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Flying the Pregnant Skies
An Expectant Mom's Guide to Air Travel
By Mary Dixon Lebeau
The nine months of pregnancy used to be known as a woman's "time of confinement" – and for good reason. As soon as she became aware that motherhood was in her future, women in centuries past would avoid being seen in public. Often she would quit work and stop interacting socially until after the baby was born.
She wouldn't even think of traveling – especially by air. Air travel was considered unsafe and unhealthy to the mother and her child.
Welcome to the 21st century. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, air travel is usually safe for the majority of pregnant women, although each individual should consult with her own obstetrician before making any air travel plans.
That doesn't mean that traveling by air is without consequence. Many people have trouble with air travel, even when they're feeling their best.
However, there's a whole new set of considerations – and a whole different set of concerns – when a woman is "traveling for two" by air. "In general, air travel is OK during the entire pregnancy," says Dr. Kenneth Johnson, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. "Common sense dictates that women with complicated pregnancies involving twins, hypertensive disease, severe nausea, placenta previa, pre-term labor and other pregnancy-related complications should not fly."
Drue Ann Ramirez of Pomona, Calif., recalls traveling to Oklahoma to visit her parents for two weeks with a trip that included two plane rides and a three-hour car trip each way. "I was two to three months pregnant at the time, but I wasn't nervous since my doctor assured me it was safe," Ramirez says. "I'd made my flight plans months before, so it was the first question I asked when I found out I was pregnant."
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