To book a long haul holiday when I may be pregnant?

I’d prioritise the trip over house decorating and go asap. Decorating can wait! But there’s no point planning anything when it comes to TTC.

I travelled both pregnancies but v early on and only short haul. Fortunately I never suffered with sickness at all so no issues. It's funny for my 2nd we were looking to go to Vegas (big birthday) but fortunately decided on a family friendly holiday instead as I don't think I would've fancied it pregnant. At the end of the day you can't really plan these things, life has a way of just working when it's meant to.

I travelled a couple of times in my first pregnancy, at 6 weeks and 15 weeks, and really struggled with fatigue and dizziness both times. Those were just European city breaks. Thankfully I/we did our big dream trips before having kids.
I'm pregnant again now though and we've got family holidays booked this year when I'll be 22 weeks but that'll be a more chilled holiday.
I fully endorse prioritising the holiday over decorating, so you can ttc sooner and sort the house out while you are trying/pregnant. Nesting is very real so pregnancy is a great time to do it actually!

I would do the trip first. Funnily enough we started TTC after a trip to America too! It took us a long time but everyone is different, you may conceive super quickly.

If it was me.. I’d wait. I’ve been desperate for a baby for years and we planned to get married in 2020 until covid hit and ruined all our plans. We delayed until 2021 but our day wasn’t going to be as we had pictured with restrictions still in place so we delayed again until 2022. I was so worried about TTC as I was entering my early 30s. We considered putting off until 2023 and trying for a baby but with the uncertainty of how long it would take, I already had my dress etc. And quite selfishly, I wanted our 2 week honeymoon child free!

Now I’m so glad I waited.. we got married last July, went to Mauritius on honeymoon and started TTC in October. I fell pregnant in January and am now 12weeks. I’ll be nearly 34 when I have the baby but I don’t feel that age! Even for the wedding alone I’m glad we waited instead of going ahead with restrictions.

I’d pause the decorating, save for your trip, have the most amazing time and then start trying for your family when you’re back. The way I’ve felt this first trimester I couldn’t have thought of anything worse than getting on a plane and trying to enjoy a holiday 🤢🤣 but I understand everyone is different!

I personally would say go enjoy your amazing holiday. I really enjoyed being pregnant but ended up on bed rest for the first trimester, mobility issues for the second and third and hg right up until 3rd trimester. Oh and gd. We went on a babymoon just to majorca and it was lovely but honestly the traveling to get there nearly broke me. I was extremely uncomfortable sitting on the plane and the transfer to the hotel to the point I was nearly in tears which is not like me. I was glad we went and I loved being by the pool etc but needed to recover a little from the journey home. If it's a big hol you want to make the most of then I'd say go enjoy it and have a blast because you don't know how your body will react to pregnancy. Or do a more chilled holiday and do the US one later with a tiny person while they're still easy transported!

You'll have THE best time! Our itinerary looked like this:
2 nights in LA - Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Observatory and lunch in Beverly Hills (we hiked to the observatory to watch sunrise on our 1st morning as we were awake at 4am due to time difference)
3 nights Yosemite staying at Rush Creek Lodge. AMAZING!
1 night in an air B&B near Bodie ghost town. This was fun but added a huge drive onto the journey so wouldn't do this part again.
3 nights San Francisco - loved it but next time would stay near Fisherman's Wharf as felt a little unsafe at Union Square. Cycle to Sausalito and Alcatraz top of the list!
Then made our way down the coast with 1 night stays in Pismo Beach, Carmel and Santa Barbara.
Santa Barbara is gorgeous, highly recommended and worth an extra night or 2. Not much to see at Pismo Beach. Carmel and Monterey are great.
Finished with 3 nights at Laguna Beach to chill out before flying home.
Stopped off at Hearst Castle too which is fantastic.
The whole trip was truly amazing and its hard to pick my favourite places as they all have something different to offer.
I'm so jealous! We hope to go back once our toddlers are older 🙂

So we have a 4 week trip to America booked for next month and I have just found out I am pregnant. 😬

Obviously, we knew this when we decided to start trying, but I guess we didn’t think it would happen straight away and didn’t want to delay it as we had decided we didn’t want a late December baby, so thought why not. Didn’t want to regret it down the line if we were struggling and question ‘we should have started sooner’.

And here we are. We’ve spoken about it and the trip may just be a bit different to what we originally planned. If there’s days I need to stay in bed, that’s ok, my DH can still go and explore. Or we just walk slower and take more stops. All the reading online showed flying is safe in first trimester, so it’s more just dealing with any potential morning sickness! We’ll see how we go!

Ah how exciting! Absolutely loved our California trip, in our top 2 best ever holidays! Where will you be visiting? The thing I underestimated is just how big the place is and how many hours we'd be in the car. That was part of the fun cruising around in a mustang, but definitely wouldn't want to do it pregnant 😁

@Tryingtoconceivenumber2 ah thank you how kind ❤️ no 2 for us too, fingers crossed for us both soon!

I went to Florida at 20 weeks pregnant. All good.

My advice would be to wait and enjoy your last holiday as just the 2 of you! We did a california road trip the month before we started IVF and it was such a special holiday knowing everything was about to change.
Also I cant imagine doing that trip whilst pregnant. Everyone's different but you just don't know how you're going to feel. I had terrible morning sickness, sheer exhaustion plus bleeding for the first 15 weeks. Didn't want to leave my bed never mind catch a long haul flight 😂

You’ve got 9 months to decorate while you’re pregnant, have a big exciting holiday now instead.

Save the decorating for when you are ttcing. Save like mad for the US, go this year. Start TTC while you are there!

I threw up every single day of my pregnancy. Most days multiple times.

We had to attend a family wedding at one point and it was very difficult. The drive there was several hours and I puked in a bucket the whole way. I spent the entire weekend trying to rest and make sure I would be in a state where I could pretend to be ok for a few hours when we attended events. It should have been a fun weekend, but it was miserable.

Every pregnancy is different. I imagined something very different with mine. I imagined a very different first year with my baby as well. Life happens.

spending your hard earned money on a once in a lifetime vacation for while you are pregnant is a huge gamble.

Can't you just book the trip last minute if you aren't pregnant? Why has it got to be one or the other now?
If it was me I would TTC and not book the holiday. That's the position I'm in with my honeymoon at the minute.
I'd love to be pregnant by the time get married in August and happy to not plan a honeymoon until closer to the time.

Another thing to mention since it's the US is if unfortunately you had any problems in early pregnancy i.e. an ectopic pregnancy and you were in a State that did not "intervene" in pregnancy, your life could be at risk, plus I think travel insurance would be pretty horrendously expensive at any stage of pregnancy for US.

Separately it's been touched upon but I'm just coming out of my first trimester and there is no way I would have wanted to be away the past 6/7 weeks as the exhaustion has been unreal plus aversions to loads of foods, so not ideal for a big hol!

I'd do that then! If whatever room you relax in needs ripping out and redoing it I'd prioritise that (having had a living room that needed work, it was so hard to chill out in when I sat down and just saw problems!) but otherwise - you sleep in a bedroom, cook in a kitchen, shower/wee etc in a bathroom...if you can do all that in those rooms, just put them off for a bit longer. Best of luck with all the plans no matter what order you end up doing them in though - they all sound exciting!

What if you get bad morning sickness? You won’t enjoy the holiday at all.

I think you are right to be cautious about how you might feel on a long haul expensive holiday if you would be pregnant. And travel becomes more difficult and more expensive after you have children.
However the trouble is that if you are not careful, there’s always a reason to wait while you do something else before TTC.
if you are longing for a baby and DH is supportive and other circumstances seem good, in your situation I would go ahead and TTC

What do you want to do on holiday? That may also impact whether it’s a good idea to be in the US while pregnant. I went to the states a couple of times when 6/7 months pregnant and it was fine. DH was working there. I didn’t go to Bermuda (working there too) as I’d have been just over 8 months and there not insured.

flying and everything else was fine - but not everyone will feel the same.

Sorry - furniture that you wanted rather than needed! I.e. if the house is liveable right now and you're just making it better, rather than making it liveable.