did anyone have whooping cough while pregnant?

[janbebe]

sorry not aibu but i’m panicking and the only threads i can find are about the vaccine.

i think i have whooping cough, me and my toddler have been coughing to the point of throwing up (and peeing myself 🥲) for over a month now. been on abx twice, steroids twice, nothing helping. mau sent me for a chest x-ray / totally clear. had an ecg and hr was 106 so having a cardio scan today but i’m 99% sure it’s whooping cough after researching and now i’m terrified i’ll give it to newborn and kill her. i had my vaccine but only last week at which point i think i already had wc.

she’s being born in about 5 weeks via section and all i can think is a) she’ll catch it from me or toddler and because she’s an infant i’m scared she’ll be really unwell or worse and b) how the hell am i going to have a section when i’m coughing to the point of peeing/vomiting, it’s going to be agony trying to heal with that to contend with

miserable :( any experiences please

You will be passing immunity on to her right now, both from your vaccine and from having the infection.

Also the infectious period is three weeks from when the coughing started, so it looks like you won’t be infectious any more.

Sounds awful though, hope you are better soon.

There is a horrible cough going around at the moment, I know several people who have had more than one round of antibiotics. You probably have that and not Whooping Cough.

Surely you were vaccinated against it as a baby?

It wouldn't have been OP's call... And after Andrew Wakefield's damaging and fallacious article in the BMJ, there's an entire generation where a lot of kids weren't vaccinated

However, OP, if you weren't vaccinated as a child it's probably worth seeing what else you weren't vaccinated against and catching up with those too.

i’m not sure what i’ve had. i know i didn’t have my MMR as i have a severe egg allergy so the doctor refused or something but not sure what else

it’s driving me insane i feel like i’m never going to shake it off. absolutely petrified of getting my section now as i feel like i’m going to burst my scar open at this rate. first section was agony even with just a sneeze 🥲

You would know if it’s whooping cough from the distinctive whooping sound. If it is whooping cough, I would ask to speak to your GP.

I was going to say this. Does it sound like whooping cough OP?

I had whooping cough when pg - caught it when I was about 6 months. If it is what you have, I have every sympathy. Non-stop coughing with a bloody great bump in the way is awful, and so exhausting. Did they not test you? I had throat and nasal swabs taken to confirm. Antibiotics given as that apparently stopped it being contagious.

I couldn't be immunised as baby as a bruised brain at birth led to fits, so wasn't allowed to have it. Interestingly, my sister shouldn't have had due to an egg allergy, but Drs insisted it was safer for her to have it to partially protect me, than me be immunised. This was late 60s/early 70s so things may have changed, but if you had an egg allergy, you may not have been vaccinated. That said I caught it from a work colleague who had been vaccinated so...

Anyway - my DS was not affected in anyway. You should be well clear of being infectious by the time you give birth. And if you are having a C-section you should be fine. I was so exhausted by the time I gave birth, I really don't think it helped (I'd only just stopped the 24/7 variety of morning sickness when I caught it...).

Hope you're all on the mend soon.