Whooping cough vaccine 2017

[MtB26]

I am currently 35 weeks pregnant. I have debated whether or not to get the whooping cough vaccine during pregnancy for weeks and it's still playing on my mind! I feel like I can't win either way- if I have it and something goes wrong I'll wish I didn't. On the other hand, if I don't have it and my baby caught whooping cough in the first 8 weeks of his life I'd be equally devastated! My gut instinct was not to have it but as my due date gets closer I am feeling uneasy that my baby won't have any protection when he's born. I have read stories about women who've had stillbirths and think that it may be linked to the vacination and it's worried me even more. Any advice? Has anyone had the jab recently? Or as late in the pregnancy as me? We're your babies born healthy? Any advice would be appreciated.

I had the jab when I was 28 weeks and gave birth to my son 7 weeks ago. He was perfectly healthy and continues to thrive. His checks in hospital before we came home were all fine, his heel prick test came back all clear (not sure if that's ever linked to vaccines though - might just be congenital/ hereditary stuff), and the doctor described him as 'text book perfect' at his 6 week check up last week.

I got the whooping cough jab for personal reasons. 8 years ago when my nephew was born they didnt offer the vaccine to pregnant women, only the baby at their 8 week vaccinations. My nephew caught whooping cough at 2 weeks old and nearly died. He was in and out of hospital for the first 6 months of his life. Watching my sister fall to pieces because she was so helpless to help him was almost as bad as listening to him struggling to breathe and watching his lips going blue. It was horrific. He now suffers from asthma.

Based on that horrible experience I wanted to minimise the risk of my boy catching it before his 8 week jabs. I've seen what it can do and it's serious