Would this be crazy at 31 weeks

[RMarieClaire]

Hello. I am 13+3 with my first pregnancy.

OH and I both love walking and nature and it's long been our plan to go to the highlands in spring. I'd love to arrange this for his birthday, going when the weather should hopefully be a little dryer and warmer at end of April/first week of May.

But... I'll be 30/31 weeks then.

Would a fairly remote holiday walking maybe 3-5 miles a day be crazy? I'm a fairly active person and still running and walking a fair bit during the week now, but I have no idea what I'll be like at 30 weeks.

What do you think?

In my opinion you’d be absolutely fine.

I’m 31 weeks now and feel fine, if you’re active anyway your body will be used to it.

Saying that, I would try and stay reasonably close to civilisation if possible just in case!

Oh thanks that's great! We'd be about 30 mins from Aberdeen, so not too remote. And we'd have a car.

I’d have been fine at that stage of my pregnancies.
Enjoy!

It totally depends, you more than likely will be fine but also you could have crippling SPD. We booked to go to Dublin at 25 weeks with my first. We walked for miles and the pain was unreal. I got stuck at one point because I couldn’t turn my hips, they had locked up.

I’d book somewhere you can cancel quite late in the day so your covered.

You’re 🙄

I definitely wouldn't have been fine with this, I have found it really difficult to walk since about 25 weeks with pain/pressure. You just don't know really, some people would be fine and some wouldn't.

Fine. I did the same thing at 36 weeks (including England - Scotland) and was completely fine.

⬆️ And I am not as fit as you sound.

Impossible to know. I used to walk long distance daily and from about late twenty weeks ish I haven’t been able to walk half a mile without being in agony afterwards due to PGP. Equally you might be absolutely fine.

It depends. I was fit and active with Dc1, cycling up until the day before she was born.. At around 28 weeks with Dc2, I was walking home from town (about 2.5 miles) and the braxton hicks started coming much stronger and more regularly than seemed healthy. Was very alarming. Was genuinely worried I might be going into early labour. So that was the end of walking any distance for me.

It’s so hard to know. Prior to being pregnant I worked out every day and was about to do my yoga teacher training however from 19 weeks I started to suffer with crippling pelvic pain.... I literally went from being able to do the splits to not being able to get out of bed or walk to the shops without pain. I’m 36 weeks now and utterly demented... I’d love nothing more than a huge walk in the highlands but there’s no way I could.

Not saying this to scare you! My mum and sister would have been fine with the holiday you outlined but I’ve just been unlucky.

Is it possible to book it a bit later into the pregnancy when you know you’re fine?

X

I’d book it closer to the time or else book it but plan a quiet holiday and do more if you feel up to it.

With DC1 I wouldn’t have enjoyed it and would have been in pain every evening but would have managed it. With DC2, I would have been limping within an hour and unable to cope with anymore. With DC3, I gave birth a few days later.

Whatever you decide, take your maternity notes and google all of the hospitals you can drive to just in case you need them.

Impossible to tell. I had crippling SPD by that point and was bed bound. Am normally very fit and healthy. Book something that can be easily cancelled or wait until baby is here. We went to the Lake District when our first was a couple of months old and walked miles with her in a sling.

I’m a keen walker and planning a ‘challenging terrain’ 8 mile walk at 31 weeks (currently 20) but it’s something we would drive to from home so will cancel if I’m not physically able to do it. The risk is you booking the holiday & not being able to do it or cancel - would you enjoy a highlands holiday without so much (or any) walking? If yes then go for it!

First pregnancy would have been fine. 2nd was bigger and breech and I couldn't walk upstairs having been 1/2 marathon fit before pregnancy- head wedged in diaphragm really stuffs in breathing!

I would have been fine and I'm overweight and unhealthy BUT you just can't know. Maybe have a plan B too?

I flourished in my final trimesters in both pg and would have been well up for this. I was pretty fit before pregnancy and walked/swam throughout, once the hyperemisis had passed at 16 weeks. I also went on a mountain biking holiday at 26 weeks! (Don’t tell my mum ).

But - I know women who were dibilitated with SPD, or hospitalised with pre-eclampsia, or still striken with hyperemisis at 31 weeks too.

My mum had me at 32 weeks!

You just can’t tell.

As PP's have said, you just don't know. It's good advice to book something you can cancel.

With DS1 I was still walking 2 miles at 40 weeks. With DS2 I had PGP and my elderly parents had to help me across a car park at 30 weeks.

SPD and a baby permenantly on my bladder I wouldn’t have been able to

I'm 30 weeks and crippled by SPD. I used to be pretty active - cycled every day, loved a long walk or cycle, went to the gym regularly. Now just turning over in bed is agony, and I'm walking at less than half the speed I normally would do because it hurts so much. I feel like a little old lady. Oh, and if I do too much (e.g. Christmas shopping powered by paracetamol) I start to get very uncomfortable Braxton Hicks. Wouldn't fancy them on a hike.

Definitely book something you can cancel.

I couldn't have done it. Was fit before pregnancy but had a complicated pregnancy. If you do book somewhere make it somewhere you can cancel easily.

I could have done it comfortably but I was pretty fit throughout pregnancy - cycled to and from work (8 miles a day) up until 28 weeks and was on my feet a lot at work (~10,000 steps a day).

As others have said you can’t be sure until you get there so don’t book anything you wouldn’t want to cancel but if you keep active in the meantime there’s a good chance you’ll be able to do it.

How long is your drive to get there? I'd have been able to do the distance both pregnancies at that stage, but found sitting stationary in a car incredibly uncomfortable, anything longer than 2 to 3 hours would have been agony?

Also, is it 3-5 miles on the flat - or up and down the mountains? Even at 26 ish weeks woth DC1 I found it really hard going up a steep hill, you get out of breath so much faster? Even if everything else is OK your balance will also be off, so rough footing is much harder work than pre pregnancy.

And you talk about remote walking, I'm assuming you don't mean camping, as that would have a whole different set of challenges at 31 weeks....