To cancel US work trip now that I am pregnant? WWYD?

[DarkMule]

I've been a bit of a nervous wreck these past 24hrs trying to decide whether to cancel a work trip arranged pre-pregnancy. I was really looking forward to this trip to the US. However, I will now be 11-12weeks pregnant during my stay there and I can't help but worry about what could go wrong while I'm there. At the same time, I do feel the chances of anything going wrong will be slim and I am just panicking and overthinking but what if something does go wrong and it's pregnancy-related? I can ensure I have additional cover over my company cover but I wouldn't even know who to call or how to get to A&E etc.

Would love to hear similar experiences and what you decided on in the end.

Thank you xx

Personally I think you are overthinking it, just relax and enjoy the trip as much as you can and book a scan for your return. Just make sure you are covered insurance wise should anything happen.

I would definitely go in early pregnancy from a risk point of view (very low). The only thing that would be on my mind is morning sickness, but most people's will be easing off at that point so chances are you'll be okay. If you are one of the unlucky ones that still feels terrible you might need to cancel at short notice. You may want to give your boss the heads up about this so they can decide whether to swap someone else into your place now.

Depends what state

Going when in first trimester wouldn’t bother me from a health point of view but given the current pro-life climate in the states it would very much depend on which state I was going to as to whether I’d risk it or not.

Depends whether it's a state where you'd risk not getting proper treatment for a miscarriage, although that's probably more relevant further along. There've been several near-Savita cases already over the past couple of years.

You are probably in a reasonably safe window there in terms of pregnancy (past the ectopic window) especially if you could have a scan at 11 weeks just before you go. If you have additional cover on your insurance then you will be able to access healthcare. You can research before you go as to closest hospitals with one and gynae cover. The only remaining question is in terms of whether you are going somewhere that will try and prosecute you if you had a miscarriage. However (depressingly) if you are wealthy, white and foreign this would probably be less of an issue.
Ultimately if you aren’t comfortable however, don’t go- I think it’s ok to say no

I wouldn’t go while pregnant and I also didn’t want to be away from my husband in case something did go wrong. Women don’t get any medals for pushing through during pregnancy and for me the pregnancy and my wellbeing were my priority. If you’re not sure if you want to go then just don’t if it’s feasible from a work point of view (mine didn’t have any issue).

So long as you have travel insurance and have disclosed you are pregnant plus all other health conditions, including pregnancy related ones you will be fine.

A&E is called ER and you dial 911 for an ambulance.
The next people to call are your travel/health insurance if they require preauthorisation as soon as you get to hospital. If you are very ill, the ER staff can take your insurance info and do this for you. If the insurance provider do require it and you skip this step, they might deny your claims.

Note, you may get several bills if you do experience an emergency. It is common to get at least three separate bills for one ER visit:

• one from ambulance
• one from hospital that runs the ER
• one from each consultant you saw in the ER

If you are admitted to the hospital, that will mean further separate bills.

Your insurance should cover them, but read the excess rules carefully. Some policies you have to cover first £500 of each bill instead of each incident so even with insurance one ER visit can still cost you £1500 or more.

Make sure your travel insurance includes repatriation costs to fly you back commercially or via private air ambulance to the U.K.

As your baby will be too young to be born prematurely, you will not have to worry about taking out coverage for a potential NICU stay of an infant.

If you are travelling as part of HMGov, you should get a letter saying bill all costs to NHS, which is much easier!

I wouldn’t think twice about going, unless there’s missing information about you feeling horrendously nauseated or otherwise unwell.

Hmm I wouldn't usually bat an eyelid at travelling in pregnancy, but as others have mentioned the current state of US maternal care is worrying, and that would be what gives me pause.

I'm travelling UK-Hong Kong for work at 33w pregnant at the end of this month, and am making sure I have a fit to fly letter from my midwife, as well as contacting my insurer before I go and ensuring I know how to access maternity healthcare when I'm over there.

In your shoes I'd probably be booking myself in for an early private scan ahead of the trip for a bit of reassurance.

Which state are you going to?
I would be wary of US maternity provision at the moment in some of them

I would go OP, if something did go wrong being in the US won't change anything. I also think you should consider how your employer will view this as really there is no medical reason to not go and therefore if they frown on it it could affect your future prospects IMO.

If you don't care about future prospects with this company then don't go.

This is coming from someone who's had many miscarriages and still travelled this pregnancy at 9 weeks.

If it’s a heartbeat bill state I probably wouldn’t.

How far along are you now?
I personally wouldn't go especially if it is a state with restrictive policies following the overturning of roe v wade as it can impact care during miscarriages too.
I get hyperemesis in pregnancy and wouldn't manage the flights, if you are only a few weeks along now you don't know how the pregnancy sickness and fatigue with affect you. I struggled with a 40 minutes commute because of the fatigue at 11 weeks in my first pregnancy I think I would have struggled with long haul travel.

I had a miscarriage at 10 weeks in the summer and wouldn't want to be away from home in that situation. I was in the hospital 3 times over 4 days and all I wanted was to be in my own space.

Thank you all for your opinions. The state is thankfully not a conservative one and no worries there in that regard. I also spoke to my personal insurance today and they said they’ll have me covered for business too so that has all been very reassuring and I do now think I’ve been a bit overly dramatic. I really don’t want to pass it up especially knowing I’ll soon be surrendering my life to the newborn phase so very soon!!

I went to the US (Alabama) on a work trip at 16wks. I just made sure work covered all aspects of pregnancy in health insurance. I figured if anything happened I was staying in a decent hotel that could assist and all day I was with colleagues in the US Office. It was all ok, I was just more careful with what I ate as they have a lot more chemicals in their food that are banned in the EU.

@DarkMule if this is a work trip then your employer must provide suitable insurance, so I’d be checking with in your work business travel policies that their cover includes pregnancy-related illness etc (if not, they should be able to top-up the cover. Make sure to do this now though because cover must be in place when you leave the UK, assuming you’re in the UK, you can’t backdate it). Then I’d go as long as I was under say 16 weeks and well in myself.

@notaurewhatusername if being pregnant and not travelling affects op future prospects in the company then she will have a nice case to sue them for discrimination. Where do you work? An office in the 1950’s?

if something did go wrong being in the US won't change anything. This is completely dependent on where you are.
In some states if you are miscarrying they can AND QUITE POSSIBLY WILL refuse treatment because it can be viewed as performing an abortion.
Your work has a duty of care to you.
Make sure they absolutely fulfil it and do not let them send you anywhere where this is the risk.
Best of luck OP and congratulations on your pregnancy, which I hope is trouble-free.

Ah posted before seeing your last one. Excellent.

I went to the US last week at around 6 weeks, morning sickness started kicking in about halfway through the trip which certainly wasn't fun, but apart from that all was okay!

I got those anti-sickness travel bands which seemed to help (not sure if it's a placebo effect but worked for me!!!)

I also got stuck in the middle of storm Helene, which (again) wasn't ideal, but I made it home in one piece thankfully!

Heh, the law is useless, just go to pregnant and screwed and you will see that most cases get squashed.

I had a miscarriage at 11 weeks and being away would have been unbearable. But I appreciate that’s not common, and my experience. It was bad enough trying to get medical care here.

I would still travel. I’ve done so until late in my pregnancy.

HOWEVER, it’s the USA.
Id want proper insurance including for pregnancy.
And I’d check if you’re going in one of the states that has an issue with abortion and refuses medical care to women (or puts them in jail) to protect the foetus.