Lambing, Farmers, Pregnant

[zara283]

Calling any other farmers wives, what did you do during lambing season and pregnancy? Did you and OH sleep in separate rooms/ houses?? I am only 5 weeks but we had major issues/ past to get here and now lambing started. I am not allowed in the sheds and OH strips, disinfectants, wash clothes separate etc. But did anyone take any extra precautions?? Any help would be great, thank you!

sorry no advice but I'm in this position this year for the first time and will be interested to know what others say on the subject :)

Hello, congratulations on being pregnant!!
I am farmer/shepherd and on 3rd pregnancy during lambing which has forced me to become bit of expert/bore on this topic if I can help answer any questions?? Unfortunately if only ever.found 1 midwife who understands but I have wonderful consultant who's been great.

Ok is your main worry Toxo? Besides the whole physical side of the work (I know I am a physical wreck at end!!). If you are worried about toxo the first thing is to ring docs and pop for blood test which will come back showing if you've had a historic infection (highly likely if.you've worked amongst lambing ewes in.previous years) this then means you are immune and can.sigh massive sigh of.relief, and kiss lambs again (ok that was what my.consultant said and I didn't like to say I don't kiss them lol!!).
Be aware some midwives freak at seeing any positive result, even a harmless historic one, and so read up on the Tommys website to arm yourself beforehand.

Other than that what are your concerns?

I'm immune to toxo so still wear gloves to avoid tummy upsets etc but I lamb sheep as normal.

Hubby is in spare room but that's because I'm huge 3rd time around and need to stretch ;-). I wouldn't stop him.washing his.own.clothes, why stop a good thing, but if you are toxo immune then the full daily disinfect probably unnecessary if he has shower and hand gels.

Does that help? Hope so, xx

Congrats Zara! I am a farm vet and have been pregnant twice at lambing time. For one I had zero contact with sheep, with another I didn't realise I was pregnant for a while so had performed some lambings/c sections.DH is a beef/dairy farmer so at least no worries on the toxo front there! I agree
with Bessie, ask your MW for a blood test. Strangely enough I am toxo negative, which suggests that good hand hygiene and good personal hygiene on your OH behalf is pretty much all you can do in terms of taking precautions. It sounds like you are already being as careful as you can. Good luck with everything x

sorry, I should have also said...there are other nasties you can be exposed to at lambing time apart from Toxo, namely Chlamydophila and Listeria . Standard DEFRA advice is that pregnant women should not be involved in lambing or milking ewes and most definitely avoid any aborted lambs/new born lambs/afterbirth, which you are doing anyway!

I always do work clothes/farm wash separate to normal clothing/baby stuff. OH is a mucky bugger and his stuff has a layer of cow shite and straw attached to it. No way would that be going in my normal wash :D

Meant to say. Dettol do a great in wash anti bacterial liquid, white and green bottle, I get it from tesco or Wilkos, just use it like a fabric softener and kills 99% of bugs. Also they have a washing machine cleaner in same range. I use with all farm clothes (and nappy explosions) as peace of mind. Wish I had option to avoid lambing, but I plan to avoid future pregnancies instead !! Might need your vet skills on hubby Katsnmouse lol

haha Bessie, I keep threatening mine with surgery! I've been meaning to try the Dettol stuff, i'm guessing it doesn't smell like actual Dettol?