What has it been like being pregnant in an RV? After all this time and our experiences,
would we recommend it? Has it been a good experience or not?
What have the benefits been, and what has not worked out so well? Now that I'm in the home
stretch of this pregnancy, I'll let you know all that and more in this pregnancy update video.
If you're new here, I'm pregnant with my third child and my first pregnancy in an RV. We didn't
start full-time RVing until my youngest was eight months old so this has been an all new experience
for us and one that we've enjoyed sharing. And now that we finished our whirlwind loop tour
through Michigan and back through Colorado with our RV, we knew this update was on the to-do list.
I'm now in week 34 which means I'm in the third trimester and final months before baby's arrival.
In fact, in a matter of days I'll be within one month of my estimated due date. So we wanted to
make sure we got this video out to you all before baby arrives, so we'll be interspersing this and a
few other videos among our travel content. The bottom line up front is that I've been feeling
good, and RVing while pregnant has been going really well. I'll give you plenty of details,
but feel free to use the time stamps to skip around to things that you might be most interested
in. If you follow us on other social media platforms or read our YouTube community posts,
you'll know that since our last pregnancy video we found out that our baby is a
girl! We're really excited and we've also chosen a name already, but we're gonna wait to reveal
it after she's here. We had fun doing a gender reveal video and pictures with pink ice cream
hidden by whipped cream. So we love ice cream, of course our kids do,
so it was a fun way to celebrate the news. We've also continued traveling quite a bit. If you've
been watching our travel content you know that. In many ways our travel plans stayed the same as we
described to you all in our pregnancy announcement video. We went from Oregon to Colorado to have a
couple of my first appointments. Then our epic Michigan loop road trip from Colorado
through Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota,
and back south to Colorado. But we did change a few things including skipping a trip to New Mexico
and Texas while we were in Colorado last time and rearranging our plans here in Colorado right now
during the home stretch which I'll go into more detail a bit later. So I really can't complain
about how I've been feeling. Everything has seemed pretty normal for pregnancy. I'm thankful nothing
changed along the way or was discovered during any of my appointments and tests that maybe would put
me in a higher risk category for pregnancy or have us change our plans. Everything has been
pretty straightforward. And on that note, my appointments have all gone really well. If you
recall we chose to come back to the same location in Colorado for all my prenatal appointments
rather than finding new places each time I was due for a checkup on the road, which is another
option that some people use. So we also chose to use the same midwife group that I used for our
first two kids. So looking back, have I liked that approach of going back to the same place
as we've done so far and would I do it this way again? And for me personally I would say
definitely. And that might not be the right thing for everyone, but I personally like the ease
of knowing where we're going to be going back to each time. I can schedule appointments in advance,
and then I don't have to transfer and provide my records to new places. And I have the same care
team throughout. Okay so I wanted to talk about three benefits to RVing while pregnant. Number
one: continuing to be able to travel and do what we love. This is our life. It's our lifestyle,
and we love it. And we're glad that we've been able to keep this up and integrate pregnancy
right into it, I mean just like we'll do when baby arrives. She's gonna fit right in and become a
little traveler and a little adventurer right along with us. And we've been able to do this
all while having the comforts of home the entire time, which is really nice anytime especially nice
during pregnancy. So we're here to show you that it's entirely possible. Number two: I've been less
sedentary and have gotten more exercise just naturally from our day-to-day travel life. And
sure you can choose to be as active or sedentary as you want really in any situation depending on
your own pregnancy, whether you're traveling like us or living in a home. But I found that
the sightseeing and hiking we were doing was an easy way to keep me active without having to think
much about it and plan other workout activities. I do some other exercises in the RV as well.
There's plenty of room in the living room back here. So that is also possible. Campgrounds are
often nice places to walk, and getting out for a walk as a family or taking the kids to the
playground or kind of trying to keep up with them as they ride their bikes around is also
another great way that I can get some exercise. And finally lots of campgrounds have pools. And
the pool that we're at right now is really nice, and it makes me wish that I had had a pool for all
my pregnancies or taken advantage of the ones that I did have access to. And it makes me a little bit
sad that the campground that we're headed to next does not have a pool. It's good exercise,
and a nice relief too. And it makes this big belly feel weightless for at least a little while.
The third benefit is that there are lots of things going on and that has made the time go by
faster. I'm grateful that I enjoy pregnancy for the most part, but sometimes it just feels like
it drags on. Doesn't it? And with so much to do and keep busy I can hardly believe that I
am this close to the end. Like where has the time gone? And I haven't felt like time is crawling,
and I don't feel like I'm over it at least not yet. It's not all benefits though. So what are
some of the challenges to RVing while pregnant? So number one is it's more complicated. Compared to
staying in one place and in general knowing what to expect, when you're traveling in an RV you're
moving frequently and you're always reacquainting yourself with your location and where to get the
things that you need. So yes that's RVing normally as well, but it can complicate
things when you're pregnant. You're also in a smaller space, so moving around as you get larger
and finding room for baby stuff as you prepare isn't always as easy. Number two is dealing with
any issues that arise. It's a bit harder to deal with random issues in new locations, and for us
our biggest issue has been truck issues. And not just a little issue but one that put the
truck out of commission while Kevin worked to fix it, and essentially stranded us for over a week.
Thankfully it worked out for us, and we'll bring you the full story in a separate video. Number
three is being away from your care team at times. And you have to decide if that's something you're
comfortable with personally or not, and if your pregnancy is low risk enough to make that
safe. That's definitely a big consideration. So far I haven't needed anything in between
my appointments with my care team, but if I did I'd have to reach out over the phone
or find somebody local to see. When I'm in state, so now that I'm back in Colorado, with my care
team I am able to have virtual appointments. But the challenge there was making sure that I
had enough internet connectivity which is you know the bane of any RV traveler's existence
anyway. That can complicate things. And I did have to postpone an appointment once for that exact
reason. Not everything goes completely as expected either so we've made some adjustments to keep
traveling while RVing while pregnant working for all of us. So number one is that I've been
resting more. That's completely necessary and expected during pregnancy. And even though it's
been good to stay so active with sightseeing, I've been building in lots of time for me to rest, and
that was key. And everybody in my family has been very supportive of that. The kids know that mama
needs to rest more, and you know Kevin picks up the slack and I'm really grateful for that. But
I definitely rested a lot and still am actually. So definitely build in time for yourself to have
some downtime which helps take care of you, your body, your baby. I've never regretted a good nap.
The second thing that we've adjusted is changing our travel plans. There were times we decided to
travel a little less like when we skipped our New Mexico and Texas trip because we felt like getting
to Colorado had already been so much travel. We were also forced to extend one of our stays in
western Colorado because of the truck issues. We were originally going to stay two weeks,
and then we had to extend it to four weeks. But in the end we were grateful for that forced slowdown
as well even though we didn't originally plan it that way. And for the next several weeks coming up
we've decided that instead of heading to the Great Sand Dunes and Pagosa Springs, we'll head to one
single campground that is not as far away for the last stretch before heading back to Denver to have
this baby girl. This time the change of plans was due to deciding that we wanted to be in a
location with closer access to hospitals rather than boondocking further away. We took a look
at the maps and said "eh," that at this point maybe that didn't make us feel so comfortable
so we adjusted a bit. So stay flexible and change your plans when you need to. To wrap up,
here are some rapid fire questions and answers. Do I think it's been a good overall experience? Yes,
definitely. Would we do it pretty much the same way if given the choice again?
Another yes, pretty much. What would we change? So we really didn't have a choice with how quickly we
had to do our Michigan loop because of the timing of my appointments, but the pace was
definitely a bit hectic and probably introduced more stress than we wanted at the time even
though it was wonderful and we're so glad that we had that experience. But if possible we would
have slowed that down a bit. Also I think we'd get more reservations near Denver on the books
as a safeguard in case we'd had to go back for any additional appointments or just wanting to be
closer. And that's because of the challenges with booking there because Denver and the state parks
and the popularity of everything. If we needed to go back there early now or at any other point
it would have been nearly impossible to get campsites and definitely not for longer stretches.
And finally, what's next? So it's a bit of a waiting game at the moment, but in the meantime
we're rearranging some things in the RV to make space for baby and all her things and her sleeping
space. So in a couple weeks we have a video showing you how we're transforming our bedroom
closet into the baby room. So stay tuned for that. We would definitely appreciate everyone's
good thoughts and prayers for the final few weeks and eventually labor, delivery, and recovery. And
while we wait for baby's arrival, if you have any other questions about pregnancy on the road,
in an RV, please let me know in the comments. We'll see you next time. Bye.