Would you go on a seven hour flight when 33 weeks pregnant?
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Anonymous
| DH and I are debating whether to go on a trip that would be about seven hours on a plane each way. This is my second pregnancy and I feel great right now but I'm only 23 weeks. The trip is a sort of family reunion and once we get there we will have some family help with our older child - although generally, she is pretty easy and will be nearly 6. Nothing out of the ordinary with this pregnancy by the way but our first child came a week early. |
Anonymous
| I flew cross country that week which is not much shorter. If you want to go, you can do it. It was uncomfortable but not impossible. I believe I checked basically everything except s small rolling carry on, so I didn’t have to deal with anything heavy (normally never check) |
Anonymous
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Just be sure to stand, walk around, and wear compression socks on the plane.
Hydrate too. How far along will you be on the return trip home? |
Anonymous
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No!
First, where are you going to be? Seven hours must surely mean you will be out of the country. How long will you be staying? Does this also mean that you will have a seven hour return flight at 34 weeks? |
Anonymous
| No but I'm a guy so I can't get pregnant. |
Anonymous
| Don’t you have a doctor?? |
Anonymous
| Op here. Doctor said it should be fine but I wanted to get some other opinions. We will be in Europe so not somewhere that we should worry about medical care. And I will be 34 weeks exactly the day we fly back. |
Anonymous
| Op here again. Would also love to gauge how uncomfortable other women have felt if they took similar long journeys. Aside from my rapid weight gain, I feel pretty good right now. Last pregnancy, i remember having bad sciatica but nothing alarming. |
Anonymous
| I would not. Is this your first? My pregnancies have all come somewhat early (last child was 3 weeks early and fast birth). Just an abundance of caution on my part. I'm sure plenty of women fly at 33 weeks and are fine. |
Anonymous
| Serious question for you, OP. Have you seen the size of the airplane bathrooms recently? |
Anonymous
Ha! Well, I'm 5ft and 100 lbs not pregnant but I hear what you are saying. |
Anonymous
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The last flight I took while uncomfortably pregnant got stranded on the tarmac for 6 hours. They would not bring food or water onto the plane and didn't let us stand up for an inordinate amount of time. We were not allowed to use the bathroom. It was horrible. They finally cancelled the flight and took us back.
That baby arrived a month and a half premature too. Hence, my no vote. |
Anonymous
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If you have generally felt ok late in pregnancies OP it’s probably fine. You are little, so even pregnant you’ll fit in an airline seat. Get an aisle, don’t load yourself down with baggage, drink water. It’s doable if you want to. It’s also a good excuse if you don’t.
I am the PP who did domestic cross country. I was doing that trip every other week until 35w for work. My hips would ache from sitting for a day or so after - otherwise no worse for the wear. I did start flying it in First around 32 weeks - but I’m closer to 200lbs than 100lbs not pregnant. |
Anonymous
Yeah, it is pretty bad. I'm small, too, and I know there is no way on earth that I would be willing to deal with that, especially with the frequency I would need when I was 33 and 34 weeks pregnant. I hear what you're saying that the doctor gave you the all-clear but I would choose to not go. The risk just wouldn't be worth it to me. And if something happened I wouldn't want to be in another country trying to deal with it. If you do decide to go, be sure to get trip insurance AND call your medical insurance company to get their recommendations for what to do in case of an emergency. |
Anonymous
No because my legs would have looked like sausages by the end and I would have never fit in an airplane bathroom to pee every half hour! 
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