I'm 6 weeks pregnant have a New Zealand holiday in January

[katemarob17]

Hi All, just after a bit of advice from you all please. I've just found out that we are 6 weeks pregnant with our first baby. We have a holiday booked in December/January to go to all over New Zealand for 3 weeks and i will be 26 weeks on the way out there and 29 weeks on the way back. Obviously the holiday was going to be quite an active one ( no extreme sports though) as there's so much to see and do there. Do you think that by that stage (6 months) i am going to be exhausted in general and really uncomfortable on the longhaul flight? Is it worth postponing? Thanks all xx

Hmm, in theory it's fine but personally I wouldn't have done it (I'm a worrier). At 28 weeks pregnant though, I probably felt the best I had all pregnancy to be fair. Past the sticky stage and before the really heavy tiredness kicked in. I had a totally textbook pregnancy though and bear in mind that you may not. That length of flight would be hell with SPD for instance and even things like gestational diabetes could be an issue. As I say, even with my easy pregnancy I don't think I would have fancied it. Can you postpone?

*sicky

You will need a doctor's letter if you look to be or are over 28 weeks when you travel.... Not expensive, mine was £25 BUT permission may be refused if you have health complications.

I was very anxious when I got to my destination as I realised I had no idea what to do in an emergency abroad (although I only went for 4 days so managed - I'd have been a wreck for 3 weeks!)

Personally I would rearrange it to be sooner - I wouldn't travel again at 28-29 weeks as I did before.

... and yes at this stage I was uncomfortable and needed more rest and also pretty textbook pregnancy.

Normally the second trimester is fine - and this would be right at the end of this period. Also depends how hot it is - I was in Queenstown this year in Feb and it was pretty warm (by NZ standards!) as your feet may swell and you may get tired pretty quickly.

I think you will be fine in NZ, but I the return flight might be quite uncomfortable. Can you break your journey on the way back - couple of days in HK or singapore?

How old are you?
I wouldn't have enjoyed this kind of holiday on my pregnancy aged 31 but may have coped better if younger I think.

The second trimester is probably the best stage of pregnancy for a holiday like that - but there's no way to tell how you personally will get on. I would probably soldier ahead if I were you, because postponing would mean it would never happen! Dragging a small child on a longhaul flight and busy, active holiday sounds nightmarish. What does your insurance say?

Thanks for your advice. Snog - I'm 32, so not a 'really' young mum, still young though ;-).
We have only put a deposit down on the flights and paid for the first hotel so far so it wouldn't be a massive financial loss for us at this stage. We are staying in Hong Kong for 3 nights on the way out there, but coming home via HK again but only there for 4 hours stop, so that's going to be a really long day.

It's so hard to know what to do as i don't know how i will be in Janaury...and like you say reading rainbow, we'll probably not do it again for a long time.....

I'm not sure I'd want to risk it.

Worst case scenario is a premature birth on the other side of the world. Massive insurance claim and stuck there for potentially months (it happens - I can think of two recent cases).

Then there's the more minor issues - incredibly long flight while pregnant and uncomfortable. Not being able to be as busy and active as you'd like (you'll get people piling in to say that THEY never felt physically incapacitated by pregnancy, but I sure was). I also felt tremendously vulnerable when I was pregnant and hated taking long Tube journeys across London. Long haul flying would have felt out of the question. I just wanted to stay close to home.

I was your age when I was pregnant with Dd1 & we travelled to South Africa for a fortnight's holiday at 24 - 26 weeks. It was totally fine, did lots of swimming & surfing and the flights were good too, in spite of being about 12 hours in total in duration.

I would say if you are normally quite fit and active, to go for it. I felt quite good and energised during the 2nd trimester and it was fun to make the most of one last holiday before having our first baby.

I think in your shoes I would go. You won't get another chance for a long time and New Zealand is a fantastic place with great healthcare. Yes the worst could happen there or anywhere but in absence of any presenting risk factors (eg diabetes, history of prem labor etc) I would not live my life by the worst case scenario! But that's me! If you are going to worry about it for the next few months then you might be better having a european holiday. Also hotel wise I would book last minute for the rest of the trip so if for any reason you didn't go you reduce your losses. We booked using wotif.com when we were there to find last minute accommodation, never had a problem finding a bed and we were there in December.

IMO the flight is bad enough when not pregnant, I couldn't imagine doing it at 26 weeks! You will probably be wrecked for days after! And it kind of depends what your pregnancy is like, and that's something you cannot predict. I don't think I would risk spending all that money when there's a high possibility that you may not end up being able to go last minute. Also, December/January is summer in NZ and it does get scortching hot so you will probably struggle in the heat. The health care is good though should anything happen and if you are from the UK, they will treat you over there for free if it's "necessary and/or urgent", because we have free reciprocating health care in the form of the NHS over here.

If you've only paid the deposit I'd cancel - we cancelled a trip to Malaysia at the same point as you for when I would have been 27 weeks. I'm so glad we did; I wouldn't have enjoyed it at all.

I think your main problem here may be how complicated the pregnancy is - and you aren't going to know fully until much nearer the time.

Having done it myself at 28 weeks for a long weekend break only I would personally try to do it earlier in the pregnancy - so go in October/November.

You also have to remember travel insurance generally doesn't cover later pregnancy so you need to find one that does. I eventually found one that went up to 32 weeks, but make sure it has tip top cover for early birth and neonatal care.

I would cancel.
Even if you have a textbook pregnancy, (I did with dd1) you'll still be tired, feel huge, get more dehydrated on the plane, have to walk around every hour to stop DVT.
Having said that at 34 weeks I flew to US with 1 st pregnancy for work and was OK, but this is more than twice as far.
Babies are very portable, this would be an easier trip when your DC's 6 months old.

I travelled from Australia to UK and back at exactly the same gestation as your flights would be. It triggered the worst bloody SPD and I wouldn't ever choose to do it again. I didn't need any certificates or anything though.

you'll get people piling in to say that THEY never felt physically incapacitated by pregnancy
Just in case that does happen...I felt like utter shit the entire time! Would rather go through labour every month for 9 months than be pregnant again. DS will be an only child!

We flew out to NZ/Aus with DD aged 1 when I was about 12 weeks pregnant. The flight out was just about bearable, but the flight back was torture for me (so bad that we only just went back last summer - 15 years later) I felt nauseous most days and it was a bit of an ordeal TBH. Although it was fab seeing old friends (DH grew up there)

And I had easy pregnancies, LOVED being pregnant, FWIW!