Should we ttc before our holiday to Australia?

[NatashaCD]

Hi,

my husband and I are going to Australia for 3 weeks at the end of Feb next year.

I don't know weather to ttc between now and then as am worried about morning sickness, tiredness, not coping with heat and generally being uncomfortable on holiday.

That being said, i don't want to wait much longer either. I know every pregnancy is different (this will be my first) and there is no way of knowing if im going to suffer with any of the above, but I have nothing to base my decision on so any advice from those who have done something similar - or just been pregnant would be great!

Let me know what you think!
Thanks,
N

I think it depends on your age and your circumstances. I am 34. We are ttc now and have been for 19 months. We are considering a holiday in March next year but haven't booked it yet and I change my mind on a daily basis about if we should go! At the moment my instinct is telling me that ttc is most important and if I am lucky enough to find myself pg on holiday I'll just cope. If I was only just trying and I was younger maybe I'd wait or use the big holiday to start!

i agree with mrsnec. depending on your age etc you might want to wait until you are on the holiday to ttc.

i have been ttc for a couple of years and have done some great holidays in that time but i have always waited until i am on the holiday to ttc (have had three miscarriages so go on big holidays whilst i am waiting for the next chance to ttc). i was tempted to ttc before i went to aus at xmas but i am so glad i didn't. the flight/jetlag was a killer without being pg on top.

apart from the flight, it's probably not the worst place to visit when pg. you don't need vacinations.

ps. i have been invited to a wedding in las vegas in october. i was planning to wait until the last minute to book in case i get pg before.

as it turns out i am pg but it's early days. if anything goes wrong with this one i will be booking a ticket.

can you not book last minute then you get the best of both worlds?

That's really helpful - thanks for replying. I am 28 so I can wait a bit longer.

But once the idea is in your head and you're ready its hard not to just want to get started!

Any more ideas / thoughts gratefully received!

And good luck with this pregnancy - really hope it goes well for you! I am going to a wedding in Oz in Feb and want to book sooner to get cheap flights!

Natasha - it might be worth checking out how far long you would be when you travel if you conceived straight away. Most airlines have a cut off of around 30weeks I think (sorry can't remember exactly) and possibly earlier with a higher risk pregnancy.

Also there might be stuff in oz that you would like to do (surf / dive / mountain climbing etc) that you probably wouldn't do while pregnant.

I personally wouldn't wait. Noone knows how long it will take to TTC and I think if it took you longer than you expect you may regret having waited.

That said you may not be as inpatient as me! We started immediately after our wedding- its been a year now so I'm glad we got cracking straight away so to speak!

The other thing is to try not to live in a "pre-pregnant" state.. If I'd turned down things over the last year id have missed out on loads-and as it turns out we're still not pregnant but at least we've had a fab year with some good hols and trips etc..

Good luck whatever you decide

I have travelled to Japan when I was around 3-4 months pregnant and it's been fine. But it was a very straightforward pregnancy and I wasn't sick at all. Also like sugarandspite says, you can't travel once you are over a certain number of months. You wouldn't want to miss your holiday just because your bump is too big, would you?

hi natasha I am actually going to Australia next week with DH and we did book the trip during the time we have been ttc. This will be our first child. We weren't sure whether to wait but in the end, we felt that as you don't know how long it'll take to get pg, we didn't want to put it off any longer. We knew that it might mean that there would be some things that I wouldn't be able to do (e.g scuba diva) but we didn't mind that.

Good luck whatever you decide to do!

Congrats to all those that are pg! Yes I think 30 weeks is about the norm. I think we'll leave it at least until I decide I'm that desperate for a holiday. we too enjoyed plenty of trips after we married but priority has changed!

how about ttc now and book the trip a couple of months before the wedding if you aren't pg. have a couple of months off ttc the start again on holiday

We are in an identical boat but a bit further down the path!

Dh is from New Zealand. We last visited his family in Jan 2010, and said we'd be back in Jan 2012.
DD was 1 when we were out there. We conceived her first time so saw no reason why dc2 would be any different. So we started trying for dc2 Christmas 2010, thinking we'd have a baby round summer/autumn 2011, which would then be perfect for visiting NZ in Jan 2012 (keeping up with the dates?!)
When dc2 didn't happen, we put off booking the trip because it would surely be imminent. And we didn't go. So now it's been 2.5 years since DH saw his parents, sisters and nieces and nephew. And they haven't seen dd since she was just about toddling - she's 3 now - it's a massive time gap to miss in a young child's life. And they missed it because we were anticipating something that never happened.
So we decided that this year, we'd have to go whatever happened. So we are all set for January. can you guess what's coming?! After 2 years of trying, we finally got our BFP ... I'm five weeks pregnant. I couldn't be more elated but had to do some thinking about the trip.
We are going with Qantas so I phoned them and checked.
They will carry a person who is undergoing a normal pregnancy on an international flight up to 36 weeks. If it's a multiple pregnancy, you can go until 32 weeks. After 28 weeks, you will need a letter from your doctor saying you are fit to travel.

We are going ahead. Including me doing a stop off in Australia to see friends on my way home by myself with dd - DH has to get back for work and I may not get the chance for this kind of extended trip to see friends once dd is in school. So mad or not, I am travelling with dd to NZ at 24 or so weeks pg, flying between NZ and Oz at 28 weeks, and returning to the UK at 30 weeks pg. Should be fun!

I went to Corfu on a work trip when I was 4 months pg with dd, and did all the walking etc that everyone else did no problem. I also went on a last 'fling' with dh to South Africa at 5.5 months and had no issues then either. So I am confident I can do this. And if the flight is a bit rough, well, it's a day or so. I'll cope!

I would say don't put everything on hold for a baby when you don't know if a baby will come. Maybe work backwards - you can travel pg but only up to a limited number of weeks so work out when you'd need to conceive to come in under that, wait until then, and go for it! That way, if it doesn't happen, you still have an amazing trip and you're not sitting at home thinking "We now don't have a holiday or a baby" - nothing like that thought crossing your mind to make you really feel the absence of a bump.

Hi, I am a little bit younger than you and have been TTC for a year without success, so whilst age is of course a factor, it's not the be all and end all.

We kept delaying things and making decisions based on 'being X months pregnant' but these events have come and gone with no BFP. Now we are just living our lives and if we ever get pregnant we'll sort out any plans then.

I hope you get pg much more quickly! But my advice would be don't plan too much, and no matter what have an amazing trip to Australia!

I'm another that advocates not putting TTC off. We've been TTC for 2 years and if I'd known it would take this long I'd have started a lot sooner!

You never know how long it will take.

I think with Aus NZ and other developed countries you'll still get the effects of the jet lag but in case of anything else you know you'll have excellent healthcare and decent food. We'll carry on TTC and book a couple of months before. I was going with a friend too and haven't told her what we're up to but She wants to book and I'm having to make excuses! Eg. Political unrest and not liking the hotels she's chosen! Have booked a weekend away in Oct which involves flights we'll see what happens. Good luck everyone!

I will add in a caveat from a different perspective, as it affects me personally. If you do get pregnant before you fly, make sure you really take all the precautions you can against a DVT. I have Factor V Leiden (and know it) so I always take Clexane (jab) before the 24h flight from Australia to the UK and back again. I last went in March this year, when I was about 7w pg, so not a massive risk but I'm still about 35x more likely to make a clot than people without this clotting issue.
Flying increases the risk of making a clot; pregnancy more so - if you have any family history of DVTs, strokes, blood clots, I would at least look into being checked for FV Leiden (about 1 in 20, so 5% of the UK population have it) because frankly, it's better to know about it than take the risk, IMO.

(TBH, in your situation, I'd wait until after your holiday).

I hadn't thought of that. Does it apply to short haul too?

Less so, mrsnec - it's the length of time in the air as well as the cabin pressure etc. that increase the risk. My Dad has had 2 DVTs (he has FV Leiden as well) and has been told by his doc that he shouldn't fly for more than 3h at a time, while still taking anti-DVT precautions (flight socks, aspirin, exercise etc.)

Thanks thumb that's a great help. The trip I was planing has 2 flights each way less than the 3 hrs each and with 4 hrs between flights.

Oh that's interesting about clotting as I am about to go on a long haul holiday that involves 40 hours of flying in 2 weeks Not pg, but you have reminded me of the risks of clotting, thank you thumb. I'll get some socks and read up on the advice.