Services We Provide
If you are pregnant and traveling, or pregnant and an expatriate, or even planning a pregnancy and wondering about travel we do offer personalized advice regarding your travel and your pregnancy.
The reason that we cover so many topics in our consultations is that each situation is different. Even visitors to the same destination do not all need the same advice. What we advise you will also depend on your personal medical history, the specific locations you will be visiting and the activities that you plan to participate in.
In many cases we can recommend minor adjustments to you itinerary or activities where your obstetrical provider may otherwise simply tell you to abandon the trip.
Things to Consider
Pre-Travel Prenatal Care
What tests should your obstetrician or primary care provider do to prepare you?
What complications might delay or alter your travel plans?
Are you moving overseas or is it a short trip? Will you be far from care or near a major medical center?
Vaccinations
There are vaccinations that you should always get in pregnancy whether traveling or not. Then there are some that you may be legally required to get for certain destinations unless we write you a waiver. And then there are those that are normally advised for a given trip and we can make recommendations based, once again, on your personal medical history and planned activities.
Medications
Travel often involves taking some unaccustomed medications. Will you be traveling, for instance, to somewhere where malaria is a problem. How about traveler’s diarrhea—particularly hazardous during pregnancy. Will you need something to prevent altitude sickness? What about insect repellents? And the list goes on.
Environment
Will you be exposed to significant heat and humidity, both of which affect the body differently during pregnancy? The pregnant body also adjusts to cold differently during pregnancy, and air pollution or changes in altitude may be more problematic.
Activities
What will you be doing on your trip? A business trip with lots of meetings, tight schedules and formal dinners requires different adjustments than a vacation where snorkeling, scuba diving and riding bikes may be more the norm. Or perhaps you are considering a wilderness trip with white water rafting and rock climbing.
Visiting friends or relatives in a foreign country brings on a whole new set of considerations.
- Where to find care
- Whom do you call if there is an emergency? Can you make arrangements before you make the trip?
Documents
Are there extra documents you need to take with you? Cruise lines and airlines may require documentation of your due date and safety to travel. Should you take a copy of your medical record and if so, in what language?
Insurance
Will your medical insurance cover you internationally? Some insurances will take care of you for a broken leg when you are pregnant, but not for a miscarriage or other pregnancy-related issue. Will your overseas provider accept your insurance or will you need to pay cash and then recover expenses later from your insurance carrier?
How are you traveling? With air travel you may have concerns about airport screening technology or solar radiation. Cruise travel may mean risk of falls on a moving vessel, or exposure to norovirus or even motion sickness (not fun if you have morning sickness already). And travel of many sorts may increase your risk of developing blood clots that could travel to your heart and lungs.
Are there foods that you shouldn’t eat where you are going (such as unpasteurized cheeses). Can you drink the water? Is bottled water preferable to a water filter? How about chemically treated water?
What should you include in your medical kit? Should you include antibiotics for respiratory or urinary infections? What about preventive medicines or treatment for diarrhea? Should you carry a thermometer or blood pressure cuff?
How do you handle such inconveniences as bloating, constipation, nausea, feet swelling?
Our consultation will teach you how to tell the difference between uncomfortable inconveniences and obstetrical emergencies.
Is it just a headache, or might it be pre-eclampsia? How much foot swelling is too much? Is it a urinary infection of just the baby bouncing off your bladder? How much bleeding is normal? Did your water just break?
How about trauma and injuries? Do I need to worry about my baby or not?
