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?

I’m double vaccinated. I’m not shielding but I’m not taking risks either. Most of the things we do are outside anyway. We’re both going back into the office a couple of times a week but our offices are still requiring masks to be worn and maintaining numbers. I’m not adverse to going out for a meal but I’m not going to go to a busy indoor event or something like the football (not that I’m a fan of football but just to give an idea of the scale). I wouldn’t be hanging out indoors with multiple people from school. The vaccine doesn’t prevent you catching it but it does prevent you being seriously ill with it. I don’t want even a mild version to be honest. I’m awake at night because I need to pee or because baby is kicking me or because I can’t get comfortable or because I’ve got acid reflux. Why would I want to add in even a mild cough which can keep me up or diarrhoea? Why would I want to add the aches and fatigue that come with a mild version, when my body is already achy and fatigued from growing a tiny human? Unvaccinated I would be effectively shielding. We’ll be isolating from 37 weeks but that’s because I don’t want to give birth alone and want DH to be able to accompany me.

It’s a hard decision. It took me a long time to reach the decision to have mine. I understand what you’re saying about the unseen long term risks, I had the same worries. However, we also don’t know the unseen long term risks of catching COVID on a developing baby. Even if they aren’t delivered preterm, you have a mild case and you both come home from hospital seemingly unaffected. It’s a new virus and a new vaccine, so either way you’re going to have unseen long term risks. For me, covid has more short term known risks plus the unknown long term risks.

@exhaustedmama1019

I'm currently 37 weeks with my second DD. I've had my girls really close together so I was actually pregnant with DD1 throughout the entire pandemic last year too, where obviously there was no vaccine and I managed to keep myself safe and touch wood have never had covid.

I haven't accepted the vaccine for many reasons. The first being that when I initially fell pregnant this time, the vaccine was deemed unsafe for pregnant women and we weren't allowed. Weeks later the advice changed and it was a very blasé attitude of 'get it if you want, but we haven't researched it'. My midwife has said on several occasions that she doesnt blame me and thousands of others for not wanting it, even the leaflet I was given had a cons list of 'NO SPECIFIC RESEARCH HAS BEEN CARRIED OUT ON PREGNANT WOMEN' and actually a clause to say:

You have two options:

1. Accept the vaccine and slow the spread of covid-19
2. Wait until research has been carried out on the effects on pregnancy

I wasn't willing to let my unborn baby be a guinea pig so I've declined. There is no way of determining what would be a greater risk to my baby, effects of a non researched vaccine or catching covid, but I can take precautions for avoiding covid as much as I can.

I said to my partner it's almost like scientists saying 'cross this rickety bridge if you want to, it might help' i question if it's safe and they reply 'don't know, try it'.

I'm now isolating until birth, am getting the shopping delivered and just staying home and playing with DD1 in the garden which suits me because im tired anyway!

Well said 👏

Im 39+3 and have been careful for past few weeks. No visiting friends, 2 park play dates and one very quiet pub beer garden. My other DC doesnt go to nursery and my DP has stopped socialising too now. I do go in the local shop and Aldi when i have to (not at busy times) but I have actively avoided my more sociable friends, busy shops, public transport and most indoor things. I will be getting vaccinated asap when baby is born.

@Staryflight445

You don’t feel comfortable getting a vaccine that has been deemed as safe, but are willing to risk contracting covid and having a stillbirth/ lengthy stay in icu/ ventilation?

There are lots of side effects on the body of getting COVID that could be absolutely disasterois for you.

(I just got my second jab during first trimester)

I’m assuming you didn’t have the flu vaccine or whooping cough either? They have risks too…

Totally agree with this. There are now lots of studies to say it IS safe. Midwives and doctors where I am a pushing it like mad as the effects of getting covid having NOT had the vaccine are far worse than having the vaccine! My friend works in ICU and my sister is an obs and gyny doctor and both have shared really awful stories about unvaccinated pregnant woman. Why put yourself and your baby in that position? You can't see covid, so you could try as hard as you like to avoid it and still catch it.

To be honest OP it just sounds like you've made up your mind and nothing is going to change it. I am double vaccinated in my third trimester. Baby is absolutely fine. I am still going to work and socialising.

the vaccine was deemed unsafe for pregnant women

This really is not true

It might seem like semantics but there is a massive massive difference between ‘this is unsafe for pregnant t women’ and ‘we haven’t got enough data to prove it is safe, so we will wait a bit longer’

If it was deemed unsafe, it would mean there was something to suggest it posed an actual risk

What actually happened was the vaccine authorities worldwide took a cautious approach to just assuming it would be same and waited to see if there were any issues with the general population which would translate into problems with pregnant women

When it became clear there weren’t, it got the green light for use during pregnancy - that’s very different

"So as far as I'm concerned there's no guarantee of the vaccine's effectiveness anyway."

OP, this sentence alone tells me you haven't actually done a huge amount of research into the vaccination, because actually there is already a lot of research to show the vaccine's effectiveness. Also, the fact you are willing to have a flu vaccination, which, by the way, is constantly changing and will be a different vaccine this year than it was last year (and therefore no different to the covid vaccine), makes no sense to me. The COVID vaccination wasn't whipped out of nowhere, it is a slight adaptation of vaccinations that are already in use.

You are right that it is a deeply personal decision, and I don't judge people in either camp. But some of your comments do concern me as it doesn't seem like you have actually done much research to back your decision. The reason this concerns me is that I had a baby born 8 weeks early due to an illness I contracted in the third trimester, and if there was something I could have done to reduce the risk of that happening, even if just by a percentage, i absolutely would have. It was torture to not hold my baby until she was 4 days old, only be able to hold her for 20 mins a day, tubes, machines, oxygen blah blah blah. Pre term birth is a very real possibility should you contract COVID.

If you aren't going to be vaccinated, please don't listen to the people telling you to be lax about this. You should be really careful in these last few weeks.

Wishing you all the best for the rest of your pregnancy.

@cravingmilkshake thank you 😘 and I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes smoothly. We had some nights away and a UK holiday a couple of months ago. Nothing since then and nothing planned. I can and am being careful. Washing hands, extra hygiene measures.

I won't engage with anyone questioning why I haven't had the vaccine. It's a personal choice. I merely started this thread to ask what precautions ladies in their third trimester are taking (vaccinated or not vaccinated) x

@SW1amp this was actually stated by my midwife at my booking appointment and is written in my notes, vaccines were not being offered to pregnant women at the time because they were deemed unsafe. This was early March.

[quote exhaustedmama1019]@SW1amp this was actually stated by my midwife at my booking appointment and is written in my notes, vaccines were not being offered to pregnant women at the time because they were deemed unsafe. This was early March. [/quote]
Then that’s a massive misunderstanding by her then. A HCP should know better than to use language like that
There has never been a time when the vaccine was deemed unsafe
Just lacking in evidence of safety

@SW1amp

Just lacking in evidence of safety

You have kind of hit the nail on the head as to why many pregnant women are not getting vaccinated.

@Katela18 thank you, I know I do need to be careful now until I give birth. What I was hoping to achieve by starting this thread was to establish what precautions pregnant women were taking and if not attending school events this term was the right thing to do etc.

I saw something on social media that said many women are being told to WFH after 28 weeks and that's why I was curious to know what others are doing from that point onwards.

[quote housewifeathome]@SW1amp

Just lacking in evidence of safety

You have kind of hit the nail on the head as to why many pregnant women are not getting vaccinated. [/quote]
That was 6 months ago though

There has been a absolute tonne of evidence for why it is now safe, hence the mass rollout of vaccinations for pregnant women

I’m 28 weeks and double vaccinated, and I don’t know any other pregnant friends who haven’t been vaccinated

Sadly there is a percentage of the entire population which doesn’t understand how safety assessments are made, nor are they able to make basic risk assessments and have therefore decided not to get vaccinated

Some of these will be pregnant women, but I don’t think pregnant women are hugely more reluctant to get vaccinated than other groups

Each to their own if your that scared just get vaccinated

@letsmakethishappen

Each to their own if your that scared just get vaccinated

Not really scared, and I wasn't scared when DC2 tested positive and we isolated for 10 days - but do want to take steps to avoid catching it in the last trimester

I’m 39 weeks and had both doses of vaccine. I really struggled with the decision, and agree it’s a very personal one so I understand your thoughts & feel it’s a personal decision.

For me, the risks of covid started to outweigh the risks of the vaccine. So many women in their third trimester in my area extremely ill and a couple of deaths. Whereas the vaccine so far has showed it’s safe and could protect us.

One view point from a midwife I hadn’t thought of though - if you do catch covid and end up in hospital, they’ll have to pump you full of drugs to help keep you alive - few of which have been tested on pregnant women and babies. Personally I’d rather take the small risks with a vaccine than huge risks with covid - but it took a lot of research (actual research, not Facebook etc) to come to my decision.

I’m pretty much isolating now anyway, as is my husband as if he tests positive I’ll have to labour alone & we would isolate from him for 2 weeks so it’s not worth the risks!

I hope you come to the right decision for you! Best of luck ❤️

@housewifeathome - the problem with Covid is you have no idea if you'll be one of the unlucky ones or not. Most people are fine; others die, even those who are perfectly healthy and fit. Pregnancy is a risk factor for Covid. Millions of pregnant women have had the vaccines, given birth, and have no ill effects to them or their children.

Fundamentally you're playing Russian roulette and risking your children having no mother. I'd take a vaccine over a premature delivery and an ICU stay.

I saw something on social media that said many women are being told to WFH after 28 weeks and that's why I was curious to know what others are doing from that point onwards.

In the nicest possible way, I am a bit at the quality of all your research if your only knowledge of the ‘wfh after 28 weeks’ thing is having read about it third hand on social media

It was official advice for some time, but again, as evidence has emerged, it has now been dropped as the official line, although some employers are still advising pregnant employees to stick to it

It is pretty weird that you feel like you’ve done enough research to arrive at the decision not to vaccinate, but yet don’t know the absolute basics of other parts of the advice
It smacks of really not having done much research at all, and laying yourself open to quite a lot of unnecessary risk by just winging it through the last tri cherry picking stuff you read on Facebook

"Fundamentally you're playing Russian roulette and risking your children having no mother. I'd take a vaccine over a premature delivery and an ICU stay"

If you put it that way isn't leaving the house the same thing of leaving your child without a mother? The risks of getting hit by a bus are low, but its not to say its not gonna happen, yes like the risk of catching covid whilst pregnant and been on hospital, there's far far more not vaccinated yet gone on to not catch it and other who's had it and been ill yes, flu light symptoms

It smacks of really not having done much research at all, and laying yourself open to quite a lot of unnecessary risk by just winging it through the last tri cherry picking stuff you read on Facebook

Very uncalled for tbh, why reply 🤷‍♀️

I would like to be more careful than I am able to tbh. Currently 36.5 weeks and a full time teacher so unable to wfh. I also cannot afford to take a long mat leave so I’m still in stood in front of hundreds of unvaccinated teenagers for at least another 3 weeks.

Outside of work I am trying to minimise risks by socialising with minimal numbers outside, shopping delivered, avoiding indoor or crowded cafes, not seeing my family from abroad and making sure I’ve had both vaccine doses.

@Fairywings86

"Fundamentally you're playing Russian roulette and risking your children having no mother. I'd take a vaccine over a premature delivery and an ICU stay"

If you put it that way isn't leaving the house the same thing of leaving your child without a mother? The risks of getting hit by a bus are low, but its not to say its not gonna happen, yes like the risk of catching covid whilst pregnant and been on hospital, there's far far more not vaccinated yet gone on to not catch it and other who's had it and been ill yes, flu light symptoms

It smacks of really not having done much research at all, and laying yourself open to quite a lot of unnecessary risk by just winging it through the last tri cherry picking stuff you read on Facebook

Very uncalled for tbh, why reply 🤷‍♀️

There are risks that can be mitigated, and risks that can't.

Presumably OP is walking on pavements and not the middle of the road to avoid being hit by a bus.

Equally, pretty much every pregnant woman will follow to some degree the advice on which foods to avoid during pregnancy, to minimise the risk
In reality, you could probably eat stilton every day for 9 months and your baby will still be at a lower risk of stillbirth than if you are living in the UK right now and are unvaccinated.

OP started this thread asking about mitigating risk, because she has seemingly done loads of research into why the vaccine isn't a good idea to lower her risk, but no research into how else risks can be lowered

It isn't 'uncalled for' to point out that is totally illogical, and defeats the purpose of actually trying to manage your risk

It's a bit like deciding that seat belts are pointless but asking for advice on which roads have fewest potholes because you don't want to be in a car accident - you're rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic when you chose to ignore the single biggest thing you can do to lower your risk while taking lots of half hearted measures around the edges

@Fairywings86

I totally agree with what you say. However, I'm well used to the usual nonsense about anyone who is currently unvaccinated being accused of "only doing research by Facebook", being uneducated, stupid etc. Just ignore it - that's what I do We all have decisions to make and as pregnant mothers what we do has potential consequences to our babies. No pregnant mother takes any decision lightly - ever!

[quote housewifeathome]@Fairywings86

I totally agree with what you say. However, I'm well used to the usual nonsense about anyone who is currently unvaccinated being accused of "only doing research by Facebook", being uneducated, stupid etc. Just ignore it - that's what I do We all have decisions to make and as pregnant mothers what we do has potential consequences to our babies. No pregnant mother takes any decision lightly - ever! [/quote]
Just out of interest, what research have you done?

It might seem like semantics but there is a massive massive difference between ‘this is unsafe for pregnant t women’ and ‘we haven’t got enough data to prove it is safe, so we will wait a bit longer’

this with bells on it ^

It’s so one sided isn’t it @Wiltshire90 op thanking people for their positive spin on their experience whilst forgetting she won’t get to hear the negative experiences because those women will either be grieving, being grieved or still ventilated.

It really bugs me.

[quote housewifeathome]@Fairywings86

I totally agree with what you say. However, I'm well used to the usual nonsense about anyone who is currently unvaccinated being accused of "only doing research by Facebook", being uneducated, stupid etc. Just ignore it - that's what I do We all have decisions to make and as pregnant mothers what we do has potential consequences to our babies. No pregnant mother takes any decision lightly - ever! [/quote]
@housewifeathome I know lovely, heard it all throughout my pregnancy, "your stupid got not getting the vaccine" "how can you not get a vaccine thats proven "safe" what utter bull, they may aswell say that your a disgusting mother! Honestly 🤦

I think your just best not leaving the house, and sticking to your Facebook research apparently 😆, anyways I hope you enjoy the rest of your pregnancy, and many congratulations 👶 🍼 xx