Pregnant: Do I get the SF jab or not?

[Haleana]

I am really in a conundrum about this... I am 31 weeks pregnant and was really confused about whether I should risk getting the vaccine. I asked my doctor about it after receiving a letter from them asking me to come to a clinic to receive the jab next week. Expecting her to either say that I should or should not get it, I was rather surprised when she told me to wait for a bit as all the doctor's (at my surgery) had been told not to give the jab to pregnant women until further notice.... this of course left me spinning! I have not heard anything else from the surgery and am now really worried as they told me that next week's clinic is the only chance I'll get to receive the jab if I decide to have it.

Anyone else struggling with this decision?

I too don't know what to do. I was waiting to be invited by my surgery, I reckoned if they thought it was important then I would seriously consider it. However, I popped in there today to get dd's injections done, and noticed a sign saying that they are having a drop-in vaccine morning for anyone pregnant, at risk etc. So no sent invitation, which means I wouldn't have even known about it had I not been to the surgery. I asked if the surgery midwife could give me some advice on whether to have it, but the receptionist just said "we're to tell people to have it so long as they're not in the 1st trimester." No more help than that. So if they're not even making sure their pregnant patients know about the vaccine morning, can they really be taking it that seriously? I don't want to have a jab that's not really necessary. Oh the conundrum. How the hell are we supposed to decide?

I'm in the first trimester and the receptionist at the surgery told me I Should Really Have It, and then I think he sort of intimated that getting swine flu without having had the jab would put me at risk of miscarriage.

It sounds like not even the doctors know/agree on all this. I don't want to have it but I'm told by DBf that a vaccination is just dead swine flu matter and cannot do anything weird to the baby.

But being in London, and being on public transport a lot I reckon I've had it (mild form)or been exposed to it already, probably.

I am 17 wks pregnant and still waiting to hear from my gp surgery. They told me today that they have put a hold on jabs from pregnant women as they are not sure which trimester it is best to have it.
However I called the Department of Health to confirm the information, but they told me nothing has changed.
Once again, we all get different information from different source, no one is taking responsibility, and depending which surgery you are in you might get one.
I've giving up now, it's making me more ill stressing about it than probably the swine flu itself!

These may be scare stories given the website, but I feel nevertheless you ought to read this webpage asking whether the jab is really safe for pregnant women.
It's an American site, and I think the British Medical Assoc. differs in it's practice, in that I don't believe it's offering the jab to women in early pregnancy anyway. Still, these appear to be posts of people's real experience and therefore I find them hard to ignore when it comes to my own agony over whether to have the jab (I am 31 wks pregnant with my first DS)

..I didn't put the link in!
organichealthadviser.com/archives/shocking-h1n1-swine-flu-vaccine-miscarriage-stores-from-p regnant-women-tell-your-doctors-that-vaccines-and-pregnancy-do-not-mix

copy andpaste it into your address bar

swine jab and pregnant ladies don't mix

Hi ladies
I'm 22 weeks pregnant with DS2 and also facing the same decision. I was supposed to have the jab last Saturday but put having spent the entire day on Friday reading every website / piece of information possible, I decided I would only have the jab if I could have Celvapan rather than Pandemrix.

My surgery was offering me Pandemrix which is the one that contains Thiomersal, the mercury based preservative. Having been told in both pregnancies not to eat tuna (to excess) or swordfish because the trace amounts of mercury could harm the baby, I decided that having mercury deliberately injected into my bloodstream was probably not a good idea. It is linked to autism and other birth defects such as lack of sucking reflex in newborns - not something I want to risk.

My surgery tells me that Celvapan (which doesn't have the mercury related preservative in it) will be available in a week or two, so I'm hoping to have that.

In the meantime I've caught a horrible virus with sore throat and terrible cough - although no fever, cold symptoms or aching so I'm assuming it's NOT swine flu! This is making me feel shit enough as it is so the thought of having swine flu and feeling shit plus worrying about what effect it could have on me (miscarriage / death, for example) is not good. I hope I can get Celvapan and be done with it.

Sigh. Not an easy decision at all, though, and no-one in the NHS will give you any 'on the record' advice other than toeing the govt. line. My sonographer at my 20 wk scan was pregnant though and said that having spoken to the head consultant obstetrician at the hospital, she wouldn't touch the vaccine with a barge pole.

DorindaG, this is a very scary website with some very sad stories! It's impressive the numbers of pregnant women who've had miscarriages, even in the second trimester. Can it all be coincidence!?...No one will probably tell us the truth so I guess we need to try to make the best decision with the little information or the lies we have been given.
Thanks for the site info

This is the problem really isn't it - the lack of clear, CONSISTANT information from our medical professionals.

Of course it makes sense to go straight to the professionals for our information - they are supposed to be the experts - but when they cannot agree, cannot give the same answers to simple questions and many will not even have the vaccine themselves... then of course we have to look elsewhere for advice and information.

I don't want to be embroiled in a controversy I simply want firm assurance that this is a safe vaccine...

For those that are currently pregnant, I send sincere sympathy for the awful dilemma at this precious time. All we can do is keep sharing what we discover in the hope that the picture of this vaccine's safety can become clearer.

A few posters on these threads have commented that we shouldn't share links that cause worry or are not from recognised mainstream medical professionals - I think that would be blinkered and foolish.

I don't want to be comforted by soothing assurances... I want clear and CONSISTANT advice based on clear and consistant guidlines from those issuing the vaccines but all I get is mixed and confused messages.

Of course we will look to other sources to improve the clarity of this picture - I want to discover the truth in any way I can and would be doing those I love an injustice if I didn't.

I would definitely say read that the info at that link I posted with a pinch of salt - or at least an awareness of what the site owners' possible agenda might be.

However, I agree with tinalouiseuk that we have to take all this stuff into account when making a decision.

The comment about mercury does seem like a no-brainer, doesn't it? I wavered for a bit, but I think that, weighing everything up I am still on the side of not having the vaccine until after my baby is born.
As others have said, it is medication, and we're told to steer clear of so many other meds, AND this is such a new vaccine that I find myself not trusting it enough to have it.