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If you guys haven’t already noticed, I worry too much and I look up everything. So, this past Christmas when I went to Colorado with my fiance I looked up if it was safe to be on a plane while pregnant. I already kinda knew but I wanted to make sure. So flying is only a problem if you have to do it frequently (like if you are a pilot or a flight attendant). The level of cosmic radiation when flying is minute and will not hurt the baby if you don’t fly frequently. Here’s more information on Mayo Clinic: Air Travel During Pregnancy.
Before you get onto the plane you have to go through security. I was worried about the amount of radiation I would get from airport screening machines. I read that the new machines may malfunction and give you more radiation than necessary. After reading this I was really anxious about going. TSA claim that it is safe and that only low amounts of radiation are released. I don’t really trust that at all. I would rather be safe. It is recommended to ask for a physical “pat down” instead, which is what I did. I was anxious that they wouldn’t let me do it but they were nice and didn’t question me. I just told them I wanted a pat down because I’m pregnant. I had to do this twice because one for the flight to Colorado and one for the flight home. The first time the woman ask me if I wanted a private or public pat down. I told her public because I thought that the private would take longer cause we would have to walk over there and I just wanted it to be done with. She told me everything she was going to do before she did it. It was done quickly and efficiently. The second time I had a pat down, the woman was more gentle and she actually talked to me. She even asked me what my due date was. So it really depends on where you are and who the TSA is. If there is no female nearby, they will request one. You just have to wait behind a glass gate.
I keep thinking that you probably get some radiation when standing in front of the screening machine. Not sure how much but I hope it is a minuscule amount. So that was that and it wasn’t as stressful as I made it out to be.
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