September 2012 Moms
Jumpin4joy
member
Have you flown cross country while pregnant?
Jumpin4joy
member
I'm about to head to the Carribean and wondered what precautions I should take. I am 24 weeks. My doc said just to get up once an hour. Any other ideas? Help please!
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Re: Have you flown cross country while pregnant?
Yes, multiple times.
With baby in tow as well
Walk around every hour (get an aisle seat to make this and bathroom trips easier). Drink water.
Thats about it.
BFP #3 via cancelled IUI ~ C (2lb 3oz; HELLP) 5/16/11
BFP #4 via the natural (free!) way ~ E (8lb 11oz) 9/13/12
definitely make you drink lots of water and get up once in a while like our door said. however, flying does make your feet swollen, at least it is for me. But if you drink lots of water it shouldn't be too bad. if your feet/ankles do happen to swell, they'll go back to normal the next day.
What everyone else said. It really isn't bad.
Oh, if you don't intend to do the backscatter TSA machine thingie, you may want to avoid underwire bras. Some places will just let you go through the metal detector instead of getting the pat down if you are obviously pregnant, and it sucks to get to go through the regular metal detector and still get a freakin pat down due to an underwire bra (grr).
You may want to bring a little pillow in case you need extra support anywhere, and expect not to have as much space as usual...or be able to bend to get stuff from a bag as easily.
I'm traveling from Philly to LA on Tuesday... I'll be 25w2d. I'm really not too worried about it.
Oh, I also traveled from Philly to Salt Lake City when I was 16w PG with DD.
I have a trip planned to Vancouver in July as well and I'll be about 31w then. Good times!
Carter Robert 7.18.08 | Brynn Sophia 5.24.10 | Reid Joseph 9.10.12 | Emerson Mae 1.27.14
[MC 11.20.11] [DS born 9.24.12] [DD born 10.15.14]
Crazily, I opened up the Sept 12 board instead of my own Oct 12 moms board. But, I just got back last week from Aruba, which is slightly further away from my home than most Carribbean islands.
My flight all total was six or seven hours.
Most important: pack lots of chips or dried fruit or almonds or gummy bears and whatnot in your checked luggage. You will need those snacks for your return flight, especially because customs will not likely allow you to come back to the states with any food whatsoever - even if you say you plan to eat it!
I went to the grocery store in Aruba to get apples and bananas to eat on the way back. Customs in Aruba destroyed them. So I had to board the plane with no healthy snacks and nothing to eat for five hours except for peanuts, potato chips and gum.
Again, bring snacks for the flight there. But, pack snacks for the return flight. Just make sure they are BAGGED, like apple chips or something. Otherwise, customs will flag you down - even if you try to hide it. Those Dogs, they find EVERYTHING!
I wore layers of clothes because I get cold on airplanes. And I needed them! I brought a travel pillow. but i needed two, one for my back and one for my neck. Granted, that's bulky, but i would've been more comfy.
I drank Coke when I got a little nauseous. I drank water too, but be careful bc they don't always let you get up to pee. I asked the flight attendant to tell me when we were 15 minutes away from descending, so I'd have time to wait in line at the bathroom.
They also didn't care that I was pregnant, so i had to pay $25 to upgrade to a bulkhead aisle seat. It was worth it. I had more space and so did DH. Oh! And register for your seat online if you can. They oversell those flights to the islands.
My belly swelled - not my feet. I was glad to be wearing real maternity jeans and a loose sweater and tank... I made sure to get up and walk and not sleep the entire flight. I brought lotion because I started to dry out. Hands got all cracked halfway through. And I wore slip on shoes but brought thick socks since I get so cold on planes.
Have a blast. The flight is super easy as long as you have water and FOOD.
Thanks for all the great advice ladies! Unfortunately I'm in the middle seat everytime. Hopefully someone will take pity on me and switch. My SO and I couldn't even get seats together.
I'm off to get Sea Bands, compression stockings (I'm so hot I'm wondering if I can keep these on!) and snacks. I wear nothing but maxi dresses these days so I should be pretty comfy although I have a feeling that seat is going to feel a lot smaller than the last time I flew.
Where do I buy compression stockings? I don't have time to order online. Another FTM mistake.
I am flying from Charlotte to Albuquerque at 32 weeks for my sister's wedding...I asked the doc about it earlier this week, and he basically just said what everyone has here, about drinking water and walking around.
He also suggested that I get some records printed off from the ob/gyn before my trip - that way if something did happen with me or the baby while away from home, I could have those records on hand for the doctor/hospital there. Maybe a bit overboard, but it woudln't hurt just to have them, so I plan to do that.
I flew LA -> NY. Whatever you do, if you are going to wear compression, I would suggest just wearing them to the airport even if it's hot outside. I wore open toe shoes to the airport on my flight there and usually just bring some socks to wear on the plane pre-pregnancy so my feet doesn't get cold. I basically did the same thing and just brought 20-30 knee hi compression socks to put on when I got on the plane.
First of all, I should have just done the 15-20s, but I did 20-30 strength because I was worried about flying. The 20-30s were sooooo tight and hard to put on while sitting in that tiny space! So get a 15-20 vs a higher strength of compression and don't try to wait until getting on the plane to put it on!