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Face down on a massage bed in the Whitsundays, I’m basking in an unexpected luxury. For the first time in months, I am lying on my stomach.
The spa here at the InterContinental Hayman Island has an ingenious pillow with a hole right in the middle. It’s not a design flaw; it’s to cradle my 26-week-pregnant bump, which is bulging sleepily below the surface while my mind levitates on flute music and essential oils. Meanwhile, Italian massage therapist Sofia is kneading out the knots bristling in the posterior of my changing body.
Just a couple of years ago, I gagged at the word “babymoon” as a buzzy travel industry ploy to attach consumerism to yet another life event. (Turns out, this is exactly what it is – the term originally referred to the immediate weeks after birth .) Still, the final opportunity for child-free travel is enough to coax my husband and me out of Sydney for five blissful days in the Queensland sun during my second trimester. Our last hurrah of hand luggage without pram logistics.
Hayman’s spa, salon and fitness manager Milli Jacobs says she treats four or five pregnant women with the same idea every week.
“We’ve deliberately tailored our spa menu to suit pregnant women, knowing most will only want an hour to 90 minutes in a treatment [movement and more upright positions allow better blood flow and oxygen to the baby]. We also carefully choose pregnancy-safe oils from Australian-made skincare company Subtle Energies,” she explains.
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Most pregnancy massages require women to lie on their side, making it harder for therapists to apply pressure. Here, the circular pillow allows me to faceplant into my former favourite sleeping position for a blissful hour. When it’s time to roll over, Sofia inclines the bed slightly to elevate my head above the belly while she lathers my bump in stretch-mark-reducing oil.
Suddenly, my stomach bulges with a violent, unexpected baby kick. Sofia giggles, I instinctively apologise. The culprit is three months from being born and she’s already interrupting travel as I once knew it.
Questions I’d never considered are now my late-night Google searches: “How late into pregnancy is it safe to fly? Which destinations are safe?” The good news, according to Sydney obstetrician Dr Sarah Ooi, is that most healthy pregnancies can accommodate both domestic and international travel.
“For uncomplicated pregnancies, the second trimester – between about 13 and 26 weeks – is generally the sweet spot for holidays,” Dr Ooi says.
“That’s when most people are feeling their best, they’re over the nausea and vomiting of the first trimester, and they’re not too heavy and uncomfortable yet. It also presents the lowest risk in terms of possible complications.”
Rules differ between airlines, but Qantas allows travel up to 40 weeks on flights less than four hours, and up to 36 weeks for longer flights. You’ll need a medical certificate to fly after 28 weeks. However, Ooi warns an early labour away from home could leave me stranded, so she’s slightly more conservative – advising limiting travel to before 36 weeks domestically and 32 weeks internationally. She also notes pregnant women have a higher risk of blood clots, so it’s important to hydrate well, get up to walk around the plane and wear compression stockings.
If you choose to babymoon overseas, make sure you’re confident accessing nearby medical facilities. Avoid places that harbour mosquito-borne diseases like Zika virus or malaria, which are dangerous for unborn babies. And be eagle-eyed when reading the fine print on your travel insurance. Travel Insurance Direct is one option that covers uncomplicated pregnancies up to 26 weeks for no additional cost.
All this advice points to “fly-and-flop” locations covered by Australia’s excellent healthcare system as easy choices for couples staring down an incoming blur of sleepless nights and a very different packing list. At 26 weeks, I’m still mobile enough to hike the island, swim, snorkel, beat my husband at ping pong, even kayak off the resort-front beach.
Morning sickness – which in my first trimester exhibited no regard for time of day – has given way to random strikes of all-consuming hunger. It means I can take full advantage of the vast breakfast buffet and Hayman’s five restaurants.
I’ll just have to wait a little longer for a margarita.
InterContinental Hayman Great Barrier Reef has rooms from $550 per night with a three-night minimum. See haymanisland.intercontinental.com ; The Reef & Rest Babymoon package includes three nights in a pool access suite, daily breakfast for two, plus a pregnancy spa and massage bundle from $1239 per night. See haymanisland.intercontinental.com/promotion/reef-rest-babymoon/
The writer stayed as a guest of InterContinental Hayman Great Barrier Reef.
For great deals on Queensland holidays, check out the Festival of Free at myqldholiday.com.au
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