A world cruise while pregnant is a little-known life hack, says mother

We have been planning the trip for months for my family of four including my husband, 5 year old son and 1 year old daughter. The cruise was scheduled to leave from Miami on December 10th.

We didn’t know we would start a family of five.

Around Thanksgiving I found out I was pregnant. It was an “oops” pregnancy, but a nice surprise. Despite the news I still wanted to go on the cruise.

My husband and I have traveled extensively and the last continent I had to visit was Antarctica. Plus the cruise was going to be around our wedding anniversary. It was going to be the trip of a lifetime.

The American portion of the Ultimate World Cruise is 64 nights, but cruises typically have a policy of excluding passengers who are approximately 23 weeks pregnant or nearing their third trimester.

By the time the cruise started, I would be 10 weeks pregnant, so we decided to stay on the cruise for six weeks.

I was a little worried about the trip, the fact that I had to take two children, be pregnant and pack everything I needed.

I checked with my midwife that I was okay to go and agreed to check in with her regularly during the trip. I also brought a Doppler that can measure the baby’s heart rate.

Seasickness was also a problem.

I knew the cruise would go through the Drake Passage, which is known for its rough seas, and I was worried that the seasickness would be worsened by the morning sickness of pregnancy.

But ultimately I would say that I am fine with going on a cruise during my pregnancy.

I found the wristbands that you can put on your wrist to help with motion sickness useful. I did get it once, but the staff were very kind to come in, clean everything up, and sanitize everything again. There is also a small clinic to get medicine and stay hydrated.

As a mother, especially pregnant, you need to be taken care of — and the staff did that. They were friendly and made everything easy, knowing I was pregnant.

If we let the staff know in advance, they can accommodate our dietary restrictions and provide gluten-free meals, for example. If my kids make a mess during a meal, the staff insists on cleaning it up for me. You can even pay to have the staff do your laundry for you.

So basically you don’t have to cook, clean, make your own bed or anything like that. That allowed me to participate in activities on the cruise.

My husband and I are sporty so we participated in things like archery and mini basketball games even in rough seas. There was beanbag tossing for the kids.

Of course, there is also the traveling itself. We traveled through the Caribbean, then Antarctica, Buenos Aires and, for New Year’s, Rio de Janeiro.

You also make friends on the cruise because you spend a lot of time with them on activities and excursions. The friends I made were all waiting to hear the gender of the baby after the cruise. My son still talks to some of the friends he made on the cruise who are from England.

It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Back to reality was a bit difficult. I thought: “I don’t know how I’m going to do laundry, clean and cook again when you’ve been cared for for so long and you have to get back into the rhythm of life.”

If I could have, I would have continued for a while.