Holiday abroad 33 weeks Pregnant - is it a crazy idea?

[Hod2018]

FTM who will 33+2 when I fly out to Mallorca next week to stay at my in-laws apartment. I have loads of holiday to use and have had a really easy pregnancy to date with no complications, so I was keen to get a week of sun and relaxation in before I get any bigger and can't, as well as won't want to, travel. As well as get this last bit of quality time just the two of us. My husband can't take much time off work (we are saving it for when the baby arrives) so I am planning to fly out 3 days earlier and then he'll join me for 5 days, before flying home together when I will be 34+3. I've seen a doctor and have fit to fly certification, the only thing I have left to do is get travel insurance which I believe I can with Admiral but it won't cover natural birth (and I don't believe there are any insurers who will past 32 weeks) so that would be a risk I would be taking. My mother in law (whose apartment we would be using) says she is happy for us to go but had expressed her concerns tonight over it, and in particular me being my myself for 3 days first. So now I feel completely torn, and really have to make a decision so I can cancel my time off work if we decide to not go.
Just wondering if anyone else has flown/ holidayed abroad this late in pregnancy? Is this a crazy and reckless thing to do? All I plan to do is lie by the pool, read and relax, and I know the chances of me going into labour are slim but of course it does happen. Any advice or experience anyone can share would be really appreciated, thanks

My DS was born v unexpectedly at 34 weeks so no I would not be going on holiday at 33+2!

Would not want to risk having baby overseas - with all the complications and cost (if not insured) that brings.

Some worst case senarios:
DH gets a positive test, and cant join you.
Either one of you gets covid in Spain, and cant travel back before the flight cut off.
You get covid and are ill with it.
Baby born in Spain.

If you have the cash, insurance, language and time to deal with any of those, fine.
I went on holiday pregnant. I wont be flying this year, pregnant or not.

I wouldn’t if I was in your position OP, firstly check the airline will allow you to fly as this can vary.

With the pandemic quarantines, testing procedures both in the UK & Spain, are changing quickly and without much warning. In the press this morning they are warning of lengthy queues at immigration, some saying upto 6hrs! Would you want to be standing in a queue like that?

Only you can decide, good luck with your decision, and many congrats on your pregnancy

Definitely not. I think you'd be utterly mad to risk it.

Aside from the covid risk, do you speak Spanish with sufficient fluency to understand medical things when you’re highly stressed should you go into labour or you/the baby require hospital care?

I would spend the money on a lush hotel in England. I went into labour fast and unexpectedly at 35 weeks myself.

I thought after 28 weeks you were supposed to take extra care as COVID is more serious in the third trimester. This is current advice as I have member of staff approaching 28 weeks and are having to look at non- customer facing roles because of this.
Plus I believe for most airlines 32 weeks is cut off for travel, so you would need at very least need fit to fly notice from your doctor, but probably be refused boarding.
Then if baby is born early you are unlikely to be covered on travel insurance for NICU and we are no longer in the EU so no reciprocal health care.
Not what you want to hear, but I would consider it very risky for so many reasons.

The cut off for a single pregnancy with no complications is normally 36 weeks so you can fly. However I wouldn't, especially as you're on your own. Plus it is scorching out in Spain at the moment, will you actually be that comfortable?

No! All the reasons already mentioned. If for any reason your return is delayed you’ll be too pregnant to fly back and stuck there for months!
A lovely spa day sounds perfect though!

I'm concerned that you haven't already taken out travel insurance.

I'm also with PP and think that flying at 33 weeks during this pandemic is not the most sensible thing to do.

I would not do this. A friend of mine did and her baby ended up bing born during holiday (week 29). She was hospitalised because she was so premature and ended having to be flown back to the UK privately. Had they not had insurance the whole thing would have cost them around halv a million euros in the end.

Another thing to think about is that the UK is no longer part of the EU, you might not have the same rights as you had before. Especially not when it comes to being brought back home should something happen.

Well I agree with most comments, OP. Just to say, I personally wouldn't have done that pre-covid either, but now I look at things differently again. I had a relatively straightforward pregnancy up until 33-34 weeks (now 35+1) when it seems like everything started going wrong, gestational diabetes, tests for obstetric cholestasis, diabetes clinic arranged within days, daily monitoring, all sorts. It's not nice or easy and to say I didn't expect that would be entirely true, it came out of the blue. The point I'm making is that yes, you and baby may gave been perfectly fine so far, but it really means nothing in terms of what care you might need going forward.

But OTOH, I went on holiday in the UK at 31/32 weeks, around 1.5 hrs away from the hospital and it was a great idea!

So if you go into labour naturally, you would have no insurance?

I would and have gone away pregnant. But only with insurance. I wouldn't have otherwise.

But also, I think right now would be the worst time to do this. It feels like a much bigger risk at the moment.

Yes OP I'm sorry but it's an utterly crazy idea.
Put aside any normal pregnancy concerns and the biggest risk ( and the one that made us decide not to travel this summer) is testing positive when you are abroad.

I believe Mallorca will be setting up quarantine hotels and paying for them - so desperate are they for tourism income - but is that really how you want to spend your last few weeks of pregnancy? Plus no guarantee after 10 days you'll test negative so you could end up giving birth in effectively in a quarantine prison.

I think there will be a lot of UK cottages cancelled over the next few weeks, so why not see if you can find somewhere like that to relax for a bit.

I don't think its a good idea, largely because you won't be insured if you give birth. It's perfectly possible to go into labour at this time and it would be so stressful to have a premature baby plus be paying for all the care.

Not without fully comprehensive insurance I wouldn't. Have you any idea how much it would cost for a lengthy hospital stay for you and / or baby, and as others have said, a medical flight home? A LOT!
Of course the chances are you'd be fine and would have a lovely holiday, but pregnancies can turn complicated very quickly. And then throw Covid into the mix and it all starts to sound very complicated.

As someone who gave birth over a month prematurely, I would say you shouldn't go on holiday.

My pregnancy was low risk, no warning signs, no issues.

Yeah, that’s crazy.
Sorry.

I did but by car (to Europe), not flying, and pre brexit so insurance less of an issue. I think you should at least work out what you would do if baby came early or you had a scare.

It's good that you own the apartment (or mil does) as you could stay as long as you needed if something didn't go to plan.

I think anyone is crazy to try and travel abroad right now let alone uninsured and assume unvaccinated person who is heavily pregnant. Every day there are stories of travel disasters when a country changes a colour code, conditions of entry or departure, flight cancellations. Add in the risk of an uninsured prem birth or a not particularly unlikely positive test before returning due to being crammed on a plane unvaccinated on the way there it's just a nope all round. Why not book a nice spa hotel in the Uk with dp instead?!

Stick to a U.K. holiday

Never mind an early birth - enclosed in an airport and then a flight full of people who could possibly have covid. It would be irresponsible and selfish to go to enjoy some sun.

Definitely not. So many things could go wrong.
It really isn't a risk worth taking just for a holiday.

I usually throw caution to the wind in most situations but I wouldn’t do this. My first 2 births were spontaneous labours at 34 weeks. For no apparent reason🤷‍♀️ Also had straightforward pregnancies. Both the babies needed special care.