A plea if you’re going in for checks, pleeeease do a lateral flow test ladies!

[Bellyrumble]

Hi ladies, I hope anyone reading this is well and pregnancy going okay!

I was in maternity assessment on Friday at 36weeks. High BP, protein, swelling. Fortunately now on close monitoring for PE and so far going ok with BP medication.

Sadly someone on the ward tested positive for covid when I was in- meaning my husband and I are now classed as close contacts and have to isolate for 10 days.
It means if I happen to go into labour or need to be induced during that time he can’t be present.

We’re not quite old enough yet to be double jabbed and use that exemption, his second jab isn’t until next week. It’s just bad timing.

This is a plea to anyone going in to a ward for routine checks/ assessment where not a complete 999 emergency.

please please please do a lateral flow test first if you can. I know they aren’t 100% accurate but I’m so scared right now of going into labour or being induced and my husband being unable to be there because the only place we have been since 28 weeks (the hospital) we have been exposed to covid.

It’s a risk we took on Friday with him coming in with me and it’s a risk we won’t take again but I thought I’d highlight the situation as quite naively I hadn’t considered this could happen to us.

I’m also now (rightly so) being separated from others in hospital at all these appointments I have to go to, just incase I’ve caught it, I’m basically being treated as if I’m covid positive just incase. This reduces the risk to anyone else on the ward whilst I’m in, but I will continue to do lateral flow tests to ensure I’m doing my bit to protect others from possible isolation where a situation like mine might have been avoided if the person had done a LFT before going in.

I hope I don’t offend anyone here but I just wanted to highlight what can happen to other mums to be if we accidentally come into contact with them and are carrying covid

If I’m vaccinated then why do I need a LFT twice a week for work?

Im 37 and double jagged officially from last Friday so there must be plenty of people age 16- my age or just below not doubled or in their two week window. Got my first as soon as i could book and second a day after it's available slot at the centre i could visit. Good message OP.

I was under the impression a “close contact” is if you have spent a minute within a metre of someone, or 15 minutes within 2 metres. If you’re more than 2 metres away you’re not a close contact.

Surely all waiting and clinical areas are observing appropriate social distancing measures, quite how has your husband been classified as a close contact of another patient you don’t even know who? How was he informed he needed to isolate?

LFT's have roughly a 50 percent false negative rate, more when in the hands of the incompetent, which is most people. The amount of plastic waste they are responsible for daily is utterly, utterly shameful.

Yet another Tory swindle basically.

@BluebellsGreenbells your jabs make you personally less likely to get seriously ill or die if you get covid but they don't stop you passing it on to others.
Older people and those with health conditions are still vulnerable to covod even if vaccinated (altho much less so than if unvaccinated). The vaccine doesn't work for some (such as people on chemotherapy or immunosupression) and kids are not yet vaccinated.
It's about protecting others more more vulnerable than yourself

@LemonViolet the hospital called us the next day to say a patient on the ward we were in had tested positive so we both have to isolate for 10 days, so it was the hospital that rang us to say.

They have since moved my appointments this week to a neighbouring hospital to keep me away from others (even though I haven’t tested positive but am a “close contact”) and timed at the end of the day so they can deep clean room etc once I’ve been in, which I guess shows they are taking it seriously, they keep all possible and positive cases together apparently. I’m pleased I won’t be anywhere near any other patients as I’d hate them to go through this if I were to test positive (hopefully not!)

My LFTs are still negative and so are DH’s (doing them daily whilst isolating) so fingers crossed the hospital is just being very cautious 🤞🤞🤞

SouthwestSis

Perfectly aware of that thank you!

But I’ve already been double jabbed to protect people like op who haven’t been vaccinated or refuse vaccination, yet that’s not good enough?

Thanks for your post OP, strangely I only had a text message last week from my hospital advising me to take a LFT and I’m currently 28 weeks pregnant. Covid vaccination is a very personal choice, I wouldn’t let anyone on here get to you with their comments. I can’t believe how rude some people are. It’s understandable that some women do not want to jab considering we were warned not to have it only a few months ago. Thank you for your post as I didn’t think about the risk of taking DP to appointments in case we are advised to self isolate. Will keep this in mind for any appointments around my due date. Good luck OP!

@MeAndZig no worries, that’s what I was hoping to achieve too, a lot of my friends didn’t know this could happen and they’re now doing similar where their partners are not quite double jabbed yet (a lot of them my age round here have also only had one and only just getting their second, you’ll gather from above debate 😩)

Please don’t panic about it if you need him there, esp with a sudden admission but I do regret mine coming with me last week and I definitely won’t be bringing him to my onward monitoring ones once he’s out of isolation, just incase.

Best of luck with the rest of your pregnancy :) 12 weeks to go takes you to just before Christmas- how lovely!