to worry about going to Rome for our honeymoon in 3 weeks at 26 wks pregnant?

[Loonybun]

Hello...

Ok so I'm getting married very soon. We have left booking the honeymoon till now due to waiting for some money to clear... So now we can book it and I'm wondering what to do. This is my second dc, no complications with the pregnancy, doing ok etc. But I do worry if we go to rome (as originally intended) and something goes wrong (eeeek!) I will be stuck in a less than ideal situation in a non english first language hospital.... Scary!!!

Its for 4 nights by the way. Dd aged 8 is staying with my mum so just me and my husband. Dd is having a mini break in London going to theatre etc with mum (I digress) ...

Would I be better going to the states? Even to its further away? I'm a bit nervous about being somewhere stuck in a hospital with a complication that I won't be able to explain....

Or am I just being a bit of an idiot? Should I just go to Rome as we always wanted and enjoy it? Esp as its museums and art galleries and not something we could normally enjoy as much with two dc's in tow....

Go to Rome, someone will speak English

I would imagine if something did happen it would be relatively easy to find a translator in Italy, especially in Rome. As far as I know the healthcare is decent there. I'm not sure you'd be any better off in the US.

By the way I know rome has great hospitals. What worries me is that I have a couple of medical conditions controlled with medication and I worry I won't be able to explain to them... I'm being silly aren't I? I'm a worrier.

Just be sure to check your insurance, be certain that you will be covered.

Using the logic that most Europeans are taught and speak English far more widely and considerably better than most Englishmen and women speak a European language I'm pretty sure that in the unlikely event that fate chose one of these four days out of an entire pregnancy to deal you a crap hand there will be medical staff on hand with excellent English language skills.

You'll be fine, you're worrying waaaay too much!

Thank you for all the replies. I'm going to check all the insurance carefully. Part of my worry is that I had a very traumatic birth with dd and this time I am having an elective c section and I'm worried incase I go into premature labour and I can't explain any of that to them... But I suppose if such a thing were to happen it would be such an emergency anyway I'd have to go with the flow (gulp!) Thanks everyone.

They speak English.
Many of the doctors have studied in UK anyway.
And there are mnetters to translate aswell . Better than USA imo and short flight.

Go to Rome. I live in the US, the hassle and cost and paperwork associated with healthcare is ridiculous, and you won't necessarily get better care than you would in Italy. Also, Rome is only 2 hours in the air, the US would be a minimum of 6 hours. When I flew London-NY at 28 weeks, the pressurised cabin for 7 hours was awful, wreaked havoc with my ankles! And that was when I felt well. Plus, you'll barely get into the time zone in the US before you have to catch your flight back home. Someone or other will speak good English in Rome. Have a great time!

Definitely go. I had a long weekend in Copenhagen at 26 weeks and had a brilliant time. Ideal time to travel, usually the feeling grim of first few months has abated and you are not in the danger zone of giving birth.

You can ask someone here to translate your condition and medication and write a paragraph for you, print it and have it with you for peace of mind.

My Italian is not perfect. There is a nice poster from Milan, Franca if we see her around we can direct her here.

Go to Rome, make sure you take your E111.
The hospital will find an English speaker in minutes.

Thank you ssoooo much... Feeling a lot better already. The paragrpah / translator idea is a very good one - I might give that a go. And you're right about the states.. The flight time is longer, plus the added worry of being further away from dd if we needed to get home.. I'm a bit worried about exhausting myself looking round everything but I guess I will just have to take it easier than I normally would... I can't seem to walk into more than 3 shops in a row here without needing a wee and a drink as it is!!

You'll be fine, in the unlikely event of anything happening!

I had to take ds to hospital when we were on holiday in Italy when he was about 15months. I had a scraping of Italian, not all the medics spoke English but enough people did. We ended up being transferred to a brand new hospital, he couldn't have been looked after better.

If you're still worried, why don't you get an online translation of key phrases such as "26 weeks pregnant" and write them down in Italian so you can wave them under anyone's nose who needs to know?

I went to Paris 7 weeks after massive post-operative complications/near death experience for a long weekend with a friend. My french doesn't go beyond bonjour. I was terrified of complications kicking off again while in France, but I didn't want to miss Paris.

I wrote a one page summary in English of my history, medications, contact details of GP and consultant, insurance details, even my NHS number. I then got it translated by Aunt, a professional translator. I made a few copies of this bilingual history. I gave a copy to the hotel I was staying at, a copy to my friend I was traveling with, and kept a few copies on my person at all times. I never needed to use it, but it meant that I could relax and enjoy Paris knowing that in an emergency, language wouldn't be the barrier it could be.

Some people may think this was over the top, but for me it meant an enjoyable few days in Paris, with medicals worries at the back, and not the front of my mind. If you haven't anyone you can trust to do a professional level translation, I am very happy to recommend the Brasshouse Language Centre in Birmingham, very good language professionals. A single page shouldn't cost more than £40 to translate.

www.birmingham.gov.uk/brasshouse

You need to make sure that you add 'unborn baby cover' to your insurance. You are covered for your pregnancy if you notify the insurer but if you went into labour the baby wouldn't be covered once it was born.

But definitely Rome

Great advice there from PP. They have English speaking Doctors in Rome (and most other parts of Italy). And in Italian most medical/pregnancy terms are similar to English anyway i.e. Acido Folico - guess what that is! Diabete is diabetes etc. etc. So if you said what your problems were in English, they would more than likely know immediately even if they weren't great with English (although I doubt they wouldn't speak English in Rome - there's a huge expat community).

Gravidanza is pregnancy in Italian - so that might be an important word to know and 'sangue' is blood (pronounced sang-we like the 'we...' part of wedding).

It's my favourite city - I am jealous!

I would say, go and have fun.

xxx

relax, you will be fine and rome is wonderful, get your EHIC card sorted, free and check with midwife. enjoy!!

If there are no risks, you should be fine. But, a friend of mine (who did have health problems) had a baby at 30 weeks in Siena, obviously unexpectedly. She had excellent medical care but did not have an English speaking doctor who attended the emergency. She was then stuck in Italy for 3 months as the baby couldn't be moved. Luckily my friend speaks a bit of Italian, and spoke a whole lot more by the time she was able to come back to Britain.

Remember you wouldn't be going to hospital unless it was an emergency and I think it's a bit optimistic that you would automatically find yourself speaking with a doctor who was good at English if you turned up at a maternity A and E (or whatever the equivalent is).

Just a word of caution to counter the "They speak English.
Many of the doctors have studied in UK anyway." which seems a massive over statement.

I would do what Midoriway suggests if you have any concerns at all.

"They speak English.
Many of the doctors have studied in UK anyway."

(hmm) very odd!

op you should go, please pm me if you want accurate information. i'm based in italy.

Thank you so much everyone. I really appreciate the replies and the offers of help. I will be booking our break today and will come back to this! Its been very reassuring to know there are people who can help and advise! I didn't think about the "unborn" element for the insurance so will deffo look into that as well. Sometimes I do wonder whether maternity care etc is worse in the uk anyway so perhaps I won't be any worse off if anything did happen as long as I can explain myself! The very original thought was Greece (before I got pregnant) but having been there a few times already I don't think I'd want to be stuck in a hospital there ... Fingers crossed everything should be fine anyway and I am worrying over nothing!

btw what midori suggests is a great idea, I also have a good translater if you need, PM me

Why is it a massive over statement 007alert?

And what is very 'odd' stilldaze?

Yes. They speak English in Italy and many of their doctors are trained in UK.
Is this shocking to you?