BabyMoon?
By raincoaster
Even a never-pregger like myself can understand that nine months of growing a whole new person inside yourself, followed by one of the most physically demanding and painful experiences known to humanity, might entitle one to a reward.
I am not, however, sure this is the right reward.
At www.baby-moon.eu you will find luxurious babymoon packages and pregnancy spa treatments, especially designed by the finest hotels in the world. Our company approaches luxury hotels and resorts worldwide to create awareness of the babymoon concept and to represent babymoon packages on the BabyMoon website.
Do people really do this? Do they really decide that, what they truly need in the last trimester of pregnancy is to bid adieu to those humdrum surroundings, friends, family, and support systems (like doctors) and fly halfway around the world in search of relaxation? Are they that eager to wear the snazzy lead-lined smock they borrowed from the radiology department through a crowded airport?
Am I completely out of touch, dear readers? Is this now de rigeueur among the reproductive set? Help a clueless maiden aunt out in the comments section, if you would.
September 13th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
I think the push gift — a diamond tennis bracelet, a pearl necklace — is more common.
September 13th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Yes, it would make more sense to me to commemorate the event once it’s complete, particularly with something permanent.
September 13th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
I know one of my friends went on a baby-moon, but they only went a few hours away by car. My husband and I did not go on one. Although I will admit that may well be because he was teaching summer school and I was preparing for my board exam.
And no I did not get a push gift either. I didn’t see the need.
September 13th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Now that the “wedding industry” has maxed out the amount of money that can be extracted from brides/grooms and marriage ceremonies have become completely commercialized, the “new baby industry” appears to be following in its wake. I’ve never heard of anyone taking a pre-delivery luxury spa trip, though. (They do note, in their FAQs page, that the safest time to travel is during weeks 18-24 of pregnancy, and that before leaving, pregnant women should make a list of the hospitals nearest their destination in case of emergency.)
I have heard of “push presents,” though I don’t know any mothers who’ve received those, either.
Most of the money-extraction techniques I’ve seen have focused on inducing guilt for the things the “baby must have!” in order for the moms to be good moms. At least this business model avoids guilt induction…
September 13th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I think that a babymoon is more for those that can afford that sort of thing. The huddled masses just keep on working up to the birth and then shortly after go back to work. No nannies for us!
September 13th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
In my second trimester, after I was done feeling miserable and before I started feeling miserable again, my husband and I did take a vacation together. It wasn’t a spa getaway, but it was a trip to London. He’d never been and wanted to go, and we figured it was our last chance for a decade or longer to spend hours oohing and aahing over museums and cathedrals. We stayed at a small chain hotel and took the Underground to get around. We did call it a “babymoon.”
September 13th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
TeleriB: That sounds like it was a fun trip. Have you found that you are able to travel with a child? I’ve been pleasantly surprised that it hasn’t been as difficult to go out to eat/go to museums/etc with a small child as I thought it would be. (She has actually asked to go to the local art museum; she likes to walk up and down their staircases.) It’s a different experience, certainly, but nonetheless enjoyable. Completely depends on the child’s personality, of course.
September 15th, 2008 at 11:54 am
The answer is (as usual) It Depends.
We can usually do out to eat; we can do “away” trips where we don’t miss too much naptime and we’re on the go. If the stroller is moving, he’s happy. If it stops for more than a few minutes, we hear about it. He’s generally good about the 4-hour car rides to Nana and Pops’ house.
But church? Freaks him out. There’s even a children’s corner where he can toddle around, but something about the sanctuary apparently Just Isn’t Right. He needs to be picked up and walked around for the entire service. The one short airplane ride to a family wedding was high torture.
So… local museums and attractions we can quit after a few hours and go home after are all good. (And we’re in the DC-Baltimore-Annapolis area so there’s no shortage of neat stuff.) Transcontinental flights and 9-to-5 touring… no.
It wasn’t that we thought we’d Never Travel Again; it was more that we thought we’d Never Travel Like This for a Really Long Time.
Of course, that was wrong, too: I forgot about grandparents.
September 16th, 2008 at 3:41 am
I was sick all nine months, 2/3 times. There was no babymoon and I don’t have any push gifts to brag about either, unless you could three live children (which are all teens - more or less - so at times I’d like to push them back where they came from - so to speak… that would actually hurt).
People these days are far too spoiled.
September 16th, 2008 at 5:01 am
I would so totally not go through with this if there were not at least some nice pearls at the other end. It must be said. Children are all very well, but they cannot be sold for cash when times are tough, at least not in North America.
September 16th, 2008 at 11:13 am
My husband and I just got back from a babymoon (I guess you could call it) to Hawaii two days ago. I am 4 1/2 months along, I feel great, my doctor actually encouraged it, and we are lucky enough to be able to afford it, so why not? We had a great time — it was very relaxing and romantic. If you can get away for a few days just with your partner before the baby comes I highly recommend it!
September 16th, 2008 at 11:19 am
It wasn’t a babymoon package, though — no special spa treatments or anything. Just a fantastic trip (with hiking, kayaking, snorkeling, etc.) that both DH and I could enjoy.
September 16th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
As far as I know, the term “babymoon” originally referred to a period of holing up with your newborn and family after the birth to snooze, nurse, snooze, snuggle, nurse, snooze … It was a period of time just for mama, baby and family, before the onslaught of helpful (or not-so-helpful) relatives and friends. Everyone knows how stressful it can be to have a relative as a guest — yes, even your loving mother. The babymoon was created to give you a buffer of time to enjoy and solidify the new shape of your family.
Frankly, that sounds a lot more luxurious to me than schlepping off to some hoity-toity resort when I’m tired, cranky and ready to deliver!
September 16th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Lisa: I like that idea of a “babymoon.”
TeleriB: Working around the all important naptime _is_ a limiting factor. Funny story about church that Just Isn’t Right; poor kid. Perhaps he’ll remember and be able to tell you when he’s older.
September 17th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Lisa, that’s the best interpretation of the idea yet.