Long Haul Travel by Plane

Body: 

Hi all,
I have just joined, so haven't yet read all the info but am slowly going through it (at the speed one can with a 4 year old and a 6 week baby!)
I have various prolapses that I noticed 3 weeks after this birth (not sure exactly what's going on...see consultant next week) but my gut is they are all dropping to varying degrees...

This question...
we are meant to travel from the UK to the west coat of the US in 2 months time. Is this likely, especially this early on, to really have negative effects on my body? This travel (2 hours to airport, dealing with airports, 11 hours on a plane with 2 children, then 2 hours travel on other end) isn't fun at the best of times, but i'm worried about how it'll affect my body. Someone suggested a wheelchair at the airport to reduce walking, but that's only a tiny bit of the journey!

The reality of my life is that we have family on the west coast, so this travel is part of my life. But at this moment I don't want to hurt things more...

any thoughts would be great.

thanks!!!

you can expect your prolapse to be more noticeable after all that traveling - but you have 2 months to get comfortabe with the posture so you will definatly be able to use it on the plane, in the car, lifting, walking. everything
One thing that is so hard to do when traveling is eating for your prolapses- kinda scary to eat airport salads.
so packing some snacks would be good. I don't think you will want a wheelchair - sitting can be hard on a rectocele and you will probably be glad of the leg stretch.
I am so glad you found this site before going to see the dr. now you will have so much information before you walk in the door you may just educate them:)
Have you found the self - exam artice yet? It really helped confirm what I thought was going on.
B

travel's hard on me too. we recently went from NY to visit family in Israel, 12 hrs by plane. Try to take good care that you are getting enough fluids and movement. the endless sitting and dehydrating effects of air travel is what does me in. and keep in mind that even if things get slightly worse during the trip, you can most likely reverse that in a couple of days with good eating and posture.

Hi Kiki

So glad you have posted this. I have 29 hours in the air (with a couple of two hour breaks) coming up in May from Western Australia to New York. I hope we get many responses as I really don't know what to expect except cramped seats, limited opportunities to stretch, airline food and dehydration. I am planning on a rest day the day after we arrive and the same after we get back home again, taking lots of healthy snacks and staying well-hydrated.

Oh yes, and I am taking my little lumbar support pillow on the plane if I take nothing else in hand luggage. I did find that very useful on a recent four hour flight to Melbourne. I imagine I will find it even more useful this time around.

If you get a stuffed up nose while flying, we can buy stuff here called Fess Frequent Flyer, which is a saline nasal inhaler (non-aerosol) with a touch of teatree oil. It keeps your nose lining from becoming irritated and inflamed, so you don't get so stuffed up and are less likely to catch colds and viruses on the plane. My husband does a lot of flying and it seems to help. You will probably be able to buy something similar in the UK.

There is also another product we use sometimes called Nozoil, which is sesame oil, delivered by the same type of bottle. Sesame oil is high in vitamin E, so supposedly keeps the nasal passages in good condition when the air is very dry. It also stops those horrible hard, crusty nose boogers, which may be helpful for the children.

Good luck, and please post any more ideas you come across.

Cheers

Louise