For those who want an honest and realistic picture of pregnancy, birth and raising three kids, then take a look at my #pregnancydiary and feel free get in touch with any comments, questions or suggestions.
Venice
In those hazy horrible days of relentless morning sickness, I came up with the idea of booking a surprise trip for my husband’s birthday. Since he refuses to go on holiday without the kids I ended up booking a short break for all four and a half of us to Venice…the most romantic city in the world.
Venice might not seem like the ideal place to take kids and had I been in my senses I may not have booked that trip. But it kept me busy and took my mind off throwing up for a few days. Also, because I was newly pregnant it had hit me that we probably wouldn’t be going on holiday anywhere for at least a year and we must seize the moment now before it’s too late!
Running to departures
In my first pregnancy I travelled to Rome with my husband when I was around 6 weeks pregnant. We had just found out I was expecting and I had just started to feel sick. I remember walking round the colosseum nibbling on biscuits to help with the nausea. That pretty much sums up the whole trip.
This time I was 21 weeks pregnant and felt ok about flying. My nausea had gone and we had had the 20 week scan and baby seemed fine so I was ready to eat nice food and soak up the culture. It was only when I was running to the departure gate at Stanstead airport whilst dragging my two kids by the hand and with my unborn child bouncing around in my belly, did I think “er…what the hell am I doing?”.
This situation could have been avoided had I not got carried away with duty-free shopping and had I listened to my husband when he told me that “sometimes the departure gates are further away than you think”!
I would advise any other holidaying pregnant woman to chill out about duty-free as it’s not that much of a bargain and a nice leisurely walk onto the plane is a lot better than panting and sweating and risking a fall down the escalators!
Flight socks
I’d also advise wearing flight socks, this was one good thing that I did do! I always get swollen feet on flights and during pregnancy my feet swell anyway. The flight socks were amazing as my feet didn’t resemble an elephant’s when I got to my destination!
Venice itself was a lovely experience. Ok, so it’s not the ideal place to take a 5 year old and a 7 year old as they have little interest in history and art (not that me and my husband are much better!) and they get tired of walking around the city (I know how they feel!). But there are loads of boats which they loved, gelato shops around every corner and they were well impressed with the “fancy” hotel.
Quality time
I’m glad we went on our little holiday before I got too whale-like to walk around much and it was great that our hotel was in the centre of Venice so we could go sightseeing in the morning, come back and chill in the hotel for a couple of hours, then head out somewhere else.
Although city breaks are totally doable for a pregnant woman with two kids, I think it would be more relaxing to go to a sunny beach destination where you could lie around all day. The only issue is that long-haul flights might be really uncomfortable depending how pregnant you are, and in some hot countries you have to take extra care about food and malaria risk etc.
If you don’t have kids, it’s worth going on a little break before baby comes to spend some quality time together. If you do have kids and don’t mind leaving them at "Nani’s" house, it’s a good time chance for some couple time….which will soon be even more scarce! And if like me your family has the policy of “either we all go or no one does” it’s a chance to spend some quality time together before the family dynamic changes.
