20 wks pregnant and DS has just came down with chickenpox

[Graciescotland]

I'm a bit worried to be honest, I've been to the doctors and they're testing me for immunity. What's the next step if I haven't had it?

I had the same panic a couple of months ago and was a complete worrywort while I was waiting for the immunity test results to come back. The reality is that a staggeringly high percentage of people had chicken pox as kids or were exposed to it so developed immunity if not the spots, so you are more than likely to be completely fine. My (ancient) doctor said in all his years as a GP he'd only ever known a single case of a mother not having immunity.

If, and it's a big if, you are not immune, then I believe there is some medication your GP can prescribe to help with the symptoms - sorry, memory a bit hazy as I never actually got that far - but your DS will have been infectious for a while now before his spots showed so there's not a huge amount of point trying to avoid him. (As if that's realistically possible!)

Try not to worry. Oh, and incidentally chicken pox cooling gel is soooo much better than calamine lotion for your DS's spots

Thanks, I have to wait till Monday for the results so will be keeping my fingers crossed :)

Luckily DS's case seems really mild, most of his spots have vanished already and he doesn't seem bothered by the remainder.