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Should Pregnancy Be a Hindrance to Extreme Travel?

This question might seem outrageous upon first glance, but it doesn’t have to be. While traveling with kids and under other challenging circumstances are becoming increasingly popular, the idea of traveling while pregnant falls into an entirely different category of risky. And the idea of extreme travel while pregnant might strike many people as outright criminal.

But it doesn’t have to be. And whether and how you engage in extreme travel while pregnant depends on several different factors. The most obvious, of course, is how you define extreme. And beyond this, your planning tactics play a major role. If you are trying to time a pregnancy around a particular trip, it is a good idea to take an ovulation test. 

General things to keep in mind

Before we get into particulars, there are some general rules that you should follow when considering the idea of traveling while pregnant. These include:

• Keeping changing conditions in mind at all times. Changes in altitude, excessive movement without breaks, fatigue from jetlag, and other major factors should force you to exercise caution throughout your trip.
• Being aware of potential complications caused by travel. Pregnancy already entails a much-increased risk of blood clots. If you are forced to sit on planes or buses for too long, you could be increasing your risk level drastically. Always make sure that you can get up and move around at least once an hour.
• Only traveling during the first two trimesters. Doctors generally agree that all travel (particularly air travel, but really anything out of the ordinary) should be stopped by the 30th week of pregnancy. Anything you do after this could multiply risk levels significantly.
• Exercising extreme caution when it comes to food and water. You should never take risks when it comes to potentially questionable food as diarrhea can be very dangerous for pregnancies. And you should make it a rule not to drink the tap water in foreign countries. 

You should also make sure that your insurance covers the types of things that you will be doing. Many plans do not cover high-risk activities, so you don’t want to get stuck in a situation where you have an emergency and remain uncovered.

What you should avoid

The big question for most people is what you should definitely stay away from during your trips. While some places and conditions are black and white, others are negotiable. In general, medical professionals warn against the following:

• High altitudes. Unless you already live in a place that is high altitude, experts typically caution against traveling above 3000 meters (approximately 10,000 feet) as this can not only cause altitude sickness, but the lack of oxygen can have direct effects on the health of the fetus.
• Scuba diving. For related reasons, scuba diving should be avoided as decompression illness can be a serious risk. Decompression illness can cause nitrogen buildup, which can lead to birth defects.
• High-impact sports. Any sports that carry the risk of abdominal trauma should be avoided. This includes most team sports, as well as horseback riding, skiing, snowboarding, etc.
• Travel to areas with poor or questionable medical facilities. This might seem obvious, but it is hard to overstate the importance of ensuring proper medical facilities in the places where you travel while pregnant. You should be absolutely certain that medical facilities will be not only near to the places you travel, but that they will be reliable, sanitary, and provide high-quality services. Look carefully at third-party review sites.
• Remote areas in general. Remote areas tend to have not only poorer medical facilities, but less readily-available online information in general. While you might come across the occasional site that talks about a great doctor in the depths of the Amazon, it is generally better not to bank on it.
• Areas with disease outbreaks or any rate of malaria or zika. You don’t want to take any chances when it comes to tropical diseases. And it is not advisable to take anti-malarial medication as this can cause its own problems. Better to stick to areas that are known to be healthy.

This might sound like a long list, but the reality is that there are plenty of things that you can still do if you are careful. As tourism grows in popularity all over the world, an increasing number of places are taking measures to eliminate diseases, establish quality medical facilities, and generally make travel easier for people overall. Just be sure to do your research thoroughly.

Keep a consistent mental checklist

Before setting out on any trip, you should of course get approval by your doctor. Be sure to carry any necessary medical documents with you at all times, and be sure that all your medications are legal in the places you’re going. Make an effort to wear compression stockings when sitting for extended periods of time as this will help to reduce swelling and the risk of blood clots. If you prepare well and stay vigilant while you travel, you should be fine. Just keep your documents (and your water bottle) near you at all times.