When to "Ground" Husband from Travel

[sunset30]

My husband travels a lot for work, though for a good portion of his travel he can be somewhat flexible on the timing of it. He's planning to stop traveling a bit before the baby comes and for a few weeks after the baby arrives. He's starting booking meetings / travel for March and asked me when he should stop traveling. I'm a FTM so have no idea how this process works and if you generally have any early warning signs of labor, etc. (Also, he can cancel a trip if it looks like the baby is imminent). 

For those of you who have been down this road before, when would you not feel comfortable having your husband out of town. As of now, I've had a pretty smooth pregnancy and haven't had any signs of pre-term labor. Clearly we don't want him to miss the birth but also I don't want to have him stop traveling for like 2 months unnecessarily. I know these things are unpredictable but any guidance you ladies have would be helpful!

[skrittens]

Generally my male colleagues stop the week of the due date. Although I do have one that attended a meeting a day or two after his wife's due date and abruptly left when she went into labor.

[shebamommy]

My husband travels some for work -- maybe twice a month on average? -- so it's not a super regular thing. Our cut-off is 37 weeks. He's taking a day trip (less than one hour flight) at exactly 37 weeks and that will be the last trip until after baby comes. I would be really unhappy if he missed the birth because he was traveling.

[mango]

Hmmm -- this depends on how far he travels. How quickly can he get home?

Generally I like the 1 wk before due date idea. My H is going out of town around the 38 week mark & that makes me nervous, but not enough that I told him to cancel the trip. He'll be probably a good 8-hr trip away.

[deeohgee]

My SO works away from home. He's on a two week on, one week off shift. March 16 will be his last day for 6 weeks, and my due date is March 27. I'm hoping that will be enough time but alas, you never know. It really sucks for us, because flights from his job site are only twice a day plus a day of travel. Fingers crossed!

There really is no perfect answer for our situations because we don't decide when the babe comes, he does. Lol.

[coozieinmypurse]

Trying to figure this out for my DH too. He is out of town overnight one night a week, about a 4-5 hour drive. We have a little more leeway to play it by ear, though. I have an OB appointment every Friday, so I figure if things look close at an appointment, he just won't travel the next week.

[lbeez13]

If he gets the choice to stop traveling, I would say around 38 weeks. I was a week and a half late last time and had no signs of labor but everyone is just so different you never know. I would say 38 weeks just because you said he can cancel if you are feeling any signs of labor.

[sunset30]

Thanks everyone. He goes to lots of places, but most are within a 2 hour flight radius of us. I was also thinking 38 weeks seems like a good cutoff so good to get sanity checks from others in the same position that is relatively reasonable. With how unreliable flights are and potential still for snowstorms in march, even a 2 hour flight makes me nervous! Thanks for everyone's input!

[rm2013]

I'm late to the party but also wanted to add I'm cutting mine off at 38 weeks too. He's been gone every week for the past 2 weeks and will be gone next week too, and I said no more after that and he agrees

[JCWhitey]

It depends on the distance of travel. I have been experiencing PTL for almost a week now (under control but that could end at any time) and DH is traveling about 5.5 hours away this weekend. But he also will be only 3 hours away from the hospital I'd deliver at if I go into labor, so I'm not sweating it. He knows to have his phone on him and to drive home if I go into labor. I'm 2.5 hours from the hospital so we might even get there around the same time.

But if he had to fly or was more than 6 hours away I'd probably want him to stay home with a normal pregnancy around 37-38 weeks.