My husband and I are patiently waiting for our first child to arrive. I'm currently late in my third trimester and travel by plane is no longer an option. Pregnancy has been both enjoyable and a little nerve-racking: watching my body change while constantly thinking of how our life will change with our new arrival. Thankfully, being pregnant didn't stop me from traveling and along the way I found a few items that helped throughout the various stages of pregnancy. I never traveled with these items before being pregnant, but now I don't think I'll ever travel without them, even after the baby arrives. I hope these items helps ease your experience of traveling while pregnant, like they did for me.
Lightweight Portable Stool
My favorite item on this list is this portable stool. Whenever I was waiting in a long line or tired from walking on the beach in Hawaii or the desert of Saudi Arabia, my husband was ready with this stool. It's also great if you don't want to struggle to get up from ground or at 8 or 9 months pregnant. I used this for the first time while waiting in line to check our bags. The line was taking longer than usual due to short staffing, and I didn't want to lose my spot, but needed to rest from standing.
The stool has a carrying case that makes it easy to pop into your carry-on bag. It's super lightweight, which means even when my husband wasn't traveling with me, which happened a few times during this pregnancy, I could carry the stool without issue and pull it out whenever I wanted. When you need to use it, pull out the chair - twist and lock it into position. It holds up to 400 LBs pounds and is great for sitting just about anywhere.
I wouldn't recommend moving around too much (swiveling side to side, for example) because you may end up unlocking the stool. And while the seat never unlocked while I was using it, I recommend reading all the instructions and only using the stool to get some rest between activities.
Admittedly, I'm not a sneakerhead. Give me a pair of Birkenstocks or Croc sandals, and I'm good to go. My husband, however, is quite the opposite - a true sneakerhead that knows how to match comfort with superior style -- sneakers are definitely his domain. I couldn't have appreciated this fact more than when he purchased these Nike Go FlyEase sneakers for me to wear while pregnant.
Not only are these sneakers stylish and comfortable, but they're SUPER easy to put on and take off. You simply step into the shoe to put them on. To remove them, you pop the shoe back into place by using one foot to pivot the heel of the opposite shoe. If it sounds complicated, don't worry, it's not. These sneakers were designed for people with limited mobility, making them perfect for pregnant women who shouldn't have to constantly bend down to tie their shoes.
Going through airport security with these sneakers was a breeze. Don't worry about the sneaker coming off because they fit snugly while wearing them. When you're ready to travel, toss these onto the ground, step into them and go!
Disposable Urination Funnels
Okay, hear me out. Number three is a little odd, but when you're traveling while pregnant and a high-functioning germ nerd, these will be stocked in your carry-on bag. These disposable urination funnels are for pregnant women who either don't want to or can't squat while going number one. Once you reach a certain month of pregnancy, it may not be as easy to hold your belongings while stopping your pants from touching the ground and squatting, all while avoiding the germs someone else left behind on the bathroom floor or toilet seat. The thought of it is enough to make you not want to travel at all, but items like this urine funnel help make travel a little bit easier for pregnant women.
I mostly used these when we traveled on long-haul flights with tiny airplane bathrooms. Trust that it will be awkward to use these at first, but you will find that they come in handy. When you're finished, simply toss them in the trash before leaving the stall, like you would a pad or tampon.
I recommend testing out the funnel at home first so you can get an idea of how it feels and how comfortable you are with using it while traveling. Once you get the hang of it, these can be (discretely) packed in your babymoon carry-on bag.
Portable Door Lock
Number 4 on this list is this portable door lock, an item every pregnant woman should pack for travel. I'm adding the lock to this list because while I've had this item for over a year before being pregnant my first time using it was while traveling pregnant.
Maybe it was my instinct to protect my baby, but I needed to add a layer of security to our hotel door while traveling. This lock gives the reassurance that even if your door is locked, some unauthorized person with a key cannot just swipe and enter your room. If you travel enough, you've probably seen videos showing robbers getting past the latch lock on a hotel door or even being given card-key access to a room. This lock provides the added security and peace of mind you want while relaxing in your hotel room after a day of excursions.
Like the urine funnels, you will want to practice with this lock at home first, so you're prepped and ready by the time you travel. To use, you put the metal lock into the door slot, connect the red handle to the metal portion, close the door and then place the red handle like a wedge against the door.
Note: These locks don't work for double or sliding glass doors, so if you're on the first floor of a resort or hotel keep in mind you'll need alternative security for those areas.
Emesis Bags
I started using emesis bags for travel early on in my pregnancy. If you've seen my IG stories from Curacao or the Galapagos, you know I'm prone to motion sickness. Add pregnancy to the mix, and it's a recipe for awful morning sickness. Needless to say, my first trimester involved a lot of puking.
At one point during my first trimester, I was flying home from a work conference and the nausea started picking up right as the seatbelt sign was turned on, and we were descending to the ground for landing. I spent most of the flight getting up to puke in the bathroom, so one of the flight attendants gave me a cup of water. Thankfully, I still had that cup, which was now empty, in my hand during the landing. I ended up puking into the cup since I couldn't get up to go to the bathroom while we descended. I held the cup until we landed and de-boarded the plane, where I could toss it into a trash can. It was terrible. After that experience, I thought - there was no way I can travel without "puke bags" while pregnant.
Thankfully, these bags come in various sizes and amounts. I quickly went through a pack of 24, so when it was time to re-up I opted for the 50 count. When we flew to Honduras, I was prepped with my emesis bags, and they absolutely came in handy. Like clockwork, I was sick on takeoff and landing. When you're ready to close the bag, you twist and snap it over one of the white tabs. You can then toss the bag in the trash.
These 5 items made traveling while pregnant a breeze. I hope you'll find them helpful as well.
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