To hope to be allowed to fly with mild gestational diabetes?

[littlecabbage]

Following another recent thread on here, I am now panicking that I will test positive for gestational diabetes at my oral glucose tolerance test tomorrow, and then not be allowed to fly in 2 weeks time.

I am currently 32 weeks pregnant and feeling really fit and well. I developed GD really late on during my last pregnancy (only picked up due to high glucose in urine dipstick tests) but it was totally under control wth diet and I never needed any kind of medication/insulin.

I have been tested earlier in this pregnancy and was fine, but now have been booked in for the OGTT due to two high glucose results again (both possibly explained away by having had my morning Shreddies recently, but having had a positive OGTT before, I am worried).

My question is, has anyone been allowed to fly with GD after 28 weeks? Did your midwife/doctor write you a note to show the airline, and if so, what did it say? And how often are you actually asked to show the letter when checking in/boarding the plane?

I feel it is unfair if I cannot fly, as having mild GD would not make me a risk on the aeroplane - I would not be taking anything such as insulin that would risk me having a hypoglycaemic episode. A quick Google seems to show really mixed results as to whether flying after 28 weeks with GD is allowed or not, so I would appreciate hearing personal experiences.

Btw, please don’t judge - the reason for flying so late in pregnancy is due to where half term falls - we wanted to avoid a holiday during school term time, and I have always been lucky in feeling well throughout pregnancy, and giving birth pretty much on my due date (touch wood and all that!). It is only a 2 hour flight.

Thanks.

I'm a GP - if you asked me for a letter, it would say something like "little cabbage is x weeks into a twin/singleton pregnancy which has been uncomplicated/which has been complicated by the presence of gestational diabetes, controlled by diet. I have explained to her that decisions on fitness to fly are made by the airline and hope that this letter helps you to make that decision".

GPs increasingly won't write 'fit to fly' as that makes us liable for any costs associated with you e.g. being ill/going into labour and the place being delayed or diverted.

and make sure your travel insurance will cover NICE if you have a prem delivery abroad.

Thanks pigshavecurlytails. Yes, I‘ve heard that HCPs can be sued now if they actually write “fit to fly”, so I think what you propose is fair enough.

What do you mean by NICE? Do you mean care that follows NICE guidelines?

I think she means Neonatal Intensive Care Expenses?

Sorry yes, typo, meant NICU!

This sounds insane to me. I had a pregnancy where everything was fine until 32 weeks. Had a headache and blurred vision which I assumed was just a migraine. Nope. PIH verging on pre-eclampsia.

I had to go to the hospital every 3 days. Totally out of the blue.

I’d be cancelling my holiday.

Yes, NICU is covered.

Merryoldgoat Sorry to hear of your experience, but with respect, the vast majority of pregnancies do not develop this issue, and as I've explained, I am confident that I would get the same standard of health care in the country where we are going and that our insurance would cover it.

Btw, no phone call, so I guess no GD at this point!

Make sure you absolutely double check that NICU is covered, the way you explain it I don’t think it is. So baby arrives, you phone John Lewis and they add baby to the policy who is now covered, however they will usually exclude any pre-existing conditions and so if your baby is prem and already having NICU care when you phone them to add on the baby it isn’t covered.

I wasn’t suggesting the same would happen to you. It was an illustration of how quickly complications can arise with no warning.

Very pleased for you that you don’t have GD - I hope you have a lovely holiday.

I’m perhaps over cautious but I wouldn’t fly anywhere past 28 weeks regardless of how my pregnancy was progressing but plenty do with no incident at all which is great and I’m sure you’ll be fine.

Thanks catchingbabies, I have just rung JL again and spoken to someone in the claims dept about this exact scenario, and they have categorically confirmed that if my baby arrived whilst away, it would be medically covered from as soon as it was born, as long as we inform them of the birth as soon as practically possible. They said they would not consider any care between birth and us informing them to be a pre-existing condition. Phew!

Fantastic! Enjoy your holiday

Thank you