chicken pox in late pregnancy

[stainesmassif]

have already rung nhs direct and spoken to a very nice lady, now waiting to spk to mw, who isn't available until 12.30 at earliest.

am 40 weeks plus 3 days. ds is 2 yrs old, has been at our cm's house 3 days a week. she's just rung to tell me that her daughter has come out in spots and she suspects chickenpox - ds is already there.

I've had chickenpox in the past, so am not worried about that.

DS has already been exposed to the infection for the last two weeks, if i was to bring him home now it would largely be a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. or would it?

my great worry is that i'm going to get shingles and am going to have a toddler and a newborn baby with chickenpox.

please help calm me down!

I think the less exposure to the virus, the better - like when one of your children gets it, they will have it mildly, but the second will have it worse.

So yes, bring your ds home and keep him home till the other child isn't infectious any more.

If he does have it (and he may not), you will probably be fine, your baby might also be fine and I think they can give antivirals - not sure, but a friend's son just had chicken pox and she has a newborn, and they are not having to do anything special until he shows signs of it.

Nobody seems particularly worried. You could keep them apart if you were very anxious...and if it were possible.

Shingles is said not to be related to exposure to chicken pox, but I think there is circumstantial evidence it can be reactivated on exposure.

I don't know. Chances are though you won't get it.

You don't get shingles from catching chickenpox a second time so that is not a concern.

The worry here is that the baby might catch CP soon after birth, but assuming that you are immune he or she should have protection for the first couple of months or so anyway and hopefully will not catch it.

Your DS may not get CP in spite of the exposure - my DD was exposed to it loads of times before she finally caught it.

HTH, and that you calm down soon.

problem being that our cm was having him when i go into deliver ds2 - family all live 3 hours away min. this is rubbish timing!