Travelling long haul in my third trimester

A personal account of the pros and cons. Hubby and I flew London-Auckland-Christchurch-Sydney-London with our 2yo and 1yo and me being 30wks pregnant at the start of our trip and 33wks when we got back to London. Pros- seeing family, being at my brothers wedding, having home and familiar things all around me. Although I'm measuring BIG no-one asked about my being fit to fly or not, although I still carried my notes and fit-to-fly letter in case. I didn't take any aspirin because it doesn't protect DVT clots and I was fine (I don't have any predisposition to DVT). I didn't wear compression tights and although my feet swelled it was no more than on previous occasions. Swelling was gone in a day after. Singapore airlines were amazing with the kids. Air New Zealand sucked. I drank rehydration salts and they really helped me feel less "dried out". Our 2yo was by far the easiest traveller, she was thrilled to get so much screen time (she normally only gets screen time on weekends). Cons- Our 18month old son was the nightmare (apart from me being sick). He was too long for the bassinet, too restless to sit on our knee, too cramped and confined and only slept a little. He was hard hard work and my husband was awesome looking after him but totally exhausted by the end. On both long haul flights (London-Auckland and Sydney-London) I had a cold. I was just about in tears from the pain in one ear because of the change in cabin pressure, not to mention the difficulty breathing with the air conditioning. I will definitely use my insurance next time to fly a day or two later so I can get better first, it just wasn't worth the horrendous pain and fatigue. And of course if we could have spaces out the trip to 6 weeks instead of 3 we would have. Alas, my husband's holiday leave wouldn't allow it. All in all, if it must be done it can, and it will be exhausting. But for me and my heavily pregnant body with two kids and a great support in my hubby it can be done safely provided you're having a perfectly healthy pregnancy and don't have any history of DVT or other health problems. Xxx