsterdam for Christmas and in doing some research I don't really like the idea of it. Thanks

Did your doctor recommend that?  Did they say why?  I would call and ask what the purpose of taking it would be.

nikhetti03

Yes my doctor did recommend it. She said to prevent clots, but I'm not high risk so just curious if this is for people who aren't high risk as well

katy0990

My DH takes baby aspirin daily to prevent clots (he had one a few years ago). They were able to take him off all injections and meds due to the aspirin. However, my doc has specified that I not take anything with aspirin during pregnancy.

bntfroggie

I took baby aspirin daily until 16wks.  I'm off of it now and the doctor specified that I shouldn't be on it after 28wks because if I went into labor it would be harder to stop the bleeding with that said, if your doctor suggested it and it is only one pill (instead of a daily regimen) when you are flying I don't see the harm in it.  It would suck a lot more if you got a clot, than taking a pill.  Just my opinion though.  My doctor doesn't know I'm even flying because I forgot to mention it, but I don't see it as a big deal.  For the record the compression stockings and socks reduce swelling but they are also used for clotting issues.

nikhetti03

Thanks for the help! I will be taking it, you are definitely right I would rather take it then get a clot. And will be investing in some compression socks as well!

jstanton0822

Just flew to Chicago and back in the same day for an interview. 
It made for a pretty long day but DH dropped me off at the door and picked me back up afterwards. So that was nice. The flight there was fine but the flight back I had a middle seat and the lady with the aisle seat had so much stuff on her and around her that I couldn't bear to ask her to move so I could walk around. 
My left leg started to twitch and jump around on the last half of the flight. I had to just keep moving it. 
I probably looked like I was close to peeing my pants I was moving in my seat so much. 
But I made it. All is well.

jesspomales

I love all the responses here! So glad we can help each other. I leave for this trip in 12 more days and I'm so ready. I have my prenatal records and many copies of a letter from my Dr. saying she gives me permission to travel. I'm going to ask for pat down instead of x-ray, will be packing snacks, water if I can and will walk after an hour of sitting in our aisle seating. No compression socks because I don't want to buy them just for one trip. I think I'll skip the baby asprin too. I've never heard good things about taking asprin and I'm not going to gamble. Can't wait!

bntfroggie

Holy mother of swelling batman. While I didn't swell on the plane, switching from the climate in NY to the humidity of Florida has activated swelling in my feet and it is horrid. Plane ride was a piece of cake, I did have to get up a couple of times to just walk about and I bought a pair of compression stockings which I wore on the trip not sure they helped but they didn't hurt.

ezgiplace

I flew overseas for 10 hours yesterday -- at 30 weeks . It went really well. I wore the socks they provided on the plane, drank water all the time and stood up to walk every hour. I couldn't sleep a lot but overall it was totally fine.

mshukh

I flew at 28 weeks and and 29 weeks back. 4.5 hour flights both times. No issues. I wore the compression socks on the way there, but not so much on the way back. I also drank as much as I could and walked around every 1-1.5 hours. No swelling both times that I could notice and no real discomfort. 

tripledaggerWed95976

Lurking from May 16.. I think everyone gave amazing advice.. I just wanted to add- try to be SO careful about not getting sick. I flew from Chicago to LA then back last week and got an absolutely brutal sinus infection from the plane ride home. I usually never get sick, but as pregnant women we are much more susceptible. I'm flying again in feb and will be SO much more careful this time around

bntfroggie

tripledaggerWed95976 said:

Lurking from May 16.. I think everyone gave amazing advice.. I just wanted to add- try to be SO careful about not getting sick. I flew from Chicago to LA then back last week and got an absolutely brutal sinus infection from the plane ride home. I usually never get sick, but as pregnant women we are much more susceptible. I'm flying again in feb and will be SO much more careful this time around

Noted :-)

oceanchild

I flew at 29w with my first baby and my dr had me taking baby aspirin and wearing compression stockings. Other than that it wasn't a big deal.

ecwk

tripledaggerWed95976 said:

Lurking from May 16.. I think everyone gave amazing advice.. I just wanted to add- try to be SO careful about not getting sick. I flew from Chicago to LA then back last week and got an absolutely brutal sinus infection from the plane ride home. I usually never get sick, but as pregnant women we are much more susceptible. I'm flying again in feb and will be SO much more careful this time around

Yuppppp. I was sick for the first half of my trip home, convinced I picked it up on the plane. Flying again tomorrow, it had better not happen again! I guess there's no real way to avoid it though...? What could I do?

alligreer88

Flying back home, as soon as I sleep and get back up in 7 hours. Being pregnant doesn't make it any worse, just generally flying and having a tiny seat always sucks. I'm 5 10 and our plane is 3 seats wide.. What the heck! The seat belt hardly fit around me and I'm not THAT big under my prego belly. Plus my 4yo always wants to sleep and there's no room to lay on my lap. Love her!

jesspomales

Follow up: Took papers, snacks, water, requested a pat down and set phone alarm to go off every hour-ish to remind me to walk. They never asked for papers, I didn't throw up during turbulence or had any swelling! Yay! It all worked out well but I feel like I needed a good week of good sleeping and naps to make up for the bad sleep I got in all the traveling. With missing our toddler, I was sooooo happy to be back, even if it meant cold and snow! Hope you all have a great rest of your pregnancy.

jaclynnn89

I just flew from Texas to Australia at 27 weeks and then back at 30 weeks. On the way there, I had my shorter flight (4 hours) first and my long-haul flight (14 hours) second. I chose not to wear compression socks, but I made sure to drink TONS of water, probably about 3 liters maybe a little more and brought healthy snacks like grapes, nuts, crackers, mixed berries, an apple, etc so I knew I would have something good to put in my body. No one asked me for papers from my doctor, but I had them just in case. Got up every hour or 2 & walked around and stretched, made sure I had an aisle seat so I didn't bother anyone else. My biggest issue during the flights was just general discomfort from the seats, a sore bum from so much sitting & short of breath at times from the position. Afterward I had quite a bit of swelling that took about 2 days to go away completely but I think that had to do with it being hot & humid during the Sydney summer. Coming back my flights were switched and I forgot snacks, and the swelling hit me sooner.. Much harder with the return and then added jetlag didn't help either. If I were to do it again, I would try the compression socks. Realistically flying in economy under normal circumstances for that sort of travel isn't ideal, but being pregnant it is what it is; it's going to suck. I wouldn't do a long flight again if it wasn't necessary, but that being said I flew around 23w for a 5 hour flight and was 100% fine.