Help! 17 weeks and just done a really stupid thing

[loooouise]

argh... I prepared a raw chicken for roasting on chopping board then about 90 mins later, chopped some red pepper on the same board and ate a few strips. I have ABSOLUTELY NO memory of whether or not I washed the board immediately after the raw meat had been on it. How bad is it if I hadn't washed it? Will I get samonella and hurt my foetus? Curse my stupid pregnant dip-stickness.
i guess there's no point worrying now, but obviously I am. What do people think?

No there is no point worrying. You won't be sure for a few days but please don't beat yourself up.

I am sure I did that when I was pregnant and didn't suffer any ill effects. Try hard not to worry.

Look at it from space and at the size of the planet - it would be devoid of humans if the babies were so fragile and the bugs so strong.

tell yourself not to give it a second thought honey - your hormones send you bonkers in pregnancy so it's hard we know.

Every single last one of us does something like this, plus another 1000 things we have not realised.

Honestly!!

try not to panic. Apparently raw chicken can contain salmonella but does not automatically contain it. To catch it you need to have one that is infected with salmonella. That is why you are advised to cook all chicken thouroughly.

Chances are you will be fine.

Exactly. And then even if you had chicken contaminated with it, it would then have had to transfer to the board, survive, then transfer to the pepper and to you.
And even if it did your uber prengnant immune system would have to fail to deal with it [cos actually how many people do you know who have had confirmed salmonella, it's not common] before there was even a possibility your bubbs noticed.

The chances are soooooo remote. If you do come down with vomiting etc you can always ask to be checked for the bug in a few days to clear the worry.

Oh, you're all so nice and kind! Thank you. Honestly, I'm cursing my stupidity. It's the golden rule of kitchen hygiene. But I think you're right: the chances are pretty remote.
Thanks again

Hey don't curse your stupidity you'll run out of curses!! Wait till you slam a few doors on your bump, burn it with iron, forget a nappy when in town, drop mobile phone on darling newborn [!].....and those are the minor lapses we all have!

Having had 'confirmed' salmonella it's more about headaches and the shits than vomiting. If you get any symptoms go to the doctor immediately because they can give you antibiotics to treat it once it is confirmed. If it makes you feel better although it obviously isn't a good thing to get I don't think that it directly harms the baby. Listeria is the really bad one from that point of view.

Thanks Brett - that's very useful to know.

DH and I ate raw chicken once - and we threw up pretty quickly. Once we'd been sick a few times we were fine though. Not sure if that help you.

as brettgirl says, even if you do get salmonella food poisoning it will just be unpleasant for you, it won't damage your fetus (unlike listeria which DOES damage your fetus)... don't worry

I had salmonella poisoning when I was pg (improperly stored egg mayo sandwich!) I felt extremely grim... baby was absolutely fine!