avoiding sex in pregnancy due to fear of infection

[MarieLus]

Hi everyone, I am in 3rd trimester and I am afraid of having sex to not get a UTI or bacterial vaginosis or thrush. Thrush I already had, probably have a bit of it again too. I got thrush last time we had sex without a condom so after I was done with canesten we waited a few weeks and then had sex with condoms. It sounds completely crazy to use a condom with my own husband while pregnant but we do it to reduce the chance of sex messing up with vaginal microbiome. I heard from someone I know that their doctor told them to use condoms but not sure if she had some specific ailment in pregnancy.

I generally suffer from OCD related to germs so it's not strange that this is one of my thoughts, but I am still wondering am I being completely unreasonable or are there others who thought of this. Even if you concluded completely opposite but gave this a thought, I'd be glad to hear what you think.

On one hand, I really enjoy sex with my husband so it would be nice to do it because it feels good, on the other hand, I got some burning when I pee after last time we did it and I got all panicked and I am wondering if it's worth the hassle.

Was your husband treated for thrush too? He could be carrying it still, it won't have come from nowhere. Last time I had thrush my GP advised DP to use the cream 2x day for 5-7 days (I forget which) as well.

I have a UTI at the moment and I'm 38+1 and will be induced in 6 days time. I'm really annoyed that the antibiotics will go on through to my induction date.

So I don't think your concerns are unfounded, you guys need to deal with them medically though.

Maybe do the foreplay without having sex? It keeps you close. You can both orgasm But there's no discomfort.

I didn't know that he could have thrush too, I've read that both thrush and bacterial vaginosis come from inbalance of good and bad bacteria in the vagina. My doctor didn't say anything about my husband, if I recall well I think I even asked her about whether he needs to get checked. hmm, he has been saying he has an ichy bum so maybe that's actually thrush. he's so insanely busy, I don't even know how he would manage to go see his doctor. but perhaps he can just get a cream from the pharmacy. thanks for the tip!

I am sorry that you have to be on antibiotics up to due date, I actually thought I'd for sure not have sex in the last 3-4 weeks before due date but I still have 2 months to go so I'd kind of like to do it for another month but still scared.

As for foreplay instead of sex, I am not really able to have an orgasm without penetration or quite some rubbing which I feel like is almost the same for the chances of a UTI.

I feel like i sound complicated and bizzare :( we also avoided oral sex entire pregnancy because I was afraid of getting some illness

Yes men can carry thrush too and you can reinfect each other. He can use antifungal cream and/or the oral tablet. If you're pregnant you can use pessaries and cream but not the oral tablet