A while back in the paper, we printed an article on babymoons. Now I see them mentioned again in the January 2007 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. Essentially, a babymoon is a trip you take as a last hurrah before the baby's born. I'm not sure if this is a phenom for new parents or if parents preparing for their second, third or more child take one, too.
We accidentally took a babymoon. We didn't plan on having a baby so soon after marriage, so we had simply been planning on a trip for our first wedding anniversary. Once I became pregnant, less than a year after our wedding, one of the first questions Keith asked our midwife was if we'd still be able to go to Hawaii for our anniversary. We had friends living there and wanted to go visit. She said if my pregnancy progressed normally, there shouldn't be a problem.
So, in my seventh month of my pregnancy with Autumn, Keith and I hopped on a plan and headed out. Granted, it was a LONG flight and I followed all the plans of pumping my ankles, drinking lots of water and walking to the bathroom so I wouldn't develop a blood clot. My midwife sent a copy of my medical records with me just in case. Once we got there, I drank lots of water. And this was good because the doctor friends we were staying with mentioned they saw many women thinking they were in early labor because of Braxton Hicks "contractions," which they said could be caused by dehydration.
We had a wonderful time and scheduled time to sit on the beach and relax. I always loaded up on sunscreen and took an umbrella to sit under. We had no problems, even when hiking up a dormant volcano. It was all about taking our time and not trying to push me (and by growing belly) too hard.
The most important thing to me, especially since we were having Autumn so soon, was that Keith and I had an extra chance to get away and enjoy one another's company and to help our relationship grow before our baby arrived.
We all know that once a baby is born, there's a lot of tired days and nights and a ton of work to be done. That's not to say it's not all worth it, but it's also worth taking some time to pamper yourself and your relationship with your spouse before that work begins.