Pregnancy Policy

[Baxter]

Just back from a cruise and am just over 2 months pregnant. The issue for me -- the smell of the Horizon Court buffet!!! I had to stop walking through there!

[ladylonghorn]

....I board the Liberty on 12/8/07.

 

Hi MO2B - - we are on the Liberty on 1/10/08. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this cruise. How old are your boys? I have a girl that will be 26 months when we travel.

[abolanowski]

I am really really glad that my water didn't break on that business trip, or my son might have been born and spent 2 months in a hospital in Utah instead of in Seattle, where I live.

 

 

Actually, once the baby is stable, they can be medevac'd to the nearest NICU to where you live. So have no fear, if you do deliver early (be it 22 weeks or 32 weeks) you will not be stuck at a hospital in the Carribean for several months!

[abolanowski]

I'm glad all the CNM and certified (Non nurse) midwives had their say about normal pregnancy and cruise travel. Normal pregnancy is great until it's not normal anymore!

 

I am a registered nurse certified in high risk obstetrics. I work in a large high risk regional referral obstetrical unit. I care for many families who had "perfectly normal" pregnancies up until they show up on my unit!! We care for many women who develop all kinds of problems with their pregnancy health - their own or their unborn child. We deliver many babies at very early gestational ages including 23 - 28 weeks (someone made it sound like these rarely survive or would be only one of hundreds to survive :eek: you are very wrong - where did you get those stats???) Many of these babies would absolutely not survive if they were not born at a technologically advanced environment.

 

One post asked for evidence to suggest pregnant women should not cruise beyond a certain gestational age. Interestingly there is a discussion amongst cruise ship companies to change the limit of gestational age for pregnancy travel to the current established point of viability (23 weeks gestation).

 

Cruise ship doctors are the ones urging this change. They have produced many records of treatment of pregnant women for dehydration, nausea, vomiting, falls, ruling out bleeding, ruling out rupture of membranes and dealing with preterm contractions. The medical crew does not want to be responsible for a very fragile viable fetus in the middle of a cruise and I don't blame them!

 

The 27 - 28 week cutoff established was based on point of viabilty many many years ago. Viability now is 23 weeks. It is untrue for anyone to tell you that a baby under 27 or 28 weeks will most likely not survive!! We do it everyday. We live in a country blessed with great technology to care for these babies.

 

I believe that comments made by concerned posters/cruisers urging pregnant women to think twice before cruising and to seek out their own doctors advice is absolutely correct!!!

 

Our care providers (including certified nurse midwives), do not recommend travel to any areas of the country that put your or your baby's health in jeopardy at any gestation. After viability, they recommend that travel be limited to places where availability to adequate medical care is available. Again, at this time that is 23 weeks. Maybe that is a cruise, depending on where it's going, how far from shore etc.

 

I agree with the poster that said being in the middle of the ocean and airlifted off the ship could take HOURS. And then you may be looking at a rural hospital that lacks the training/equipment necessary to care for you. (Been there, seen them!! Hospital mission work was an eye opener) Would NOT want to be a patient in some of those hospitals for anything.

 

IMHO, why risk it?? If you baby is viable (23 weeks), pick a vacation that allows you to seek out and obtain adequate health care should a problem (however unexpected and unanticipated) arise.;)

 

***It will be interesting to see if the cruise lines decide to change the gestational age - won't it??

 

Stepping off the ol' soap box now,

Jan

 

You're assuming that all Americans actually live within a reasonable distance from a tertiary care facility with a NICU. That is just not true - I live in California right now and would have to be choppered out to a adequate medical facility if I were to go into pre-term labor. In the carribean it would be no different.

 

You can't realistically suggest that all the women living in Montana, Wyoming, SD, WV, the Mojave desert areas, most of UT (the list goes on and on) move after there 22nd week and finish out their pregnancies near a university center just in case. Those early preemie babies have the same chance of surviving being born on a ship as they do in a small american community hospital, and yet that happens every day.

 

I'm a physician, and I'm taking my 30 week fetus on a much needed vacation.:D It's up to each person how comfortable they are. I can't wait and I hope OP has a great time too!

[bigpuma]

Do you really want to take that chance, however small?

 

How far do you want to take it? I mean I am just guessing but I would assume getting into a car and driving on a daily basis is a much greater risk than going on a cruise. If we didn't ever do anything for fun or entertainment because we don't want to "take a chance, however small," we could never get into a car to go out to a movie or to eat dinner. We would have to stay home except to drive to and from work. Everyone has to decide for themselves how much risk they are willing to take. Personally I would have no problem with my wife going on a cruise up until about 26 weeks of pregnancy if the OB thought it was ok but YMMV.

[FOURunderFOUR]

Just wanted to add my own experiences:

 

I have 4 kids under 4 1/2. My 3rd child (7th pregnancy, I have also had 4 miscarriages) was born at 25 weeks, after my membranes ruptured at 22 weeks. Like a PP mentioned, had I not had access to state-of-the art high-risk OB care, or if my daughter had not been born in a level III NICU, she would not have survived. She would NOT have survived a transfer across the street, let alone any further. HOWEVER, I had NO RISK FACTORS for PROM (premature rupture of membranes) or preterm delivery AT ALL! We had just put the deposit on another cruise when I found out I was pregnant with my 4th child. Although my OB (a high risk maternal-fetal medicine specialist with over 30 years of experience) felt there was no reason for me to cancel (I would have been 18 weeks during the cruise) I personally could not do it. IF something had happened, I would have felt too guilty. I was a basket case the entire pregnancy anyway. However, after having a "normal" pregnancy and delivery for my 4th, I am pretty certain I would cruise pregnant "next time" as long as I was in the late 1st tri or early 2nd. Yes, I am still at greater risk than the average woman for having a pre-term delivery. However, being on a cruise will not cause me to have one any more than living my daily life at home would. Yes, if I ruptured early again, I could be admitted to the hospital on bedrest (like I was before) and hopefully keep my child inside until viable. Yes, being on a cruise ship would make this difficult, if not impossible. But after doing extensive research on the risks (both DH and I are in health care) and trusting my OB's knowledge, I know I have to live my life and not live every day in fear of something bad happening.

 

All of that said, I also fully understand those of you who would not risk cruising while pregnant. Everyone has to make that decision for themself, and be prepared to live with the possible outcomes.

 

I know my comments really do not add anything more to the discussion. I just wanted to share my point of view.

 

J

[FOURunderFOUR]

duplicate post...sorry

[rubegoddess]

wow! I'm pregnant with my first (10 weeks)- and I am very impressed- 4 under the age of 4!?!?!? kudos to you!

[ELECIA]

Hi Everybody,

 

I have been looking for a thread like this, who knew it would be so heated??? :-) I cruised while my 1st born was a 26 week fetus. It was great. My nausea did rear it's ugly head on the cruise though, even though I hadn't had any morning sickness in almost 10 weeks. It was probably b/c it was a small NCL out of Boston to Bermuda in early May. The waters were choppy! It was a lot of fun anyway! All you can eat food and icecream when you are pregnant, what more can a girl ask for???

 

I am cruising again in April. My Mom is getting remarried and is taking us all along on the cruise with her. We booked it before I got pregnant and I will actually be 30 weeks along when I cruise. I asked both my Doctor and my Midwives what they thought and they all said as long as my pregnancy progresses normally as it did last time they see no reason why it shouldn't. My 7 day cruise also only has 2 sea days, so we won't be out in the middle of the ocean. As far as documentation goes I am just not mentioning that I am pregnant and hoping for the best. I checked Carnival's website and it doesn't state that it needs any doc's from doctors like it did on NCL. I'll just wear a caftan or something when we board! :)

 

To any OB's CNM's have you ever heard of anyone getting that preterm labor test done for a non-medical reason such as travel??? My dr's/cnm hadn't heard of anyone ever doing that. I still want to ( I would pay out of pocket) and if it said I would be at risk for preterm labor I just wouldn't go...