To cut myself off from people until December?

[Biscuitbreaker]

Well, obviously that's not a realistic option, but I am struggling to know what to do...
I'm 22 weeks pregnant and being told by my midwife I should have a swine flu and regular flu jab.

I work in a large school, and have an underlying health condition making me very 'at risk' to any swine flu/flu outbreaks that crop up in the Autumn. Even as I am typing this I am thinking "just have the bloody vaccine!"

BUT

I am not convinced by the safety of the vaccine(s) (especially swine flu, as it so new) on me but particularly on my unborn baby. I have been wrestling with this for weeks and reading about the effects on pregnant women and can't seem to find any answer.

I look at my scan pics and can't imagine doing anything that could harm him. If I have the vaccine, this swine flu pandemic may never re-appear or I may not get it, and I risk harming my baby, but then if I don't I am putting us both at risk.

Anybody offer any advice/experience? First AIBU thread, so please be kind.

Thank you

Bathsheba - hope you and your baby are ok. x

I also had the Pandemrix vaccine at 10 weeks pregnant with no complications. Baby is now 4 weeks old and very healthy

I was adamant I wasn't having it until a friend (who's dh is a doc at the local hospital) informed me that there'd been at least one pregnant woman in our local hospital in intensive care/ after care since the outbreak started. Made me realise that just because it all seemed like a fuss over nothing from where I currently stood didn't mean it was for everyone.

If you pregnant with a serious underlying health condition (I don't know if the risks vary depending on the condition?) then I would def think about it. I had it in the end when I was planning to get pregnant but it hadn't happened yet.

My friend had the swine flu vaccine while pregnant - luckily, as it turned out, because her husband caught the virus. Friend & baby both fine & well.

Would it be a good idea to speak to whichever professional knows about your underlying condition? It sounds as though the risks you need to weigh up are a little different from average.

I had swine flu when I was 18-19 weeks pregnant. I have never been so ill.

I didn't want to make the decision whether or not to have the vaccine, but on reflection, if I had the choice again, I would certainly have had it. Had I been any further on in my pregnancy I have no doubt that things would have been far more serious for me. I don't really like to think about it. And I am a pretty healthy, fit woman, with no underlying health problems.

Not sure this is an AIBU topic, really! Clearly it's a personal choice, not helped by such a contrast in medical opinion if you ask your local HCPs.

I'm also due in December. Who knows, now, if we'll have another surge of swine flu cases this winter? By my third trimester, it might be too late, as we'll then be into the flu season. I'm really concerned at how ill pregnant women can get with this strain, and also terrified about the stories of third trimester babies lost to the virus. I know it's not common, but it does happen. I had a chat with another friend who's due in Dec about this, and we sort of decided we needed to get it done, and soon. We're not worried about the 'effects' of the vaccine on our babies - by now, one would expect to have seen problems in newborn babies whose mothers had had the vaccine last year. And I don't believe the government is trying to dick about with the health of pregnant women or their babies.

I'm now peeing myself, because I think it's the right thing to do, DH thinks it's the right thing to do, but I am seriously injection-phobic (blood tests are ok, oddly!) and the very idea of an IM injection is making me want to hide under the bed and cry. So if anyone has any coping strategies (large amount of booze probably not a good idea) I'd like to hear them!

Biscuitbreaker, good luck with your choice.

Reshape - I've seen much worse in AIBU!

Can you take your friend with you for the injection? It might be easier for you if you go together. Good luck.

I had the swine flu jab whilst pg with DD2....she's now 6 months and absolutely fine. It's a tough decision to make but I had it because to me the risks were far greater if I had caught swine flu.

I had this worry last year. I really didn't want to have the vaccine as I thought it hadn't been tested much (but a year on, a lot more women have had it administered and have there been any reports on it? so perhaps I would now)...

I caught a very busy train each day, and changed my working hours to avoid rush hour, and towards the end of my pregnancy I avoided large events...and even on the advice of friends and family cancelled a birthday event where my cousins of school age would have attended... sounds bonkers now, but they did have people in their classes with swine flu.

So I don't think YABU to be thinking about this very seriously if you work in a school.
Noone can tell you what to do though, you'll have to weigh up the risks yourself and go with your gut feel.

risk much, much lower now that you have got well out of the first trimester. I refused the injection because like you, wasn't convinced it was safe. However, if I was in your shoes and was exposed to lots of germy people and had an underlying health condition, I would definitely have it now that you have got past 20 weeks without difficulty - all of your baby's systems are well formed by now.
If you are really worried, you could wait till 28 weeks, by which time your baby will be viable in case you had a reaction to the injection and for some reason they needed to get baby out early.

I had it last year when I was carrying DS2. Broke into tears in the nurses room as it felt so wrong to do it, but I knew I should really. I was overwhelmed by my protective feelings for my little boy. We are both seemingly fine but that doesn't prove anything. I'm not sure whether I did the right thing or not TBH.

I was offered the swine flu jab whilst pregnant last year with my dd.

I work in a school and three of my pupils came down with it. I refused the vaccine as I felt there hadn't been enough time to thoroughly research the vaccine and look at any side effects in babies whose mum's had been given the vaccine.

My sister and two of her friends who are both nurses also refused it after speaking to health professionals at work.

My midwife friend was shocked that I had refused it as she had recently been looking after patients who were very poorly with it.

People obviously have totally different opinions about it so you have to decide for yourself.

I can say now, after not getting swine flu whilst pg that I'm glad I didn't have it but would I have felt the same if I had been very poorly?? Possibly not.

If I was you I would definately wait until Autumn and see if it becomes an epidemic like last year before deciding what to do.

I had the jab while 18 weeks pregnant last year and ds is absolutely fine. My friend who is a doctor had it while pregnant too and her and her baby were fine too.

I am not going to have it Biscuit.. I know some people have it and had perfectly healthy babies.. My concern is for the effects later in life since we can't really know that yet. I will probably be shouted down for being over cautious though.

Anecdotally - I didn't have the jabs, and I got 'flu (but not Swine) at 41 weeks pregnant. I ended up in hospital with breathing problems (asthmatic anyway) and it was pretty stressful. But I still had a healthy home birth (at 42 +3) and all was fine with baby - I was worried because the 'flu treatment was heavy duty anti-biotics and steroids, as well as massive doses of salbutamol. I am still a little worried about his teeth, as it was a lot of antibiotic treatment.

It's a really hard choice. The thing with vaccines is that it is something you do, so it is within your control - catching the 'flu is not. So I guess vaccine damage would cause more guilt than damage caused by disease?