There are many moments in life that create lasting memories. Having a baby and goingon a vacation are two of them, but Shawna and Alex of Alaska didn’t expect toexperience both at the same time. On their recent cruise, that’s nearly what happened.
“We wanted to go on a vacation before we started our family,” said Shawna. “We knewthat it would be hard to spend quality time relaxing together on vacation once we had our first child.”
The couple left on their cruise from San Diego to visit Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta. Their plans? Shawna was going to relax and enjoy the sunshine and go hiking while her husband went scuba diving.
Three days into their cruise, the couple was having a fabulous time lounging by the pool, enjoying perfect weather, meeting new people and reading on the balcony. They had just finished eating a gourmet meal aboard the ship when Shawna felt pain go through her body and experienced significant bleeding. Fearing the worst, they saw the ship’s doctor who sent the couple to a hospital once the ship docked in Mazatlan.
The diagnosis? A life threatening pregnancy complication. The baby was on the way.
“I was nearly 24 weeks along, making the baby’s chance of surviving slim, even in the best hospitals,” said Shawna. “The doctors at the Mazatlan hospital gave me medications to stop labor and help the baby’s lungs develop in case he arrived prematurely. I stayed in the Mazatlan hospital for 17 days on strict bed rest, until it was safe for me to travel.”
Given the situation, the couple couldn’t return to their cruise. Instead, they needed to find a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for the remainder of the pregnancy. Unfortunately, the area in Alaska where they were from did not offer such a high level of care. The couple chose to get a flight to Indiana where Shawna’s parents lived and where there was a hospital with a Level III NICU. Once in Indiana, Shawna was placed under the care of a Perinatalogist for the remainder of her pregnancy. Eventually, she delivered a healthy baby boy on his due date.
Upon their arrival back home in Alaska, Shawna e-mailed Travel Guard:
“Travel Guard not only made arrangements and booked our flights out of Mexico to my parents’ town in Indiana,” said Shawna. “They also were very helpful during the claims process and began processing the appropriate paperwork while we were in Mexico. The coverage through Travel Guard not only reimbursed us for our lost time on the cruise and the cancellation fees on our original return flights, it also covered additional costs for an unexpected flight.”
“Our doctor recommended that we purchase travel insurance because I was pregnant,” said Shawna. “It was the first time I purchased a travel insurance plan and I am very grateful for the assistance it provided. Knowing we had coverage provided through Travel Guard helped give us assurance we needed when dealing with our finances during this stressful medical emergency.”
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