Genital Herpes & Vaginal Birth

[GemstoneCF]

Hi everyone,

looking for some reassurance - I have genital herpes but had one bad outbreak ten years ago and nothing ever again (at least not knowingly or that gave me any kind of discomfort or pain). Have been with husband 7 years and he’s never experienced any outbreaks etc. at all. I’m currently 36+1 and midwives and consultant have deemed me to be very low risk for any complications with herpes given my history and aren’t prescribing anti-vitals (I’ve spoken to multiple midwives about this multiple times and seen 2 different GPs who have all given me the same answer and not wanted to give me anti-vitals given the low risk and low frequency of the outbreaks).

Know I should feel reassured by this but just wanted to hear some positive stories of having a vaginal birth in this situation or any advice if you have it? I am so anxious (and have been throughout pregnancy for various reasons) and this is getting me down.

Thank you xx

Should also add that I had noticed some itching down there and went to GP who examined me and found no lesions, thought it more likely to be thrush and prescribed me a cream. I think this has brought on the sudden worry about it but I can’t get it off my mind!

I had a herpes outbreak down there when I was 32 weeks pregnant with my first (confirmed coldsore variant just presenting oddly) was prescribed meds and was able to have a vaginal birth with no issues.

Doctors decided I was low risk with my second as I hadn't had any outbreaks since that episode 5 years ago. Didn't need meds and successfully gave birth vaginally again this time.

I'd go get checked by a gum clinic to be sure you're not having an outbreak. If you are they'll prescribe aciclovir for you to take I think the for two weeks before your due date

@GemstoneCF

Hi hope your doing well . I can share my experience with this I had this 5 years ago with my little girl an outbreak around the same time as you I was given antibiotics for
Mine , I was proun to having them but not down there it was always my face , but then one time I had a bad outbreak down below and I was able to give birth naturally as they will test the baby when they are born to make sure they haven't got it , but I ended up with emergency in the end due to placenta rupture. But you should be able to give birth naturally if your low risk I hope you get the answers you want soon xx

Just for another experience and perspective- I knew how low the risk was, I think it's less than 1% chance of transmission, especially after you've had GH for that long. However, I had also had some itching on and off during the pregnancy and in the end opted for an elective c-section to cancel out all the risk. I don't regret it and had very a supportive midwife and consultant who explained the odds but both said they understood my decision at the end of the day.

Thank you, it’s all just very confusing and I want to do the right thing obviously. Gonna call midwife again today and see if they’ll reconsider giving me the anti-virals just to put my mind at ease. Have checked myself and cannot see anything at all resembling sores and the itching has gone since I started with this cream, but still very stressed out by it all!

Thanks again for sharing x

With my first DD I didn't get prescribed anti virals and was told that midwives would double check for lesions when in labour. They didn't check, but I did vocalise that I didn't think I'd had an outbreak and that prompted them to confirm. With DD2 I had anti virals from 36 weeks, not sure why it was different, but all was fine for both

Can I ask how your birth went? Were you able to have vaginal birth and can I ask if you had any use of forceps etc as I’ve seen there can increase risk of transmission? Going through this myself thanks x x

@Stacey210 im so sorry I just saw your message!! Everything went fine, she’s nearly 9 months now and was a perfect healthy baby, I didn’t have any kind of outbreak though and was checked multiple times as I was so nervous about it all. I had my waters broken by a midwife as I was induced, no forceps etc but I did have a second degree tear, but no issues at all related to herpes. Hope this helps if you’ve not given birth yet!! xx