How to Travel During Pregnancy

Video Transcript

"Are you taking a cruise to nowhere, jetting off to Fiji? I'm Doctor Jill from Tampa, Florida telling you how to travel when you're pregnant. Travel can be very safe in pregnancy with a few small bits of information. Safest time to travel is generally during your second trimester. In your first trimester, you're nauseous, you're not feeling so great, and it might not be as comfortable, it's safe, but not as comfortable. So, let's break it down per trimester, in the first trimester, whether you're flying, by sea, flights, driving, train, buses all generally safe, just make sure you're comfortable and you have ways to help with your nausea, because that's probably the biggest problem in the first trimester. Second and third trimester, remember that center of gravity is going to start to shift, you want to be careful when you're riding in a train, bus, airplane, make sure you hold onto seats as you walk, if you have to go to the restroom, and remember the bathrooms are going to be smaller, might not be as comfortable. Is it safe to go to foreign countries? Yes, it is but make sure you talk with your health care provider, you want to make sure you always carry a copy of your prenatal records if you're after the eighth month, just in case. The other thing is to make sure that there's not specific infections that you have to look for, when traveling to these countries, that might be harmful to the baby. The other really important thing no matter how you're traveling is to make sure every couple of hours, you get up and walk. When you sit stationary, you have an increased risk of blood clots, pregnancy exaggerates that risk, so you want to make sure you prevent this. So, getting up and walking frequently will help no matter how you're traveling. Most importantly talk to your provider, make sure that you don't have any contra indication for traveling, and make sure that you have an emergency plan. For instance, if you're in Seattle visiting family and you're thirty four weeks and something happens, you want to make sure you have all of your information like your prenatal forms, your doctors name, so that your doctor can communicate with somebody else. Travel is very safe in pregnancy, I'm Doctor Jill from Tampa, Florida telling you have a very happy trip!"