HIV Testing in Pregnancy??

[magnolia1]

Have you?

Had all the tests in previous pg's so why gain??

Worried my midwife will whinge at me but I really don't see the point.

Views please

HIV can be detected 3-6 months after exposure, but it can be without symptoms for years.

Got my results back today and it was negative, which is always nice to hear!!

I was very nervous about having mine. It's pretty life-changing if results are bad so does have negative aspects to it. The only reasons I could think of for not doing it were selfish but still felt very uneasy. MW was very clear that it was optional though.

I was very unhappy when i had to have this done.... the MW said that the test required consent and I said I would think about it. She said that if I didn't consent i would have to have an appointment to explain myself to the consultant ! I said fine, still want to think about it. A consultant did not scare me at all - I also felt a bit bullied which made me dig my heels rather!

She suggested going to the GUM clinic and having it done under an assumed name before getting myself tested officially via the ante natal clinic. That way i could prepare myself one way or the other. I knew I was being selfish, but I didn't know if I could hack it if I were positive. After a long chat with DH, I decided to take the plunge and it was fine.

My understanding of the position is that you need to give your consent for the blood to be tested. If they want to screen your blood for statistical purposes, that's fine but it must be anonymous. They can only test YOUR blood (ie named) if you have given specific consent.

HTH

I'm shocked that you were threatened with a consultant! ....how dare she?! Mind you, my midwife gave me no option at all (but she also ticked the "don't take drugs" and "no previous pregnancy box" without asking me, OK I don't take drugs but I have had a termination and when I told her, she said she wouldn't record that. Seems a bit hit and miss to me

Anyway, after all the fuss, got the results back and they were fine, although I was really worried as was told that I had tested positive for rubella and then no one ws available to tell me what that meant - had to ring PANDA to find out!!

I declined the HIV test in both pregnancies because I don't trust the NHS not to make a cclerical error and record a postive when the test was negative and if they did make the mistake I certainly wouldn't trust them to fix it. So, I may be a tad paranoid about the chances of them recording a negative as a positive. But, I'm really not worried about being HIV positive. If I was I suppose I'd let them test.