33 weeks pregnant - chicken pox - should I be worried?

[lucielooo]

Hi
Not sure whether I should be worried or not!
I had my 4 year old niece to stay at the weekend and today she has come out in chickenpox spots. It has been going round at her nursery but she hasn't been this week so must have picked it up last week and so would have had it when she came down at the weekend.

Anyway, I have had chicken pox 3 times so I am not sure where I stand with immunity and whether I should be worried or not? I had it twice mildy as a child and then more fully when I was a teenager.

Do you think I should be worried? And what should I do? I'll speak to my midwife in the morning but just wondered if anyone had any advice.. As far as I'm aware if you have had it before then you should be immune so it's not a problem but because I've had it multiple times I'm not sure about immunity?

You should be fine if you've definitely had a case as a teenager. My DD1 came out in pox 4 days before DD2 was born, and the advice is if you've had it it's no problem. Are you absolutely sure it was chicken pox the first 2 times? There are lots of rashes that are labelled as CP that actually weren't in retrospect - we had had ay least one prior scare with DD1!

According to my mum! She's certain it was chicken pox when I was a child as well but I can only take her word for it..

I can't get hold of the midwife to ask her.. The one I have a number for, I think only works Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Should I just phone the GP's surgery?

I had the same problem a couple of weeks ago when I was 32 weeks pregnant(although it turned out my friend's daughter didn't have it after all!!!)

Anyway, I called the on-call midwife and she said that as long as I've had it then I don't need to worry. If I wasn't 100% sure then they could take a blood test to check my immunity.

I had it as a child so didn't worry although she did say to contact them straight away if I had any symptoms.

I believe all NHS direct etc say to contact your GP if you've been in contact with anyone with CP, although I think in reality if you're confident you've had it then risk is extremely low.

It might put your mind at rest if you contact your GP for reassurance.

Hope this helps.

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy!!

I work as a nursery teacher and am pregnant we had a chicken pox outbreak just before Christmas (11 children). Midwife said I'd be fine as long as I had already had it. Don't worry.x

I had this a couple of weeks - let your midwife or GP know and they will use the blood they've taken from you at recent appts to check your immunity level. If you are immune (which you should be having had it 3 times!) then you are at low risk of catching it, and i don't think there's any risk to baby at this point.

i didn't have immunity (everyone seemed very shocked that i'd got to 31 without getting chickenpox) which meant i had to have a jab to boost my immunity which they gave me the next day and thankfully have escaped it.

TBH I would phone your GP and have your immunity checked - if you have had it 3x then you may not be immune because it suggests you keep catching it. Some people do keep catching chicken pox although its rare.

Thank you v much for your replies.. I'll give the gp's surgery a call and see what they say. It's whether I'm immune or not that's confusing me, I suspect I probably am but my only doubt is because I've had it several times. The last time was more severe though so perhaps it's just because the first two were mild

Thanks for your help ladies - very reassuring :)

sorry lucie xposted there - glad you are going to phone GP

Just phoned GP's and the nurse is going to call me back -

Thanks loueytb3, that's why I'm hoping they'll check it, better safe than sorry I think.

Thanks again :)

Well the nurse phoned me back.. she thinks it's a bit 'dramatic' to get my immunity checked?

Hey lucielooo - I'm seeing my midwife tomorrow (just a routine), but extremely good timing, as I've just left BIL's having spent the night there - and their son woke up this morning with 20-25 red spots on his face, chest, shoulders and waist. Argh.

On reflection, they think he wasn't really himself over the last couple of weeks, so it's pointing to chickenpox, and other children have had it at his nursery.

My parents aren't 100% sure if I've had it, but we all -think- so, very mildly, when I was four or five.

I gave the labour ward a very quick call just in case (...leaving it 24 hours would make a difference + I'm taking steroids, so have a very low immune system), and the midwife said see your GP tomorrow, so I'll start with the midwife at 10am, see where I get to. I'll post whatever I learn here, in case it's helpful for you too.

(I'm 34 weeks.)

Hello again - I said I'd update and here goes: midwife thought it was probably OK, but sent me off for a blood test to have my immunity checked, so I'll have the results of that in a few days. What happened to you in the end?

just to let you know all fine with my test :) I asked for it in the end and got the results back to say immunity was ok which is good to know!

rubybambini - hope your results were ok?

My Wife affected by Chicken pox during her 55 days pregnancy , will any consequences occur for baby.. kindly share your experiences .