Travel During Pregnancy: When is Best?

I love traveling. You get to sneak into an alternate world outside of your typical bubble, and immerse yourself in a new realm of people, places, food, and possibilities! With lots of travel ambitions, I was quite optimistic about continuing to go on travels and adventures while pregnant last year.

When I first became pregnant, one of my first thoughts and questions was how to adapt my travel plans, so that I could still go on trips, while being mindful of the ideal timing. Thankfully my doctor is a mom herself, she loves travelling, and she travels a lot as her partner is a pilot. To my surprise, there actually wasn’t a lot of hesitation or limits, as I was someone who had a healthy pregnancy without complications. She told me to check each airline, as they stipulate the latest they will accept a pregnant passenger onboard (usually around 36 weeks). There’s another factor that gets less attention, however, and that’s around insurance, and the costs associated with any treatment– or unexpected early delivery– in another country. As a Canadian who is lucky to be accustomed to public health care, it’s something to consider. We’re lucky to have amazing public health care here, but when we travel internationally, that’s no longer available. Many people have private, extended health insurance coverage for travelling, but it’s important to call your provider and ask some additional questions:

1. Would the baby be covered under this plan? This is a funny loophole, that my friend, a Canadian pediatrician, made me aware of. Most extended health plans cover you, or perhaps you and your spouse, but they do not cover a baby, as they are not yet listed as a dependent. This has enormous consequences if you happen to deliver early while abroad. For example, if you’re a Canadian and you deliver early in the US, many extended health care plans would cover your treatment, but they would not cover any costs associated with the baby. There are some horror stories about it! My extended health care plan through Desjardins was the same, they would cover me, but not the baby. I was able to get a special additional policy through Pacific Blue Cross that would cover the costs of early delivery, including the baby, up to 32 weeks.
   
2. If you require prenatal medical treatment or check-in while abroad, what is the final week when this is covered?

Of course, you want to ensure you’re feeling great and 100% healthy before any trips– but honestly, that applies to everyone, regardless of reproductive status!

When is the best time to travel?

In terms of how I would feel, she told me that generally, for most women, the second trimester is a great time to travel. She said that for most women, second trimester is the best time of their pregnancy: many women are past the sickness they felt during first trimester, or at least it’s much more manageable, and for many, they’re also not yet feeling significantly heavy from the baby weight. When I asked about which destinations to consider or avoid, again, there were fewer concerns or limitations than I expected. I told my doctor that I was planning to generally avoid “developing” countries while pregnant, and she said that was wise, but there were actually some “developing” countries with incredible medical facilities because they had a medical university, which allowed them access to great quality care.

My experience

Based on this advice, I planned a bunch of trips for the year. A road trip to the Rockies for family, hiking, and running adventures around week 15, a trip to the East Kootenays (Kimberly, BC) for a trail running race and visit to Becky Bates’ casa at week 19, a trip to the Dolomites in Italy at week 22-23, and finally, a trip to Oahu, Hawaii, as my last trip at week 30. That last one was in third trimester, but I figured that Hawaii would be relaxing, and a good destination regardless of how I was feeling. Also, it was a flexible trip that would be easy to cancel if I wasn’t feeling up to it. All of these trips involved destinations that offered tons of activities if I felt good, great food, and trustworthy medical facilities just in case, and all were places that would still be enjoyable even if I was less active.

Second-trimester travels

It turned out that the advice was bang-on. Before my first road trip, I was feeling extremely nauseous unless I stuck to a strict and bizarre protocol: basically eating the type of food you would feed a picky six-year-old (White Spot pirate packs, crappy over-processed white bread, fries), combined with lots of time jogging and hiking at an easy pace after work every day. I was started to get worried that this would not be a good idea, as the trip would involve a long and mountainous drive, combined with family visits with a lot of food I couldn’t control. Then, the day before the trip, I suddenly started feeling much better! It was perfect timing, and I recall feeling quite good during the trip and really enjoying myself.

My other trips in the second trimester were also very enjoyable: the trail running race at week 19 was great timing, and the trip to San Vito Cadore, Italy around weeks 22-23 was also wonderful. On both of these trips, I was able to do all kinds of adventures, and both destinations offered incredible food to help me hit my high caloric needs plus 300 calories per day extra, for the baby. In Italy, I was able to do lots of trail/mountain runs, hikes, and really fun Via Ferrata routes, and the trip timing in late September meant that temperatures weren’t too hot, which is something I tried to avoid based on my doctor’s advice. Otherwise, these were all sports I did before pregnancy, so it was easy to continue enjoying them, just listening to my body and adapting pace/distance as needed.

Third-trimester travels

My early third-trimester trip, to Hawaii, was also a great last time to travel before baby Luc was born. Personally, I wouldn’t want to travel internationally later than week 30, because (a) my insurance wouldn’t cover any unexpected complications or early delivery after that, and I’m not willing to accept that kind of financial risk, and (b) I think it would be a bit less comfortable after that. This trip was a little different than the second-trimester trips. I was definitely still very active, in fact, Julien was begging for us to slow down and chill a bit more, but I incorporated a bigger share of less-intense activities, like paddle boarding and swimming in the ocean and rivers near Haleiwa, on Hawaii’s North Shore. I did still manage to do a fairly long, super-fun 19km run on the HURT-100 course, but I definitely started to feel a tiny bit of pubic symphysis for the first time after that, so I dialed back from there.

I have a few learnings from my third-trimester trip. For starters, and I’m only half-joking, is that virgin Mai Tais are so not worth it! Apparently, the alcohol is what really makes that drink, so I would not recommend it — stick to fresh pineapple smoothies instead!

One thing that startled me, was when I randomly started leaking colostrum (early breast milk) during the long flight on the way there, which was kind of surprising. Being a naive first-time parent, I didn’t know what it was, and I had nothing with me to change into on the plane. I now know it’s completely normal and healthy, but in retrospect, a change of t-shirt and breast pads would have been way better than hiding the wet spots on my shirt with my long hair!

Another thing I learned was to consider the timing of activities more carefully, due to the effects of relaxin. Relaxin is a reproductive hormone that has many different functions, and one important one is to loosen the joints and ligaments around the pelvis in preparation for birth. In my case, I did my long 3-hour run on the HURT100 course, then just a few hours later, I sat on the plane for many hours, squished into a tiny seat in a horrible position. By the time I got to Vancouver airport, I could barely walk off the plane, my body felt so strange. I think that this combination was a bit extreme, given the long run, the long flight, and the relaxin. Next time I’d plan this long run for a non-travel day, and I’d be a bit more gentle on the travel day. (Perhaps a long walk or easy run on the beach instead?)

Favourite activities in Hawaii, Italy, and the Canadian Rockies

In case you want to copy my trips, here are some of my favourite things we did on each pregnant trip!

Rockies & East Kootenays:

• Running up to the incredible Lake O’Hara, and then spending the day hiking the beautiful alpine circuit around the lake, followed by eating all the treats at the concession (they have surprisingly amazing carrot cake for example!) Hands down, the most beautiful place I’ve been.
• Camping in Fernie, BC at the provincial park, trail running with the Stag Leap Thursday night group, and eating so many carbs at Big Bang Bagels!
• Paddle-boarding at Chinook Lake near Crowsnest Pass, Alberta.
• Checking out adorable little cafes and eateries on the paths less travelled. For example, we found a great little cafe overlooking the Columbia River north of Invermere called Spilli Station Cafe.

Italian Dolomites:

• Doing easy-intermediate Via Ferrata routes, which is basically scrambling but with the ability to securely attach yourself to iron rungs via a harness and specialized Via Ferrata lanyard.
• Hiking around World War 1 history, which is on amazing display on trails (and creepy long tunnels carved into the mountain!) near Rifugio Lagazuoi
• Running up to alpine huts for pastries, non-alcoholic beer refreshments, and heck, even fine dining, like Rifugio Averau, and Rifugio Croda del Lago
• Running part of the really nice and runnable Cortina-Dobbiaco race route right near the Austrian border, and finishing for Austrian-inspired food in the sunshine at the beautiful Lago di Dobbiaco!
• Hiking a leisurely few kilometers to spend the night at Rifugio Averau, which was a beautiful mountain hut with amazing food!

Oahu, Hawaii:

• Paddle-boarding Haleiwa’s Anahulu River, which is where the sea turtles come to rest from the ocean, so you get to see lots of turtles! It’s incredible, like a real-life aquarium. We rented boards for the whole week, so it was really easy to get out on the water every day.
• Surfing on our paddle board (like idiots) at Waikiki Beach, followed by virgin pina coladas (those are actually good in virgin form!)
• Paddling to tiny islands in the ocean near Kailua, which were beautiful, and an amazing way to experience the ocean in Hawaii.
• Checking out some of the beautiful hikes overlooking the incredible Bonsai and Pipeline surf spots on the North Shore. Preferably combined with fancy smoothies from Sunrise Shack!

What I found worked well for me

Before every trip, I made sure to get a print-out of my prenatal medical records, and I also downloaded an iPhone app that could tell me key information about standard over-the-counter drugs, and whether they were advised during pregnancy or not. Pregnant women are at a higher risk of blood cots and deep vein thrombosis (DVTs), so I also took one baby aspirin before each flight, guzzled water, and tried to walk around as much as possible. (Try to get an aisle seat, both for walking around and all the many pee breaks!)

Overall, I really enjoyed all these trips, and I would encourage everyone to talk to their doctor about travelling during pregnancy as I did. If you’re cleared to go, I say go for it!