Coronavirus and 7 months pregnant

[Jrobhatch29]

Help.
Im in a complete panic about coronavirus. Im 7 months pregnant and also have a 7 year old and a 4 year old.
Im absolutely terrified of the coronavirus spreading in the uk, to the point I am having constant panic attacks and refreshing the news every 10 mins. Im so scared for my baby and my children.
Am i blowing this totally out of proportion?

Well done for stating the obvious.

Its not the worry that we may be on the same wards as obviously that would not happen what is likely is in the peak of an epidemic the already understaffed maternity units will have more staff members off sick or in isolation.

Even less reason for considering a home birth, then.

OK then. Worry your arse off. Lose sleep, stop eating, feel terrible and stressed. Now... what's different? Absolutely nothing. Except you feel worse. Worrying makes no difference at all.

So why be so invested in being able to worry? Even if the world is ending, there's nothing worrying can do about it.

@MrsTerryPratchett You don't seem to understand how anxiety works.

"Just stop worrying!"

"Hurrah I'm cured!"

IIRC, CBT is basically about to rationalising and overcoming that anxiety by changing the thought processes.

Literally you could get hit by a bus tomorrow. Millions of things could go wrong with a pregnancy.
You can keep reminding yourself that worrying won't prevent things from happening.

If you keep searching for reasons to be worried, you'll select only those that confirm your beliefs.

Well one things for sure... My general health anxiety will be cured after this because for me this is my worst nightmare!! All the stuff i usually worry about seems so trivial now

I feel the same silver linings and all

My parents were both born while Hitler was jackbooting his way around

I was born into the Asian flu pandemic in 1957. I was the youngest and my parents and older brothers were laid out with it. Of course I had it too, but at only a few months old, some neighbours took me away to care for until my family recovered enough to take me home. I don't know if I was breast or bottle fed at the time, but the neighbours kept me cared for and safe and fed, even though I had the bloody flu as well!!

We all survived it. I don't think my mother felt guilty about having me 4 months before we all got flu.

What a lot of unkind responses you’ve had. Such a shame. I’m due in three weeks and whilst I’m putting a lot of my general worrying down to pregnancy hormones and pregnancy insomnia, I’m certainly not castigating myself for having such feelings. Because actually that’s even less helpful than the worrying itself! I’m taking the approach of making provisions for those aspects I can actually ameliorate. So yes, hand washing etc. Like you though, I’m more concerned with the effect on the hospitals - is one fifth of the workforce might end up off work sick, it’s reasonable (not overreacting) to assume that NHS workers won’t be immune from this! Also, if an expectant mother tests positive for Coronavirus and has been in a public area of the maternity ward the current guidelines recommend that it is closed off to allow deep cleaning. Therefore, I’m going to do a dry run to a few of my local hospitals so that if I get turned away from my chosen hospital, we’re not scrambling around trying to find the maternity department of a new hospital whilst I’m in actual labour. Logically, I’m expecting things to turn out for the best, but I certainly don’t think it’s silly to prepare for the worst. I don’t expect I’d die if I caught the flu, but that didn’t stop me getting the flu jab! Hopefully making a few plans for some of the potentially worrying contingencies will also help the anxiety. Take care and good luck with the rest of your pregnancy.

The Spanish flu was over a hundred years ago just after World War One. Medical care has evolved significantly in that time. Spanish flu also affected younger people

Yes the Spanish flu was scary and devastating not because of the death rate so much as it tended to kill people who were in the prime of their life.

@Salopio that was a really helpful post on the subject. I’m 18 weeks pregnant and whilst I try not to worry about it, it’s still there so I am interested in others thoughts on the matter. I’m more worried about it than if I wasn’t pregnant that’s for sure

Ive just had a telephone appointment again with gp who has made me feel worse again telling me im right to be concerned and its a frightening time. Whilst i know this is the truth since i have anxiety you would think she would at least try to reassure me. Waiting for a call from midwife who can hopefully be of more help. Im very anxious today after the raising of the mortality rate

So, do you want to be reassured or validated? Because you've complained about both responses.

What is your actual problem? If you dont like this thread stop commenting and reading it!

I'm just asking what is it that you want.
Can you honestly say what it is?

Im ignoring your comments. Youre not helpful, so stop

You won’t be cured after this because when this particular virus is no longer around then you will go back to worrying about other things. That’s how anxiety works.
Read the response from @lweji at 21:12. That is the way to react to your fears. That’s how CBT has helped me. If you seek out facts to confirm your fears then you will find them. Because you’re actively searching for them.

@Jrobhatch29 hun please try not to worry I know that's easier said than done especially coming from me who has health anxiety I do understand but with this I weirdly seem to be worried less, basically the mortality rate seems to be based on confirmed cases so therefore it's hugely incorrect- they are only testing people who have been to hugely affected areas and have symptoms in this country which means LOADS of people will be going undiagnosed and just have cold like symptoms being dismissed as such by a GP somewhere I'm sure that is even if they go to the GP, in America they barely have any tests and claim to have 30 or 40 cases when in reality doctors in ER's etc over there say they actually will have tens of thousands of cases. Also with SAR's I think it was they put in the worst case scenario thing and that was for hundreds of thousands to get it and thousands to die - in actuality 450 died, just follow the precautions given and you will be fine x

Thanks for this @Mumma1984. Thats what im telling myself about the death rate too. I spoke to my midwife and she was very reassuring. She told me she barrier nursed babies born to mothers with swine flu, which was meant to be dangerous for pregnant women, and babies were just fine x

Will people please stop making snarky comments about "Are you afraid of the flu????" etc.?

I can't speak for anyone else, but when I was pregnant I WAS very much afraid of seasonal flu. Any illness which causes a fever spike creates risk for the fetus, especially if it is in the early or middle part of pregnancy. Fetuses exposed to high fevers during the first half of gestation have significantly elevated incidences of things like schizophrenia later on.

In the case of flu, however, at least there is a vaccine, which either stops you from getting it, or typically gives you a certain amount of immunity which makes your dose of flu milder (esp less likely to get a very high temperature). There is no vax for this one. Pregnant women are absolutely right to be very concerned about this. I'm very far from being a panicky type about this kind of situation and am not at all personally worried for myself or my immediately family--we will most likely just get a horrible cold for a couple of weeks if we get CV. But I would feel very differently if I was pregnant.

Fortunately for the OP, she is past the stage in pregnancy where a fever spike would be linked with above mentioned issues--the risk to the fetus comes if you get flu or similar diseases in the first half of pregnancy. But I don't think pregnant women are stupid if they are scared about this illness!

I actually got flu at 9 weeks with my second and was in hospital for 4 days due to the fever. Im thankful im in the third trimester but wish i was closer to delivery date

Babies and children are the one area which will still be prioritised :) it's other nhs treatments that will probably suffer.

Keep calm, you are doing fine. Keeping clean and cautious.

I’m 32 weeks pregnant and also worried about hospitals being short staffed etc, I also have group b strep and need antibiotics via drip during labour to protect my baby so home birth isn’t an option however the antibiotics will make his immune system more vulnerable so I’m worried he will be more susceptible to the virus in his first few months even with children under 9 being least affected. Pregnancy comes with all sorts of worries naturally so its really hard not to worry about something that’s completely the unknown at the moment.

Im just coming up to 32 weeks. Its such an unsettling time. I wish i could have her now. I just keep praying none of us catch it/the outbreak doesnt match the predictions or it calms down in april in the spring

Theres been a confirmed case in newcastle right near where i live as well