There are women who claim to enjoy being pregnant, but I am not one of them.  As I remember it, I gained 50 pounds, cried all the time, and grew a beard.  And the fun didn’t stop there.  There was a long list of forbidden activities that cramped my travel style too.

In my first trimester, my husband and I were invited to a huge southern wedding in New Orleans.  Can you spell p-a-r-t-y?  I couldn’t.

Then we went to Maui in my second trimester.  For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to scuba dive in Molokini Crater–an extinct, semi-submerged volcano that consistently rated as one of the top ten dive sites in the world.  We went, but I stayed on the boat.

And it wasn’t just me.  I put the question, “What fun travel thing did you NOT get to do because you were pregnant?” to my Twitter friends and followers (for the uninitiated, Twitter is a micro-blogging platform where users communicate in 140-character messages).  The sad stories came pouring in:

@Sascha_Zuger You mean like my canceled move to Kenya to work three weeks on/one week off on a liveaboard dive boat? Week off to be spent on safari. Sigh.

@Moscerina was not allowed to go parasailing :( had to watch from the beach.

@hilaryetravels uhm that’s the story of my life right now! Missed out on a ton of ski trips and now am missing out on waterski trips and more!

@deliciousbaby the food rules just about killed me when i was in Italy. wine, raw cheese, cured pork products (esp illegal culatello in bologna)

@Carla_CaccaRey No trapeze @ ClubMed, no para-sailing in Paradise Island & alcohol-free in Bora! Prego 3x in less than 3 yrs(incl. now)!

@JaneECR Drink copious amounts of free champagne in first class.

@jennifer_gaines A friend of mine couldn’t eat sushi in Japan!

@shelleymccarron while at the castle-like Fairmont Banff Springs in AB did not get to go in Hungarian mineral or plunging pools. BUMMER!

@minnemom Roller coasters.

@wendyperrin I didn’t get to drink gluhwein at Vienna’s Christmas markets, soak in the hot tub in Patagonia, or fly enough to keep my AA Platinum status.

@pocklock Rollercoasters! Hot Tubs! Sushi dinners!

@TravelSavvyKayt Oktoberfest. Nuff said.

@trumom Eat poki in Hawai’i… And raw fish was all I wanted. I drowned my sorrows in poi instead.

@Tendrils I couldn’t travel the 400 miles to my brother’s wedding! :( I was due that weekend.

@SelimaCat Was in Ireland 5 mos pregnant. Didn’t get to drink or eat raw milk cheese. DID climb Skellig Michael.

@SelimaCat Of course, really wanted to be in Romania or Croatia, but husband vetoed due to pregnancy.

@TSRebecca I was pg on a trip to Mohonk Mountain Lodge. Hubby did every outdoor adventure sport imaginable. I sat in a rocking chair & gestated. Bah.

@Sarah_E_White mine will be missing the Sock Summit this year! Could probably go but not sure I’d enjoy travel at 7+ months.

@travelswithbaby “Swing and a Prayer” at Miraval Resort. Bummer.

@jenleo I wished I’d gone to an amusement park b4 I got pregnant. Didn’t realize I missed it until I couldn’t. Boy was I jonesing 4 a rollercoaster.

@rtwgrl88 Dive lessons in Cayman Brac?  Canceled!

@MudslideMama A fun travel thing I didn’t do when pregnant was”sample” Nobu sushi to my heart’s content. Still making up 4 lost time.

@Vicki_Test go in the sauna, drink by the campfire ’til the wee hours, go horse-back riding.

@mpaynor Fun thing I didn’t get to do while traveling when pregnant was dive off of the Yucatan Peninsula (went snorkeling instead).

@ambersa42 drink!

@carriekirby gave up was being able to dance the night away in Mexico on New Year’s Eve. I was asleep by 10 while the rest of the city partied all night.

@mechteach Not quite the same, but I bungee jumped before I knew that I was pregnant (baby is now ~3 yo, and a-ok, btw)

@neega Travel I did NOT get to do because I was pregnant? Longhaul OAK to DUB 4 stag&hen pubcrawl & Jameson distillery tour.

@TravelRama Drink margaritas!

@petalsntwigs I missed out on jet skiing and pretty much anything else that involved rides at Disney. :0(

@tgoodnight roller coasters and waterslides!

@doubleadventure mine were snorkel with the manatees and go on roller coasters at Disney World. Oh and eat. Too sick.

@neversarah Surfing! Seems abstinence begins with an “s” after all if you’ve got sushi, scuba and now surfing..

@BringtheFamily Water slides!

@tinkasmoma I missed a trip to Jamaica! Probably for the best – too hot!

@karasw drinking beer around campfire, jet skiing at Lake Powell.

@SEKert at dinner at the Ritz, I wanted a sip of champagne. My hus (now “ex”) yelled out….champagne for the pregnant lady! died

@jeanmarie73 I was 8 months pregnant when my husband went to Paris on a business trip. Needless to say, I couldn’t go.

@SpaIndex I’d say it was riding the zip lines over the trees during our tour of the Costa Rican Rain Forest

@kymri unable to enjoy a margarita with dinner at La Capilla in San Miguel de Allende – solution: went back next year with baby!

@maggiebit I missed out on drinking caipirinhas on the beach in Brazil, probably a once in a lifetime opportunity for me.

@Heather_Poole Fun travel things we didn’t do while pregnant – stopped working the moment I found out I was PG (oh wait….that was actually fun!)

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