Hi all. I will be taking a vacation in October with a few friends, including a pregnant woman. We're trying to pick a place with natural beauty and good nature photo opportunities, but due to the pregnancy we have some limitations, namely:
- must stay in continental U.S.
- can't spend lot of time at high altitude (>6,000ft?)
- want good things to see within in a short hike from the car (can't do multi-hour hikes).
- proximity to a city or hospital helpful (being 5+ hours away from a hospital is probably not prudent)
Basically, great national or state parks that aren't too far from
cities would be helpful. We were thinking of Cali, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, New Mexico, or Arizona but we are open minded. Maybe a place with nice fall foliage since its in October?
Any suggestions? Many thanks!
Posted by Kent Staubus on August 30, 2006 at 6:07 PM
Grand Canyon. Flagstaff isn't too far, there are shuttle buses, trails are flat, and it's something I believe every human should see at least once in their life.
When I saw the title of the topic, my first thought was: "Delivery Room?"
Yosemite Valley is wonderful in the Fall. Although the waterfalls are at low ebb, they are still awesome. There are nice trails that are pretty flat. Fall color in The Valley usually occurs in mid-to-late October and into November, since the valley floor averages about 4,000 feet.
There is also an excellent medical clinic and fire department in the valley, and air evac is readily available. There is a large regional hospital in Sonora, about an hour and a half away by car.
Not to scaremonger, but from personal experience, I would recommend staying as close as possible to a real hospital after seven months!
Any medical clinic should be able to handle a routine birth, which the vast majority of births are. But if something goes wrong, you need a real, well-staffed hospital.
When my second child was born, we had no idea that anything was wrong. It's not just high-risk pregnancies that have problems. Everything had been fine for eight months (morning sickness notwithstanding). But my wife went into labour a month early. No big deal by itself--one month premature isn't a major problem. But there were other issues. Our son would almost certainly not have survived if he had not been born in a real hospital.
Discussion
4 replies- must stay in continental U.S.
- can't spend lot of time at high altitude (>6,000ft?)
- want good things to see within in a short hike from the car (can't do multi-hour hikes).
- proximity to a city or hospital helpful (being 5+ hours away from a hospital is probably not prudent)
Basically, great national or state parks that aren't too far from
cities would be helpful. We were thinking of Cali, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, New Mexico, or Arizona but we are open minded. Maybe a place with nice fall foliage since its in October?
Any suggestions? Many thanks!
Kent in SD
Yosemite Valley is wonderful in the Fall. Although the waterfalls are at low ebb, they are still awesome. There are nice trails that are pretty flat. Fall color in The Valley usually occurs in mid-to-late October and into November, since the valley floor averages about 4,000 feet.
There is also an excellent medical clinic and fire department in the valley, and air evac is readily available. There is a large regional hospital in Sonora, about an hour and a half away by car.
-PB
Any medical clinic should be able to handle a routine birth, which the vast majority of births are. But if something goes wrong, you need a real, well-staffed hospital.
When my second child was born, we had no idea that anything was wrong. It's not just high-risk pregnancies that have problems. Everything had been fine for eight months (morning sickness notwithstanding). But my wife went into labour a month early. No big deal by itself--one month premature isn't a major problem. But there were other issues. Our son would almost certainly not have survived if he had not been born in a real hospital.
-Paul