Australia

[Jumpinj]

My husb and I were planning to visit friends in Australia for three weeks in November - until I found out I would be giving birth in December!
We're now considering bringing the trip forward to September so I will be between 26 and 30 weeks preggers while we are away.
Not planning to do anything TOO energetic, but am I completely mad even to consider this trip? First pregnancy, so can't imagine how I'll feel/how big I'll be by then.

Hi Jumpinj. I felt fine at that stage in my first pregnancy and generally Austrlia (apart from the flight!), is a good place to visit while pregnant as it is extremely clean, has excellent healthcare, great hotels and fantastic food. My inclination would however be to bring the trip forward as much as you can, simply in case of any complications that may develop with your pregnancy. Also, many of the attractions in Australia involve the great outdoors and accordingly rely on walking, snorkelling etc to get the most out of them. I would also suggest a stop over in Singapore or somewhere to break up the flight.

As far as the weather is concerned, assuming you will be focusing your attentions on the northern part of the country (i.e Northern Queensland and Sydney), even in late August it will be warm by UK standards, especially in Qld. We are off to Oz on Thursday with our 21 month old and I am just over 3 months pregnant. We will however be staying with my mother who will do a lot of looking after our son (she is foaming at the mouth with excitement!). As an aside, we booked through Expedia and our tickets are still yet to appear which has left me very cross.

Make sure you check out whether or not the airline will let you fly at 26-30 weeks pregnant. When I was pregnant with my first child in 1997 I travelled a lot on business, and the airlines wouldn't let me fly after 28 weeks. I think some will let you go over a bit with a doctors note, but I should think that they'll definitely be twitchy about a long haul flight at 30 weeks.