I’m pregnant! | FAQs and my plans for the future

Thank you so much for all of your lovely comments and congratulations from Tuesday’s post. In case you missed it, yes, I’m pregnant!

Despite a growing bump and five long months to get my head around this, I’m still totally in shock. I actually cannot believe I’m going to be a mum.

Each kick and every twist and turn I feel fluttering in my belly makes it feel a little more real but I honestly don’t think I’ll believe it until I’m holding a baby in my arms.

Each time I tell someone I’m pregnant I’m asked a similar set of questions. Since revealing the baby to the blogosphere, my inbox has been filled with these same questions so I thought I might as well answer them all here in case anyone else is wondering.

In case you missed the announcement on the blog....

A photo posted by Monica Stott (@thetravelhack) on Oct 10, 2014 at 7:28am PDT

 

What will you do about travelling?

I don’t intend to stop travelling completely. I’m due in March so I’ll stop flying in January. I’m already starting to slow down because I get tired so much easier and it won’t be long before I feel uncomfortable travelling long distances. I haven’t made any solid plans for travelling once the baby is born because I have no idea how soon I’ll be up and about and ready to jump on a plane. (If anyone has any experience here I’d really appreciate any advice!)

I’m not going to rush it but I certainly won’t be waiting for years!

I hear travelling with a baby is much easier than travelling with a toddler so I think I’ll be squeezing in lots of trips as soon as I’m ready. I will travel with the baby and also with Sam whenever possible (he has a fulltime job with limited holidays, booo). But when Sam isn’t available I do have a long queue of friends and family waiting to accompany me. I don’t like the idea of travelling alone with a baby but who knows, maybe this whole motherhood thing will be easy….? I’m sure my travel style will change. Things will probably be slower and will definitely include more naps!  

What will you do about blogging?

The Travel Hack will continue as normal but I’ll also include tips on how to travel with a baby. I don’t want this to be a baby blog but I do want to show that you can travel with a young baby.

Having a baby is probably the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me but it doesn’t mean I’ll be hibernating in the house for years and stopping doing what I love!

I was a little nervous about what would happen to this blog but I’m really pleased that a few companies have already been in touch to say they’d like to work with me. There are some possibilities for babymoons, pre-natal retreats, post-natal retreats, relaxing holidays in the UK and baby friendly trips abroad.

I won’t be travelling for a couple of months – there’s a time when you’re not allowed to fly and I’m sure I won’t be up to it for a few months - so I will be accepting guest posts and interviewing some of my favourite bloggers to make sure things don’t get too quiet! (Email me if you’re interesting in guest blogging!)  

Will you be a ‘mummy blogger’?

Hells yes! Although I really don’t like the term ‘mummy blogger’.

If you Google ‘Mummy Blogger’ you get lots of boring blogs about washing powder and how to make organic baby mush. They’re filled with bad pictures and sponsored posts for the most mundane products imaginable.

Thankfully, not all blogs are like this and I’m slowly discovering a whole community of awesome bloggers who have babies – both travel related and not. Hopefully I’ll find a better term than ‘mummy blog’ but I will be dipping my toes in and launching a new blog dedicated to all the baby stuff that’s going on in my life. I’m aware that a lot of the readers here on The Travel Hack will have no interest in babies so I’m keen to keep things a little bit separate.  

When is your baby due?

The baby is due March 14^th so I’m just over half way there with the pregnancy!  

Will you be blogging about your pregnancy?

Probably not, well not on The Travel Hack anyway.

I’ve read lots of blogs about pregnancy and I found them all really interesting but, to be totally honest, I don’t have much to say.

I have been amazingly lucky and all I’ve experienced is tiredness. No cravings, no sickness, no weird feelings, no panic attacks, no major mood swings (although Sam may disagree – sorry Sam) and no major worries. I’ve had all the normal worries most pregnant women have but I’m not a natural worrier so I’ve just carried on as normal. I’m still not really showing so a lot of people don’t even realise I’m pregnant.

I know I’m lucky and this could change but I’m actually really happy I have nothing to say!  

Is it OK to travel while pregnant?

Of course it is! Since I’ve been pregnant I’ve travelled to:

• Cyprus (although I didn't actually know at this point)
• Ljubljana (again, I had no idea!)
• Glasgow (for the Commonwealth Games)
• Venice
• Dubrovnik
• Mykonos
• Istanbul
• Egypt
• Paris (twice)
• Lille
• Berlin
• Turin
• Dublin

I haven’t really changed my travel style too much other than skipping the wine and cocktails in the evenings. I was disappointed I couldn’t scuba dive in Egypt but that’s the only thing I’ve felt like I’ve missed out on. It was a perfect coincidence I didn’t have any travels abroad booked between 5-12 weeks of my pregnancy. I’d planned to spend most of July and August at home to enjoy the summer with my friends and family and one of my best friends who was visiting from Australia. Weeks 8-12 were probably the toughest weeks of my pregnancy so far. I was just so tired! Luckily I work from home so it wasn’t too much of a problem if I had a lie-in or spent a morning working in my PJs.  

Do you know if you’re having a boy or a girl?

We do, we’re having a boy! We weren’t going to find out but at the very last minute we changed our minds. It was weird because I’d been certain it was a boy from day 1. Obviously it was a 50/50 chance of either but I felt very proud of myself for getting it right!

Our first baby purchase. Converse is big, medium and small. Louie isn't sure what to make of the small ones.

Une photo publiée par Monica Stott (@thetravelhack) le Nov. 11, 2014 at 12:52 PST

 

If you have any other questions, please do let me know in the comments below.

Also, if you can recommend any baby+lifestyle or baby+travel blogs I’d really appreciate it!