Third trimester - how careful are you?

[housewifeathome]

Those of you in your third trimester: how careful are you and what precautions are you taking? I keep reading that over 28 weeks we are classified as "vulnerable" to Covid regardless of vaccination status.

I'm not vaccinated, however I have been exposed to Covid via DC2 in second trimester and didn't test positive or have any symptoms.

We have a number of school events coming up. I have always gone to every single event in the past. Would you attend school events / kids' parties?

Be careful OP. It’s a shame you’re not vaccinated my friend who is a midwife is absolutely exhausted and said that pregnant women are so vulnerable you really should get vaccinated. Personally I would not do school events.

PS do you have an oximeter? My friend said her trust have been giving oximeters to their pregnant ladies so they are aware of their oxygen levels if they get covid - this has helped save lives.

Oh and exposure doesn’t mean you won’t get it or will. Another friend both her daughters had it in December last year. This time round her and her hubby have it and didn’t get it last time!

I'm being careful and I'm fully vaccinated so if I was unvaccinated I wouldn't be leaving the house and probably would pull DD out of nursery. Seems an incredible risk to take to me.

As it is, she is at nursery and DP is in the office until we get a date for induction then we are going to isolate- if he tests positive I'll be giving birth alone. Currently (36 weeks) we do outdoor playdates and I go to my hospital appointments. I'm not at work now and will go in a shop if I have to but having caught norovirus and been hospitalised from one trip to the shop even with being this careful I am even more cautious. It's only a few more weeks. There is absolutely no way I'd be going to indoors events of mixed households.

@Wtf86 I do have an oxometer I bought it when DC had Covid and I still use it every day for reassurance.

I'm double vaxxed and was lucky to not catch covid at 28wks when my husband and daughter had it. I'm 35wks now and on mat leave, so don't have to mix with people if I don't want to. I'm being reasonably cautious by wearing a mask and limiting how much I leave the house. However, I am hosting a playdate this week and next (one other child), going for a meal next week with friends, and doing a few school drop offs/pick ups. I've decided to isolate once I get to 37wks, so won't be leaving the house at all or having any visitors.

If I wasn't vaccinated, I think I would be avoiding all contact with people outside my household if I could.

I had it in third trimester, it was awful. I couldn’t even look after my son, luckily DP did and I just laid in bed.

I’d do everything possible to not catch it

@8dpwoah I know what you mean about mixing households. Generally we just see our parents and I attend midwife and hospital appointments.

Norovirus during pregnancy is possibly my worst nightmare!! When I had DC1 and 2 I didn't have and DC at school!! So this time round it's a bit more complicated..

This is going to vary widely person to person depending on people's individual health circumstances and their attitude to risk too. I'm almost full term, not vaccinated and not taking any additional 'precautions' other than obviously good hygiene, that I'd be taking anyway.

@marplemead
That's not a bad idea about isolating after 37 weeks. I may need to be induced around then anyway though as being monitored for growth

@FTEngineerM

I had it in third trimester, it was awful. I couldn’t even look after my son, luckily DP did and I just laid in bed.

I’d do everything possible to not catch it

Ugh I can imagine. How long did your symptoms last?

I'm 38w4d and essentially shielding. My pregnancy is low risk and other than being pregnant I have no other medical concerns that increase my risk. This is our first baby so don't have children in school etc and DH is working from home. We have been very sensible for the whole pregnancy to be honest but more so since 28 weeks. I am double vaccinated as is my partner.

A consultant told my friend who was pregnant until a few weeks ago the amount of very sick pregnant mothers they have seen is terrible, plus an increase in still births is shocking. He was really quite vocal on how upset he was that midwifes aren't pushing the vaccine and the risks of Covid to pregnant women. If you end up on a ventilator they have to do a C-section to protect you, regardless of the gestation of baby. Why risk it?

I agree there's a fine balance about meeting the needs of your other children but you need to weigh up the risks to your unborn child. We are not seeing any of our nieces and nephews since they started back at school until baby arrives now as it's just not worth the risk.

I think a lot of people think covid has gone. It really hasn't and if you are unvaccinated you haven't moved on in risk levels from where we were in March 2020. The delta variant is so much more dangerous do in my opinion it's actually worse now than it was.

It's up to you but my sense is that a lot of people have started to 'deny' covid a little to emotionally protect themselves which is understandable after all this time but being realistic the risks remain.

Hopefully you are lucky and stay safe for the rest of your pregnancy. Wishing you all the best whatever you decide to do.

@MeadowHay yes, agree. I don't have any underlying conditions and generally fit and healthy. My only "vulnerability" is pregnancy. It's nice you're quite relaxed about it

32 weeks, double jabbed and not being particularly careful - I trust the vaccines and Pfizer is really effective against symptomatic disease. I’m still working from home nearly 100% of the time which cuts my ‘risk’ down again. But I have a toddler in nursery, we go out to pubs/restaurants/shops a lot, and we’re going on holiday abroad in a few weeks. If I get ill, I get ill. I can’t say what I’d do if I was unvaccinated though, because I wouldn’t be while there was the option of a vaccine.

@MeadowHay

This is going to vary widely person to person depending on people's individual health circumstances and their attitude to risk too. I'm almost full term, not vaccinated and not taking any additional 'precautions' other than obviously good hygiene, that I'd be taking anyway.

My DS in 3 months old now, but I just did this, and wasn't vaccinated during my pregnancy, nor am i now, my DS1 still went to school, i still went shopping, out for a meal etcup until 39 weeks (which I shopped incase my waters broke in the shop, but they decided to go fully in the hospital car park instead!) just washed my hands more than normal, I'm more relaxed about it than some, but its each to there own, and no I'm not against vaccines, had the rest during pregnancy, but my choice not to have covid one, do what you feel more comfortable OP 🙂

Please get vaccinated. You can’t predict in advance how the pregnancy will increase your risk if you contract covid. A friend of mine who was fit and healthy caught covid while pregnant and ended up on a ventilator. She was unvaccinated. Her baby was delivered by c-section at 29 weeks (thankfully they are both ok now and at home). She had absolutely no reason to think covid would hit her that hard - but that’s the point, pregnancy can seriously impact the severity of the disease and being previously young and healthy means absolutely nothing. There is no way would I be socialising if I were unvaccinated and in the third trimester.

It really depends, I had covid very early in the first trimester and had no symptoms and same again at 33 weeks, where I had a very very mild sore throat. (just before my first vaccine actually!) so it massively varys for everyone

Also just to say I was adamant I wasn’t having the vaccine while pregnant but something clicked when I reached 32 weeks and realised I was being silly, so got my first one and will get my 2nd after birth. I really wish I’d been able to have them both tbh.

I think the number one thing you can do to be careful is be vaccinated. I understand it's scary because it feels unknown but it's much safer than the risks of contracting covid in the third trimester.

The horrible ones 2 weeks but still cough a bit now.

[quote housewifeathome]@MeadowHay yes, agree. I don't have any underlying conditions and generally fit and healthy. My only "vulnerability" is pregnancy. It's nice you're quite relaxed about it [/quote]
I do worry a bit about this approach as being pregnant has been shown to be a massive vulnerability factor/underlying condition, the news stories about unvaccinated pregnant women in ITU a few weeks back were very sobering. I know someone who works in ITU with covid patients and every single one they've seen was either not or (in a few cases) single vaccinated, although she didn't say anything about pregnant patients in particular.

I'm double vaccinated and still being very careful. In addition to evidence that COVID infection in the third trimester is more likely to lead to severe illness and hospitalisation, there is also evidence that it increases the likelihood of preterm birth. Some emerging research has suggested the risk of pre-term birth is not necessarily linked to the severity of infection -- even mild illness may affect the health of the placenta and thus impact on baby's health (www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/13/8/1670/htm).

I think there is still a lot that is unknown about the effects of COVID on pregnancy. For me it makes sense to be extra careful for a few more weeks, especially as it's not even a long term issue. There's no way I'd be going to school events -- especially if I wasn't vaccinated!

There was a high profile funeral in the papers recently: a woman in Derry I think died shortly after the birth of her baby. Fit, healthy, 30-something, I think it was her third child. Her husband spoke publicly to try and convince people to get vaccinated. Just a sudden deterioration. My maternity hospital has been posting stats about how many pregnant women have been in ICU. It really seems now they've vaccinated most clinically vulnerable and elderly people pregnant women are the next biggest risk group.

I think people massively underestimate how much pregnant women are vulnerable even without high risk pregnancies or pre-existing conditions. Is there a medical reason you won't get the vaccine OP?

I'm third trimester, double vaccinated, I think I had covid v early on in 2020 (before it was being routinely tested for) so hope I had some extra immunity there and my toddler had it in May. We both WFH, and everyone I socialise with is double vaccinated so I'm not hugely restricting in the sense of isolating - so, I'll go have lunch in a cafe, ideally sitting outside. If I couldn't be vaccinated for any reason I think I would be restricting more consciously.

It’s a difficult one. Having just contracted covid at 36 weeks it was far worse than I expected it to be. I am not vaccinated, and felt I had made the right choice. I had been very careful but obviously not careful enough.
I have been lucky i believe - now 38 weeks and baby is doing just fine. I am recovering slowly but it really knocked me for siz.
It’s hard to say whether I would have had the vaccination if I had known I would get it. I’m not sure I would as there are still too many unknowns.

I’m 39 weeks pregnant got my second jab at 36 weeks. I have been keeping my self to myself which was a lot easier when the kids were not at school.
I have 2 in a den school who have agreed I can take them out of school until I have the baby. My daughter in a mainstream and the head hasn’t replied yet. There are parents in my youngest class who is positive and the kids still going (of course as that’s government guidelines). God knows how much trouble I will get in and the fines. But baby is coming first at the end of the day 🤦🏼‍♀️

OP get yourself vaccinated. Seriously