Glastonbury Whlst Pregnant....

[FuzzyDunlop]

 Just had a text from my best mate. Last week he found out his wife is expecting. She is 7 weeks now so will be 18/19 weeks when the festival arrives... she is not sure if she should be going.I reckon she will be fine, as long as she isnt in the pit for slayer. 

Ive said anyway, it will give her practice at looking after us lot seen as she will be sober.

Any tips / anyone done a pregnant festival? 

[shuttlep]

My friend last year was heavily pregnant , she's a grumpy bitch at the best of times.. so being pregnant she was even worse . She loved it , but we had to always be near a toilet when at a stage . She got panicked in s massive crush heading bsvk to the tent as everyone went to Arcadia . But all in all she enjoyed it 

[Glastocat]

2 minutes ago, FuzzyDunlop said:

 Just had a text from my best mate. Last week he found out his wife is expecting. She is 7 weeks now so will be 18/19 weeks when the festival arrives... she is not sure if she should be going.I reckon she will be fine, as long as she isnt in the pit for slayer. 

Ive said anyway, it will give her practice at looking after us lot seen as she will be sober.

Any tips / anyone done a pregnant festival? 

This isn't quite what you're after mate but in 2014 I was going with a couple who found out they were pregnant after paying the deposit. They didn't know what to do and in the end decided not to go. The baby girl came 3 months premature on the Tuesday of Glastonbury week. The young lady is fine and doing great now but it was lucky they decided not to go.

I would imagine it would be fine in your friends situation though, as you say keep away from the moshpit and it should be OK.

[Wooderson]

My Mrs was 4 months gone in '10 and 3 months gone in '13. Rest/comfort/temp management is heightened in all aspects. Not easy but not impossible. Planning planning planning. Lower expectations.

[Chazwozza]

You might be able to get a view on this from @Philipa...?

[morph100]

My Mrs will be 5 months at this Glasto, I am carrying a chair around for her to plonk down towards the back of the stage of choice and stay sober ish. That's the plan anyway...oh and we caravan every year so car will be near by in case of emergency! 

[Hugh Jass]

Mrs Jass was in the early stages of pregnancy last year (sadly the pregnancy never worked out) but she found it tough going in the conditions. It wasn't much fun for either of us, she couldn't drink and was uncomfortable and I found myself being massively overprotective of her and having a go at anyone who so much as bumped into her.

[Tommy Dickfingers]

I seen woman right down at the front for The Stones who was ready to pop,I asked her and her fella if they'd be better off at the back, they both turn to me disgusted and say "it's the Stones".

[giantkatestacks]

10 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Mrs Jass was in the early stages of pregnancy last year (sadly the pregnancy never worked out) but she found it tough going in the conditions. It wasn't much fun for either of us, she couldn't drink and was uncomfortable and I found myself being massively overprotective of her and having a go at anyone who so much as bumped into her.

I am really sorry to hear that. < uncharacteristic hug>

[Dave_c]

Convince her it's a bad idea and that he shouldn't go either. 2 more tickets in the pot for us ticketless folk .

Joke, I'm sure she will be fine

[Hugh Jass]

1 hour ago, giantkatestacks said:

I am really sorry to hear that. < uncharacteristic hug>

Ah thanks. Last year wasn't fun but we're over the worst of it now.

Onwards and upwards. 

[jfaragher]

16 hours ago, FuzzyDunlop said:

Ive said anyway, it will give her practice at looking after us lot seen as she will be sober.

Any tips / anyone done a pregnant festival? 

First tip - you need to stay relatively together as well - good practice for you as a future dad to have to reign in the mayhem a bit, as well...

Things that might be difficult - at 18ish weeks there is still a chance of morning sickness.  Even of this has passed, still a chance that certain smells will trigger nausea.  If those smells are stale alcohol, or piss, or weed, you're going to have a tough time. Definitely won't be sleeping as well, especially in a tent, so will probably need to plan for earlier nights (at least for her) and for you to take her 'home' to make sure she is OK before you head off into the madness again.  

Also, she might want to bin it all off at some point on Sunday.  Me and Mrs have had this before - I never want it to end, she's done after 4 days.  This has caused tension.  We now have a plan for if this happens - if she feels like leaving, she gives it an hour or two to see if it passes; if she says she wants to leave, I don't give her a hard time about it; if she is leaving she takes most of the stuff and drives home, I get myself home the following day.  As you'd expect, the existence of the plan means that we have never got to the last stage.

[Kay95]

I have done Latitude at 6 months pregnant and it was fine (I know... not the same scale) but at 19/20 wks she should hopefully be pretty mobile and not end up stuck on the floor unable to stand up without assistance/groaning (ahem).  As someone mentioned above having a chair would be good, particularly if it is wet.

Sleeping will be more uncomfortable than usual so investing in a decent air bed would be good (I should have done that...)

Having said all of that, every pregnancy is different and you may have to make a call nearer the time if she's suffering for any reason, but IMHO its definitely not a no go. 

[FuzzyDunlop]

Thanks everyone.

I spoke to them both earlier. Passed on the messages on this thread and she has said "I'm going" - she paid up at 11am.

We are quite lucky. There will be a doctor and 2 nurses in our group of 10. Her husband has said he isn't bothered about any after hours this year and the "plan" is to take every day as it comes.

Her biggest worry at the moment is "ruining it" for everyone else.

[big__phil]

13 hours ago, Hugh Jass said:

Ah thanks. Last year wasn't fun but we're over the worst of it now.

Onwards and upwards. 

Good to hear. Onwards and upwards indeed!

[FuzzyDunlop]

14 hours ago, Hugh Jass said:

Ah thanks. Last year wasn't fun but we're over the worst of it now.

Onwards and upwards. 

Didn't mean to "like" that - I just mean, I am pleased you have found optimism. Glad you are doing well.

[Mr Cake]

My wife was 7 months pregnant when we went in 2015 and had a fantastic time.  

We hired a caravan so had our own toilet and shower which made it much easier for her during the night and in the mornings.

The 4 things that made it much easier for her once inside the festival was:-

1) Shepee 

2) We bought Helinox folding chairs - So light weight and fold down into the size of a football boot bag so fit into any backpack so cost about £70

3) Decent set of walking boots and walking poles (used when it got a little bit muddy & slippery)

4) Carrying flap jacks or cereal bars as their energy levels will just drop suddenly and these are great.

Dont expect to be hitting the late night areas til the early hours.  We did see all the headline acts but then just had steady walks back.  Oh and expect to eat lots.  We tended to stay on the edges on the larger stages, However we had more room to dance about.

 

We were in a group of 6 and the other 4 were all fine with it.  The one guy was flat out (high all weekend) and wife completely sober and they got on great it was funny to see two people at polar ends of the spectrum.

 

Edited April 6, 2017 by Mr Cake

[Woffy]

Mrs Woffy tried in 2015, but it was just too much and I took her home early on the Friday morning. 

I was back on site before noon, mind. 

[Quark]

50 minutes ago, FuzzyDunlop said:

Her biggest worry at the moment is "ruining it" for everyone else.

I'd be quite happy to have someone "ruining" it for a decent reason.  Would make a pleasant change from having to escort / pick up / get to bed people who are smashed, gurning, coming down with the fear, unconscious...you get the idea! 

[noplacelikehome]

I was 16 weeks pregnant in 2010, it was hard going with the heat but I think that was the same for everyone.  Take a folding chair around or leave in lock ups for picking up later in the day.  We stayed in a caravan so sleeping was ok but if tenting it make sure you get a decent blow up mattress/camp bed.  Be prepared to take things a bit slower and she will miss out on ridiculously late nights but at 19/20 weeks she will hopefully be in the stage of pregnancy where you actually feel really well.  I had a great time - didn't even miss drinking and enjoyed the festival in a different way as I can actually remember all of it.  Hope she has a great time x

[Tables innit]

Mrs Tables was 5 months gone in 2015. She had a great time and wouldn't have missed it for anything. A camping chair helped and we also pitched up in the family field to allow for a quieter (well as quiet as you can get at Lasters) night. What was great was the leisurely wanders around the site. As we couldn't move as quickly as we normally would, we found ourselves dipping in and out of a lot more stages/acts. I toned down the cider consumption but was suitably imbibed by the end of each day. A very different festival experience but no less enjoyable (that said we're abandoning toddler Tables with the folks and hitting it hard this year!).

In short, do it. 

Roll on June!

[GlastoAwe]

I went to a different festival about that far gone last year. I'm generally quite a coper but I did find it hard going, although I was already massive by then and we also had our 3 year old with us so no chance of a snooze in the shade when I needed.  I found sleeping sober in a noisy campsite the hardest part so my advice would be to be mindful of where you camp, ensuring reasonably close proximity to loos for night trips, but not too close as I found my tolerance for the usual festival smells/nasties was much lower than usual! Earplugs may also be helpful for sleeping! And perhaps suggest they trial their blow up mattress or wherever she plans to sleep beforehand to make sure she's as comfortable as possible x

[JollyAnna]

Just found out I'm up the duff. I'll be 13 weeks at Glasto. I'm definitely still going, I won't miss it for anything. Ordering a case of Alcohol Free Koppabergs to take with me. I won't be showing yet, so I was thinking of getting one of those silly "Baby on Board" badges so people understand if I need to quickly get out of the way. Thanks for the tips everyone, I'm also going to upgrade my camping chair. And will scope out the medical tent and healing fields facilities on the first day. Other tips welcome!

[Wooderson]

On 06/04/2017 at 11:47 AM, jfaragher said:

First tip - you need to stay relatively together as well - good practice for you as a future dad to have to reign in the mayhem a bit, as well...

This is a wise point. Tempered expectations all round is crucial.

[Yokel Again]

MrsYA did Glasto13 around 6 months pregnant...

As someone else said, lower expectations. She had a great time, but in a very different way to normal. We spent loads more time in the greenfields, generally stood far back and avoided crowds. We always enjoy the food side of the festival, but starved of booze we tended to eat more and chill out more. 

The only thing that was difficult was the Stones, as we were both abit panicked about the size of the crowd but stayed well back and got there super early. Again, to repeat what someone else said, I felt very, very overprotective about her getting a shove in the wrong situation.

She got very tired and tended to go to bed early - and I didn't want to be an arsehole and drift off in to the night so did the same. Again, reiterating what others have said, perhaps change your expectations too. The festival was still great for me even though I def. was more sober than normal etc. 

Baby on board badge would help - any normal person would clear out the way if they saw it.

It's doable though. Have a great time!