Due to give birth shortly and preschooler has come down with chickenpox...

[dietcokeandwine]

I'm 38+3, booked in for ELCS in 8 days' time, 3 yo has come out in spots this morning and we are 95% convinced it's the pox (the spots look pretty textbook and it's been going round at preschool). I have had the pox before, as have DH and DS1. Assuming baby doesn't arrive early, can I assume the risks are fairly minimal to him/her? Not sure what is the period before 3yo would be considered non-contagious - seems to be anything from 5 to 14 days depending on what you read!

Chicken pox is contagious from a couple of days before the rash appears until all the pox have crusted, so a 10-12 day period. You catch it the same way you do a cold, coughs and sneezes and touching things that have been coughed on. No idea how it would effect NB or likelihood of catching it. Have a chat with MW? You will have passed on antibodies so will have some resistance I'd have thought for the early days, but strenuous handwashing and surface cleaning will help. I think child will be non-contagious by the time bubba is here?

I was worried about this and my midwife said that the baby could be vaccinated at birth before meeting the ill sibling if they were still contagious. Not sure if this is right but could be worth asking for peace of mind?

My DS went down with measles two days before my CS. Hospital put me in a private room in case I was incubating it and gave it to other mums and babies. I was also kept in til DS was no longer contagious as they didn't want to send a newborn home to measles. And they revaccinated me before discharging us. All a nuisance but not really a big deal. Though I still wonder what the point was of MMR-ing DS if he was going to get measles a year later anyway.

I was told that for most things the risks are a lot lower the later on you are in pregnancy, worth giving the midwife a call to put your mind at rest or help you plan.

The other thing to consider is what this does to your childcare arrangements. I had sitters all worked out for my time in hospital and then had to replace the various sitters with ones who'd already had measles as none of the ones I'd planned had had it. Best check with the sitters whether they're ok with it as some may not be willing to accept the official contagious period.

Not helpful but my dbro popped out with chickenpox 30 mins after being born! I had it and was sent to stay with gp's but my mum kept taking me out every day so dsis picked it up and so on. My mum had already had it as a child so was theoretically immune.

I would mention it to mw and see what she says. The risk to baby is most likely minimal but they may want to put you in a private room when you go in for cs (if they don't offer that as standard!)