Weddingbee boards

So I'm 9 DPO today, and I had to fly to Dalles for a work meeting...

The level of national security increased today to the highest level (I'm THRILLED to be flying on this day!), so every single person had to get body scans at the airport.   I'm moving along, that's cool, I figured it'd be a nightmare, then BAM, a thought hits me, and I have to bring my crazy self over to a security person...

Me:  Is that body scanner safe for pregnant people?

Him:  Yes {(Looks totally unsure of answer)}

Me:  Isn't it a type of Xray?

Him: It is, but it doesn't penetrate the skin. {(Looks totally unsure of answer)}

Me {(gives him the side eye, thinks he just made that up)}:  Can I opt out?

Him:  Sure! {(Glad that the interrogation is over)}

So I had to get a very aggressive pat down by a female security officer (are they officers???), and everyone standing in line for the body scanner looked at me like I did something wrong, or like security must have thought I had 8 bombs stuffed in my Juicy Couture tracksuit.

I googled it (No!  ME?) after I got through security and it said there hasn't been enough studies done on it, but it is definitely lower grade xrays, and xrays cause deformities. 

What do ya'll think?

@RR:  Haha!  Well, I don't even know if there's a baby in there yet or not, but the lady was nice about it:) 

They were actually all really nice about it....I never said I was pregnant, I just asked if it was safe for pregnant people and I had a bit of a fear when he screamed for a female assist to do my patdown that he was going to be like, "I need a female assist!  We've got a Pregnant Lady over here!"  And then she would come over and be like, "Where's the Pregnant Lady who needs a pat down?!?" and the man would be like, "Here's the Pregant Lady right here!" And everyone would be staring at me even more, and then I'd have to be like, "Well, I don't know I'm pregnant, you see  - I'm 9 DPO and um...."  But none of that happened.  The word pregnant wasn't even said again after I said it, so I was pretty impressed with how professionally they handled it:_

I typed this OP while I was on the plane, but I've thought about it some more and here's what I think:

I was really glad to know that even on a day where body scans were "mandatory" for everyone,and security alert was at it's highest,  TSA recognized that pregnant women may be uncomfortable with that.  And they asked me zero questions, just did the pat down, it took 2 minutes, and we were good.  The pat down wasn't even that bad - the lady told me everything she was about to do before she  did it- because she had to "get clearance" in between spaces or something like that: read: feel in between your boobs to make sure nothing's hiding there. 

I thought it would have been a bigger deal but they were pretty great.

I won't say whether or not someone should or shouldn't do the body scan, but I just personally had a minor panic attack about it and I won't even know if I'm pregnant until my blood test Thursday, so if the pat down is THAT easy and no-questions-asked, then I'll definitely be doing that each and every time.

I've flown a few times since we started trying to TTC and I've always opted for the pat down just in case! Glad to know things went smoothly for you, jholler! :)

@jholler25:  Oh my goodness, your second post made me laugh so hard!  Trying to explain to the onlookers that you're 9 DPO and you may be pregnant but aren't sure yet...I can totally picture it now!   Glad everything worked out alright for you though with your decision to not go through the scanner.   

I haven't actually thought about that and I travel a lot....maybe I should do my research.  Most of my travel is international though and I don't recall seeing those full body scanners anywhere but the US.  We probably won't be visiting the US until late next year so hopefully we already have a baby by then and it's a non-issue!  Then I'll be freaking out about whether or not it's safe for our baby to go through those scanners - ha!