Red Light

I have just got back from my GP appointment and boy I am bummed!

As I mentioned before, I was supposed to fly home this Thursday but the doctor gave me the red light.

I am in week 31, entering week 32 on Wednesday. This means that I would have been in Pescara during weeks 32 and 34. After week 28 you need a letter from your doctor in order to be able to fly and after week 36 it is no longer legally allowed to fly.

Normally, if your pregnancy has been quite straightforward and you are fine, it would not be a big problem to fly and the doctor would sign the form with no major hesitation. This is what I expected. So when he asked me where I was flying to and when, and he started filling in the form, I was super excited. And then the bad part. I told him about the current heat wave that is affecting Italy at the moment and asked him if the heat could affect me and the pregnancy in any way. The expression on his face changed. It's currently less than 20 degrees in London (versus the 37 in Pescara) and he told me that this change may cause a lot of issues (e.g. lower blood pressure, exhaustion, swollen ankles and feet...). The baby herself would not be in any particular danger but I would be very uncomfortable. Therefore, he has strongly advised me not to fly, wrote these exact words in my maternity notes (for the record!) and didn't sign the letter required to fly. He told me that he leaves it to me to negotiate with the airline company but in reality I have no option. How could I even try to go to the airport and convince the crew to let me fly when the doctor strongly and clearly advised me not to? What if anything happened to me? Or worse, the baby? So, I can only unpack my suitcase and spend my ten day holiday in London. 

I will miss my cousin's wedding, my Italian baby shower, early birthday celebrations as well as chats with friends and family and relaxation at the beach. And was I looking forward to all these things? Hell yeah!