Experiences of giving birth while sick? (39+5 and have a horrible cold)

[SaraKatie]

Hi! As the title says, I’m 39+5 weeks pregnant and have a really horrible cold - bad cough, blocked nose, sore throat, temperature, ashes, the works! Surviving on 4 hours of restless sleep and sheer willpower. To make matters worse I just moved house today and have no time to rest as I need to get it in some sort of liveable shape before I go into labour! Does anyone have any experience of giving birth while ill? Do the symptoms go away due to the adrenaline or whatever? I’m also worried about passing it on to my baby afterwards, or would they be immune?

Ashes = aches 🤦‍♀️

I had a heavy cold like that when I had DD. That combined with labour, uterine rupture, haemorrhage, crash section, further surgery, a newborn and a 3 year old, didn’t lend itself to a particularly easy birth or recovery, but there was so much going on I can’t really say exactly what the effect of the cold was.

Good luck OP, I hope it all goes well.

You poor thing, that sounds grim.

This is my first pregnancy and she’s measuring off the charts on growth scans (8lb 8oz at 35 weeks, 9lb 1oz at 37 😱 - no GD, pretty normal 23lb weight gain, normal BMI - seems to just be my stupid fecking genetics) so my consultant has said she’ll see if I go into labour naturally by 40+3 but if I don’t progress in labour she will do a c-section because she’s worried about the shoulders getting stuck, and if I don’t go into labour naturally by the 3rd she wants to do an elective c-section, which I really don’t want... the thoughts of this cough and a c-section don’t bear thinking about. I’m feeling quite sorry for myself, I have to say! 😂 My BIL, SIL and Aunt all have the same dose and they’ve been complaining up a storm and I actually want to strangle them because I’m just thinking AT LEAST YOU AREN’T 39 WEEKS PREGNANT WITH A BABY ELEPHANT AND IN THE MIDDLE OF A HOUSE MOVE. But obviously I keep that thought to myself and am only yelling it into the ether of the internet.

If you really don't want a C-section op could you discuss the possibility of induction? I say this as someone who had an ELCS because of a big baby but that was my request.

I had a bad cold and chest infection while I was in hospital having DS2. I'd had a few small bleeds which they couldn't detect the cause of and so they spent a week trying unsuccessfully to induce me and I caught it then.

It wasn't great as I was suffering from breathlessness and kept getting low oxygen during the eventual labour so couldn't have as much gas and air as I wanted. Also a delay in getting an ERPC for some retained placenta resulted in blood loss and very low blood pressure (mine's low anyway) and they insisted on me lying flat on my back in the recovery room which made it very hard to breathe with a chest infection until the blood pressure was at a certain level and then almost immediately back down again when I was eventually allowed to sit up and the blood pressure dropped again. They did get me to cough in a sample pot and sent it off for testing in case it was anything that might affect the baby badly. They didn't ever send me results though so I think it can't have been anything serious. I did find the labour harder as I felt I hadn't the strength to keep mobile like I did during my first, much longer labour but that could have been due to spending ten days in hospital with minimal exercise, poor sleep on the noisy induction ward, poor food intake etc. as much as the cold itself.

As a small silver lining it was great having a hospital bed that enabled me to sleep upright so i could breathe so much more easily!

I wish you luck and hope you feel better before your labour.

I have no experience of giving birth whilst unwell but the chances are, your cold will have abated by the time you go into labour and I bet you anything, it will have gone altogether when the baby arrives :-). In the meantime, 'nurse' your cold as much as you can.

Many women give birth to big babies quite naturally, I imagine your obstetrician was just trying to reassure you. I was told I would have a big baby and he was just over 6.5lbs!

Congratulations on the coming event and all good wishes for the birth. Please let us know as soon as she/he is born, this is such an exciting time for you.

I had tonsillitis at 39/40 weeks and I think my body waited until 41 weeks to have the baby because of it.

If you don't want an elective section, then don't agree to it. Ask about the benefits /risks /alternatives.

Growth scans aren't scientific. My 2nd baby was estimated at 8lb. Came out at 10lb! I had a homebirth and they'd have not been happy to "allow" me to go to 41 weeks and labour at home if theyd known he was going to be that big. However, the labour was 2.5 hours from my first contraction, minor tear and no issues with 'getting stuck'. I did some research and it's very unlikely a woman will grow a baby that she is unable to birth! It was easier actually giving birth to a 10lb baby then my first who was 8lb 4oz.

So even if the growth scan is right, which it has a good chance of not being, you don't need to agree to an elective section just because they tell you they'd rather you have it. Perhaps try asking them for scutage research and figures about babies being born and getting 'stuck' to see if that helps you make the decision

I had a terrible cold when I gave birth at 41+1 and was poorly enough with my cold that at discharge the midwives were concerned about my white blood cell levels (!). Giving birth was just what it was and was fine. Coughing with stitches afterwards was... hmmm.

Maybe see if it’s safe to take a herbal tablet to shorten length of cold with lots of vitamin c and echinacea? Then hopefully it might be gone by the time you have your bub. And don’t worry too much about baby size they’re usually wrong and I don’t think having a big baby usually makes things much harder

Thanks all. I’m wide awake after 4 hours of very fitful sleep. Idk what I’ll do if I go into labour because I’m so unwell I can’t breathe properly and I feel like I’m going to cough this baby out. I’m pretty sure I have a temp but I’ll have to check. I’m a power through kind of person usually, but I think this is the straw that broke the camel’s back.

My consultant advised against induction. She doesn’t think it’d be a good idea in my case for some reason. I think she’s worried it’d force a labour that isn’t physically possible and result in stuck shoulders - she seems very worried about the shoulders. She said that growth scans are inexact, so she sent me for the two separate ones two weeks apart more to check the progress than the exact figures. She believes my baby is very big as she can feel her when she examines me - that’s what first made her want to check. It’s my first baby so I don’t know the difference.

She’s one of the top consultants in the country (Ireland), so even though I’ve fallen down a serious Dr Google rabbit hole over the last few weeks I made the decision to trust her because I guess that’s why I chose her as my doctor in the first place. Still very tempted to refuse an elective c-section after the 3rd, but I’m just going to play it by ear and see if i labour naturally before stressing it. 😬

I had a bad cold and a cold sore. I wasn't allowed to kiss the baby as cold sores can be lethal for newborns. The birth was traumatic but I got through it. 38+5.
My mum said my body would wait but she was wrong.

Sounds like a very similar situation to me. My baby was my 2nd, but 15 years age gap so they said your body treats it as if it's your first. Baby measuring off the charts on growth scans, massive bump was all baby. Moved house at 37 weeks, still had loads to do. No cold, but end of August so heatwave instead! And PGP so no sleep. I REALLY didn't want a C-section. Baby was still bobbing around, not engaged.

Labour was trying to establish from 39+5, but it felt like baby was too big to engage and sweeps showed baby was moving up and out of the cervix. Finally went into labour, progressed very quickly, but had 6 hours of pushing with nothing happening. They decided to prep me for theatre and forceps, took me in, and she was nowhere near crowning so c section instead. A very short amount of time after that, she appeared at 9 lb 13.5, and super chunky with it! No waters in there, so it truly was all baby. No reason for her not to engage, she was simply too big for my frame, no gd or anything either.

What I wish I'd done is be very open to the idea of a C-section- midwife's don't want you to have one, so they're not suggesting it for nothing. They'd suggested it when they thought she might be moving position, and I brushed it off, but it was honestly a lot better than imagined. Trying to push out a baby who I had thought was too big to engage, and it turns out I was right, was so much harder!

Sounds like a very similar situation! My consultant said she does not recommend c-sections unless they are absolutely necessary, and my hospital has low section rates, so I’ve decided I need to trust her. I think my baby is engaged though, her head is way down now, and I’m quite big myself, as in I’m 5ft 8’ and quite powerfully built/athletic (probably why my baby is so big), so she said there’s a chance I can do it on my own, she just wants to keep me well monitored. I just don’t feel my usual physically strong self with this dose, so idk if I have what it takes at this point! Moving house yesterday didn’t help, I definitely did more than I should have because it’s not in my personality to sit back and relax!

Unless she can give you any clinical data about stuck shoulders, I'd push her on it if you want to avoid it unless absolutely unnecessary. Ideally you want to be properly informed - is she suggesting this purely because of guidelines or because of your specific circumstances specifically.

Asking questions to make sure you are properly informed is the first step as it's tough to blindly go along with it as you don't have the knowledge she does.

I have never heard of shoulders getting stuck personally but then I'm not a midwife/obstrician.

Presumably, like me, massive babies are born when the growth scan had indicated they'll be much smaller - what happens in these cases?

I think shoulder dystocia is definitely a concern with macrosomic babies, and she said if the labour starts but doesn’t naturally progress it’s a clear sign that the baby is getting stuck in my pelvis. She does know I’d prefer to avoid a section, but am willing to have one if it’s medically necessary. She is one of the best consultants in the country, so I’ve decided to place a certain amount of trust in her (which hasn’t been easy for me to do, I read a lot of medical articles and less academic chat boards before realising it was counter-productive as I was essentially trying to acquire a medical degree from Dr Google). But yeah, it’s scary and it’s hard to know the right thing to do.

Yes, I agree it's a concern but if it was me, I'd be asking to what extent. If 90% of Babies require emergency sections then I would be looking to have an elective one. If 1 in 10 require forceps and 9 out of 10 are both vaginally then I'd probably not 🤷‍♂️

If you go into spontaenous labour and the labour doesn't progress, then you can have an section at that point. There's no point at which they'll say 'well, you had your opportunity!'.

If there was a good chance of avoiding a section, I'd personally always take it but an elective one is obviously going to be better than an emergency one.

We had shoulder dystocia when I gave birth to DS. I think he was only partially and not fully stuck. He was 4.2kg (9lb4) so he was big but not huge. I think the reason was my position in labour - the bitch midwife forced me to lie on my back on the bed. I think moving around and using other positions (all fours etc) would reduce the risk of it happening. However, it sounds like you have an excellent consultant who is much better placed than me to advise! Just wanted to point out that you might be ok and manage it without a c-section. In our case they got DS out quickly thankfully (his head was already out when a shoulder got stuck) and he was fine. I was fucking sore.

Both my kids were huge fir dates - 10 and 11lbs one 11 days late and the other 5. Both normal births. It's impossible for your body to grow a baby it can't birth. Consultants will always be risk averse. You won't go into labour if your body isn't ready. Stay in bed, conserve energy like never before. Lots of glucose and vitamin c. First babies are usually 10 days late anyway so v unlikely you'll be as unwell as you feel now. Induction more likely to cause a cascade of intervention and ultimately may lead to c section. Held out with both of mine and didn't need syntocin or anything. They come in their own time... the best advice I can give is to make sure you stay at home labouring until contractions are 4 minutes apart and lasting a minute. That was the thing that made the births at hospital easier. Once you leave home it will slow down so it takes a little while once you get there to settle back into the zone and refocus. Take a dark blanket to go over your head and music in your ears to block out the world... also tens machine and spare batteries. You will be fine. Good luck OP

@dontknowdontknow it is definitely possible to grow a baby you can't birth!

I am one of those women who would have died in childbirth years ago, DS got completely stuck, no way was coming out of my pelvis without surgical intervention. I had a proper emergency c section as his blood oxygen crashed, very violent c section as they had to wrestle him back out of my pelvis.

I've been ill with two of mine.
1st I had the sick bug and a temp of 41 so they induced me. Labour was fine no interventions lasted 6 hours. Afterwards was the worst as being sick kept hurting my downstairs.
2nd I had pneumonia and horrendous sore throat. Planned induction. Pessery in and 1 hour later baby was born. It was the coughing that did my head in 😂 you should be fine.

OP I honestly wouldn't scare yourself silly - perhaps put your phone away and rest. Anxiety about the unknown is very unlikely to help you get a good outcome. Chances are very good that you are in great hands and will he looked after whatever happens. Try not to worry. Have faith in your body and your midwives. Your body knows what to do. Stay mobile when the time comes on your knees leaning forward on pillows and walking around. Moo through contractions (it works) and keep amping up tens as they get more powerful. Keeping mobile and allowing the baby to move down as they should will really help. Take care and good luck again!

I suffered with crippling hip/pelvic pain with pregnancy #2. I couldn't even walk without being in awful pain. However, I soon forgot about that pain though when labour hit!

I had a c section with a horrendous cold and I was praying it would be fine by the morning I due the surgery but it wasn't.
I was terrified to cough during the surgery as I had a bad cough with it.
I found the spinal seemed to take the sensation of needing to cough lots away for some reason and I was ok but the cold was still there after and sneezing and coughing with stitches was the worse :(
Hopefully you have a straightforward birth and your new arrival will take your mind off how rubbish you feel

That sounds awful! I keep seeing people saying you can’t grow a baby your body can’t birth, but you definitely can!

With both of mine my body waited until I was over the worst of the cold and when I went in to labour the cold symptoms vanished. Adrenaline took
Over. It did come back but was the least of my worries once I had a newborn to deal with. Ain’t no body got
Time
For that!