Gave birth yesterday and DH has shingles

[peachesandsweets]

Posting this one for more a handhold, but I gave birth to my DS yesterday morning in the hospital. By 8pm that night, a&e had diagnosed DH with shingles that had flared up over the day. We had noticed a very light rash and he'd not been feeling 100% but I swear it came up in hours.

Midwife's immediately escorted DH off the ward as it is full of babies, and I've had to move in with my parents and DD (who's 2) to spend these first precious newborn days away from him while we wait for them to scab over and we can go home again.

Luckily the doctors tested my immunity to chicken pox so hopefully I passed some of that over to the newborn, but I am still utterly terrified.

I'm feeling so lonely and devastated that these precious memories of bringing our new baby home to complete our family have been ruined by this horrible illness. I'm not sure how long it's going to be like this - and I know people go through worse but honestly someone give me something positive to focus on because at the moment I just keep sobbing 😭

You can only catch CP from shingles from contact with the blisters (fluid). Can he not keep the area covered?
And has he had anti virals?

Oh OP that is totally shit luck.

My sister had similar recently- brought brand new baby home and 2 days later her toddler broke out in chickenpox. Baby didn’t catch it, despite niece being all over him- apparently mum’s immunity protects them for a good while after birth.

Be kind to yourself - you’ll be experiencing a massive hormone crash and that’s tough in itself.

They are all over his neck and scalp under his hair so really hard to cover up - but I think that if this goes on too long that might have to be our solution. He is taking antivirals now - do you know how long they take to work?

Its an emotional time but you will still take your newborn home, just a bit later

Yes as other pp you should all be able to be in same house , he'll just have to be careful about blisters. I'd go home and leave dd for an extra night at GPS.

@Iammetoday yes I am really hoping that the blisters burst tonight so that they can start scabbing and we can get home to him as soon as possible.

I think if we wrapped his head in bandages and he just didn't hold the baby without handwashing then it might be very low risk?

It is so hard to know what to do - I am such an emotional wreck anyway.

Thank you everyone else for your kind words it's really helping.

@FirstFallopians that's really great to hear, that gives me some hope

This happened to my husband - he developed the rash two days before I gave birth. Unfortunately he couldn't attend the birth or visit us in hospital. It was hard - I had to show newborn ds to him from a second floor hospital window. You'll get through it and there'll be plenty to time for him to spend with baby when his skin is better. 💐 Congratulations on your new baby.

I know this is not ideal but could be not hold the baby at all, and just wait on you hand and foot while you do all the childcare til he's better?

I think people can underestimate how easy it can be to transmit shingles; I got chicken pox from my grandmother's shingles and I certainly wasn't touching the area or anything - they were 100% under her clothes.

Huge sympathy, OP. What a shitty shitty situation.

If your DH may turn out to be prone to shingles, have you thought about having your older child vaccinated against CP (if she isn't already?)

But mainly, massive sympathy.

Congratulations on baby!
When I gave birth to my youngest last year, my eldest contracted chicken pox from nursery and despite doing everything we could to keep them apart and me exclusively breast feeding to pass on the immunity, my baby then contracted chicken pox at 10 days old. I have never seen chicken pox like it and my baby ended up in hospital overnight. The hospital weren’t sure what to do as they rarely see chickenpox on a newborn. Advice was taken from great ormond street and case studies in America and it was agreed to give anti viral medication (even though they don’t like to give it under 1 month) which she responded really well too and within 48 hours the medication kicked in to scab them all and stop the spread.
Please don’t underestimate how contagious it is. You must be feeling all sorts of emotions. It won’t take long, but it is for the best for your baby’s health - that is the most important thing to protect them.

@OscarsAmmonite I'm so sorry this happened to you too - giving birth without him must have been really hard. How long did it take for your partners to pass? I'm trying to be realistic of how long this could last, thank you for sharing though it makes me feel much less alone

@Mumoftwogirls2022 oh my goodness how frightening - this is my worst fear. Glad that your DD responded well to treatment

@JassyRadlett yes I think we will get older DD vaccinated asap if we can - just so we don't have that to worry about alongside another flare up

I had shingles when my youngest was 3 weeks old. He didn’t get CP.

OP congratulations on your baby!
Unfortunately it's just not worth the risk - best to stay away from DH until he's no longer infectious. It will only be a few days, worth it in the end!

Oh OP - that's shit timing.

My DS1 came out with chickenpox 1 week after DS2 was born - we separated the house pretty much DP taking DS1, and me the baby and it was all fine, but I completely understand the worry.

Good luck.

Oh what awful luck! I've got a 7 week old and when he was 2 days old my toddler came down with chickenpox. We didn't really try to keep them apart as the midwives didn't say there was any need to, and the baby was totally fine. He had a couple of spots which I wasn't sure were chickenpox or little milk spots, but wasn't poorly at all. If you're able to breastfeed I believe that can help with immunity. You should be totally fine with your DH in the house but I understand not taking the risk - what have the midwives said?

@biscuitcat that's very reassuring! Midwife's gave us all the information and said it was our decision to make either way. I suppose they don't want to tell you what to do, but the fact they made him leave the hosptial unit when we found out said a lot.

What also swayed it for me was the fact that the paediatrician said if we did go home to him that he would leave us open access to hospital for the next month on his unit. That was enough to make me think he didn't recommend that we do it, as I don't think a doctor has ever given me that kind of access before!

peaches I'm trying to think back - I think it was 9 days when everything had crusted over and then he just distanced from the baby for a bit. It was hard and the midwives in Aberdeen Maternity Hospital were not that pleasant - one made me cry and the others closed ranks and covered for her. I didn't have a second baby!

@OscarsAmmonite bless you / that sounds a horrendous situation, and I'm sorry the midwife's weren't more sympathetic. It feels shatteringly hard at times managing this - but I know in the long run we will get through it. I'm with you - this has sealed the deal that this is my final baby!

the fact they made him leave the hosptial unit when we found out said a lot

There will be really poorly babies on that unit, and probably really poorly babies, too. As well as possibly pregnant women.

And the open access to the unit is fairly standard, but lovely of the doctor.

I'd have taken baby home yesterday and got DH to be really careful. I'd definitely take them home now. In my experience, if they definitely didn't advise you did something, they'd say that. If they gave you the choice, then you had the choice.

Congratulations on your new little baby!

I know this is a bit of a shock, so soon after delivery but it's not that bad. You're with your parents so are getting help & support & DH will see you again a few days.

There's no need to be terrified. I wouldn't go home - stay and get supported by your parents & let DH get better - shingles can be rotten in adults.

Your baby will be fine & protected by your immunity.

I gave birth 10 days ago, my son had chickenpox and I was sent home after they checked my antibodies. I'm breastfeeding so doctors said risk is very very low, as the baby is getting my antibodies.
We weren't told to isolate in any way, just to prevent direct contact and ensure we don't share towels etc.

Handhold, OP. I hope your DH is reunited with the rest of the family very soon.

Are you breastfeeding? My toddler is getting over a nasty bout of chicken pox at the moment and he has been slobbering all over his five month old sister and sharing her bathwater and everything, and so far she's been absolutely fine. I think my milk must be full of antibodies.