What moms-to-be want for Mother’s Day: A babymoon

Just what the baby doctor ordered: A prime cut at BLT Steak in South Beach’s The Betsy Hotel.

By Valerie Moloney

A spate of impending stork visits  – and no, not mine (relax, darling husband) – spurred me into revisiting an old buzzword in travel: babymoons.

Pregnant ladies, are you still taking them? Dads-to-be, are you handling all the planning? If not, well you should be. Your lovely wife deserves one last big hurrah before her – and your — world becomes consumed by vaccination appointments, diaper runs and late-night colic. Whether you’re stealing her away for an all-inclusive vacation or beach vacation, here’s how to shower her with love more than any Mother’s Day card or bundle of roses ever could.

1.  Feed her the meal of a lifetime.
Sure, no one dare challenge the deliciousness of your buttery, hand-rolled sushi or the smoky perfection of your backyard-grilled salmon, but for now, she can’t eat those things anyway. Mercury = bad for the baby. Lately she’s been craving red meat, the perfect excuse to book a table at foodie favorite BLT Steak in Miami Beach’s Betsy Hotel. Now why would you go all the way to Miami for a steak? Well didn’t Mughal emperor Shah Jahan build the Taj Mal in memory of his deceased wife? Consider yourself lucky that you got off so easy.

2. Treat her to quiet time.
Before your love bug arrives to fill your ears with crying fits, book a getaway to Majestic Elegance Punta Cana, an adults-only, all-inclusive resort. Take a mental recording of the sounds from this serene beach paradise: the pans sizzling on the grills at the six on-site restaurants, the water splashing as you emerge from the pool by your swim-up suite and the curtains lapping in the wind on your outdoor Bali bed.

3. Give her a beauty tune-up.
Sure, she’s the most beautiful woman in the world, but every girl could use her own dream team of masseuses and aestheticians to rub out those kinks and dew up her glow. At Rosewood Mayakoba, the magic happens in pure tropical heaven. Sense, the resident spa, sits on its own private island. While your wife takes a dip in the cool plunge pool or has her face exfoliated to ward off the pregnancy mask, you can schedule a round of golf, or join her for a couple’s treatment.

4. Put on a princely crown.
Poor William. Kate’s expectations were set so high from the beginning that it will be tough to trump any future event with more pomp and circumstance than their own Royal Wedding. For the rest of the non blood royal husbands, though, acts of chivalry will have to come in the form of a spontaneous babymoon in an Irish castle. (I know, I know, I referenced England, not Ireland, but would you blame me for suggesting the picturesque Adare Manor?) Set on 840 acres of formal gardens, the palatial property would be a fitting backdrop for reconnecting—and just might go down in the books as the best vacation you ever had.

Related resources

• Family vacations
• Romantic getaways
• Last-minute vacations

Valerie Moloney is a writer for Orbitz who was born in the Philippines, lived in Morocco and married a native Irishman. She now covers hotels around the world and contributes to the Orbitz blog.

Tagged: Family time, Hotels