Planning a Babymoon?

I recently had lunch with a professional colleague who, over grilled reuben sandwiches, joyfully told me she was expecting her first baby. After the requisite shrieks and cheers, we got right down to business.

“Tell me," she said, “did you take a babymoon when you were pregnant with either of your boys?”

“A what?” I choked on my reply as a small piece of sauerkraut slipped down my throat.

I’ve always considered myself a pretty hip mama, but a babymoon? I had never even heard the term before! Apparently, a babymoon is a last hurrah for an expectant couple. A chance to vacation before two becomes three, and the phrase “weekend getaway” becomes an oxymoron.

Frankly, I think it’s a great concept. If you Google the term babymoon, you’ll find plenty of travel web sites that specialize in helping expectant couples plan their trips.

I took vacations with my husband during both of my pregnancies. I didn’t know at the time there was a special term for it. With our first, we traveled to an all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic. It was a spur-of-the-moment trip and I was completely paranoid about everything from the quality of the resort’s drinking water to access to proper medical care. After extensive online research and a chat with my ob/gyn, I decided it was safe to go. My husband and I spent most of our time lounging around on the beach, sipping virgin daiquiris (for me, anyway), and reading books of the non-parenting kind. There were no crazy vacation adventures. It was simply a week of rest and relaxation.

Unfortunately, on the day we were returning home, the resort’s drinking water caught up with me and I got violently ill with a stomach bug. I almost couldn’t fly home! When I got back to Boston I remained in bed for three days, sucking on ice chips and drinking Gatorade. (Note: Although I drank only bottled water at the resort, the property’s “filtered” water was used to wash fruits and vegetables, for ice in the frozen drinks, and much more. My pregnant body could not tolerate it).

When we were expecting number two, we traveled to Turks & Caicos with our toddler. That was another relaxing vacation…until the last day when we were stranded in the airport without a plane to take us—and approximately one hundred other Americans—back to Miami. With just a single diaper in my diaper bag, and no food, milk or water in sight, I was quickly reminded of the potential perils of traveling outside the United States. What normally would be considered an inconvenience becomes quite serious when you’re pregnant. Throw a toddler into the mix and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

Are you thinking about taking a babymoon? If so, be sure to discuss your travel plans with your doctor. It’s a good idea, too, to think about your own level of comfort regarding access to medical care, health care facilities, exotic foods and drinking water. Pregnancy is not necessarily the best time to try something new. If there’s a special place you and your partner always enjoyed traveling to, it might be just what the doctor ordered!

Because once that little baby arrives, the word vacation takes on a whole new meaning.

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