SRS

My husband and I are scheduled to head off to Italy next week (the 27th of August). At that time, I will 27 weeks pregnant (so just about in the first week of my third trimester) with my first child. We will return home about 10 days later so at the end of the trip I will be almost but not quite at week 29.

My OB says that I am okay to travel and that we should feel fine about going.

We are planning 6 days in the Cinque Terre and 3 days in Montepulciano. It will be our third trip to the CT and first trip to small town Tuscany. We are pretty experienced Italy travelers - this will be our ninth trip and much of this trip we've done before.

However, now that the date is nearly upon us, we are feeling nervous. I've read scores of reports here re traveling while pregnant and I think all should be good.

However, does anyone have knowledge re a good hospital near those two locations if for some reason something does go wrong and does anyone have the name of an OB I might be able to to contact while in Italy if an emergency arises? I don't think we'll have an emergency and if we do, it would not be good, but just in case, I'd feel better with some information.

I pulled a couple of names off the US Embassy website, but I would feel a little better with more concrete knowledge.

Thanks in advance!
Sally

zeppole

If you are staying in one of the five towns, you might consider rebooking into Levanto or another town on the train line which actually has a hospital in the town.

If you've never been to Le Cinque Terre, then perhaps you don't realize how inaccessible they are. Should you want to see a doctor quickly, it wouldn't be easy, and would involve fast car rides on very twisty, vertigionous roads.

However, Levanto is just a few minutes from the le Cinque Terre by train and has a hospital in the town.

Sorry I can't give you the name of an obstetrician, but you might contact the American Women's Club in Genoa to see if they can help out.

If for some reason Levanto doesn't work for you, these are scenic, seaside towns convenient to the Cinque Terre by train that also have hospitals:

Ospedale di Rapallo - A.S.L. 4
Piazza Molfino 10 - 16035 Rapallo (Ge)
Tel. 0185.6831

Ospedale di Sestri Levante - A.S.L. 4
Via A. Terzi 43/a - 16039 Sestri Levante (Ge)
Tel. 0185.4881

Ospedale di Santa Margherita - A.S.L. 4
Via Fratelli Arpe - 16038 Santa Margherita (Ge)
Tel. 0185.6831

Ospedale di Levanto - A.S.L. 5
Via N. S. della Guardia - 19015 Levanto (Sp)
Tel. 0187.800409

And while La Spezia is not scenic, Portovenere is a 30-minute car trip away, but it only has boat rides to Cinque Terre, which might not be what you want:

Ospedale Sant'Andrea - A.S.L. 5
Via Vittorio Veneto 197 - 19100 La Spezia
Tel. 0187.5331

LJ

In an emergency, an Italian hospital emergency room would be your best bet and that is a very good bet indeed as Italian city hospitals offer excellent pre/post-natal care (though not the hotel-style rooms that North Americans have!).

Italian health care is very different than Canadian/US (where I expect you would have a private OB/GYN?). It is very unlikely that you will get a reference to a specialist private doctor, 'on call' so to speak in such small towns as you suggest you will be staying. They have the same problems attracting specialists as any small town does world-wide.

I wish you luck but I am curious about one thing: I know your doctor says it is fine and I agree, but have you checked with the airline? They can be very awkward when confronted with pregnant women and long flights...

zeppole

Oh! I just saw that you had been to le Cinque Terre before, so you know the lay of the land.

SRS

Thank you both very much.

I will print off the names of the hospitals you supplied and bring it with us.

We are flying business class on Iberia. According to their website, I am within the okay period for flying as far as their airline is concerned, but in an abundance of caution, my OB is giving me a note to share with the airline - I expect it will say something like - Sally is x weeks along and her pregnancy is progressing normally.

If anyone else has any other recs, I would very much appreciate it!!!!

Sally

shellio

If you are a member of Blue Cross or Blue Shield, here's a link that should help:
http://www.bcbs.com/coverage/bluecar...worldwide.html

J62

There is a major medical center just outside Montepulciano. It's called Ospedale Riuniti della Valdichiana - just 10min from the heart of town.

I passed it about a dozen times last year going to and fro - it looks relatively new.