swine flu when pregnant

[Biscuitbreaker]

I am currently 16 weeks pg with my first and at my check up I was told I should have my swine flu vaccination in the 3rd trimester.

I don't really want to have it as I am concerned about the effect it may have on my unborn baby, it is a relatively new vaccine so don't think there is a lot of evidence about children growing up having experienced this in utero. However, I work in a school and am terrified that I will catch it and suffer consequences anyway.

I am looking for advice, or experiences, or things to read in order to make an informed decision as I can't bear the idea of making the wrong choice to the detriment of my child.

I haven't heard of any problems with the vaccine and a lot of people have had it now, including pregnant women. However there have been cases of pregnant women getting swine flu and having severe complications including death of mother and baby. Sorry but I think it is necessary and I will be having it when I am further along in my pregnancy.

I've just put up a similar post. Dectective Potato, you think I should get the jab just to ere on the side of caution?

When I first went to my doctor at 5 weeks pregnant I was told I would get more info about the swine flu vaccine later on...I'm now nearly 35 weeks pregnant and it's not been mentioned since - I thought they must have stopped giving it out or am I just being neglected?

I also posted on redcardinals thread.

I would add - catherinewho, yes, you're neglected!!!!
I have been too - I'm 22 weeks preg and no one has mentioned swine flu to me. I haven't mentioned the subject to the MW/drs to see if they would (I already had the jab while ttc, but they don't know that).

It's pretty shocking that it's so haphazard, and pretty shocking that MW are telling people to get the jab in the 3rd trimester! If you got the jab at the start of the 3rd (say 28 weeks), you wouldn't be protected for 10-14 days (it takes that long to work fully), but all the evidence from America and Australia (DH is a doc and has contacts in Australia who discussed this with him at the peak of their last big wave of Swine flu), states that the risks (to the mother) rise steeply after about 20 weeks (although yes, it is even more dangerous the later you catch it).
Common sense would say "have it before 20 weeks", though better late than never.

There are also the risks to the baby to consider, M/c and still birth rate is high if you get Swine flu, even if you yourself don't become seriously ill - and for the fetus, it appears the risk is big all through pregnancy.

i had mine done at the GP and the maternity clinic have been harassing me about it cos i'm obv not on their records as having had it done at the clinic. They seem to be taking it pretty seriously in this neck of the woods, i'd definitely chase it up if you haven't heard anything.

Pregnant women have been having flu vaccs for years - and that is the same process but redone each year for the new strains of flu. So not a lot different to the swine fly vacc.

jennyp, good it's being taken seriously in at least some areas.

Japhrimel, I'd agree, normal flu jab should also be offered to preg women, but often it's not - in Uk there has been reluctance to give it to anyone already pregnant, unlike in other countries (ie USA) where it is encouraged, an uptake is a lot higher then here in the uk.

A little known reason for having (and your kids having) yearly flu jabs is that you build up a library of immunity to many flu virus segmants, so you may have immunity or partial immunity to an new flu virus that emerges......and this seems to be the case with swine flu, older people who had certain seasonal flu jabs decades ago (or had the virus itself), have a much lower risk of serious illness/death if they catch swine flu now......so vaccination can give long term benefits too.

Weird, I'm due in November and noone has mentioned it to me. Thought it was all over last year tbh! Wasn't planning on getting a jab but will see how it pans out when we get back to flu season.

I live in London and the only time the vaccine was brought up was when I brought it up at the GP surgery when i was 6 weeks pregnant. It was recommedned but i felt 6 weeks too early.

Since then it has never been mentioned again by the midwives or doctors and I am 38 + 3. Seems in some areas it doesn't seem to be an issue anymore

Sorry not very helpful in your decision but anyway decided against it.

I'm now overdue and as I've moved have had two lots of GPs/midwives during the pregnancy - no one has mentioned getting the swine flu jab. I was umming and ahing anyway - I wouldn't have taken it before 12 weeks, but I haven't heard of anyone getting it recently.

I had swine flu when I was 33 wks pg. It was exactly like a bout of ordinary flu, main concern was that my temp didn't get too high which would have been risky for baby. Took relenza and spent a night in hospital to have a drip to ward off dehydration but baby was 100%

I had swine flu when I was 36 weeks pregnant. I wound up in hospital for dehydration on the night after the 4th day (after spending quite a lot of time that day with D&V) and a scan showed that our baby's heart had stopped beating.

I didn't have a temperature until I was in hospital - but the D&V had left me with low blood pressure (60/30) a high pulse (>150) and low oxygenation levels (50%).

I'm basically pretty healthy, don't work outside the home and although I have an older child she wasn't in childcare at that point. Looking back, SF went round the entire village but few people realised that was what they had - from my experience, confirmed by the SF lead MW, the symptoms published were not very representative of what most people experienced. This makes me think that cases of SF were potentially very underreported last winter - and that we were very unlucky.

All that said, if I were making the decision again I still don't know what I'd do. There's so much conflicting information about it. Whatever you all decide I hope you the rest of your pregnancies are happy and healthy.

TANGLE,

So, so sorry to hear about your loss.

Tangle - your experience is terrible. I'm so sorry it happened to you - thank you for sharing your experience. It makes me think all the more that I should be pushing my midwife to give me the vaccine before 3rd trimester.

However the untested nature of the vaccine scares me so much. I realise they don't test in pregnant women for a reason, but they vaccinate now so I feel like not much data is available on efficacy of the vaccine on the foetus and its possible side effects.

If I wasn't working in a school then I would probably be less stressed about it, although Tangle's experience shows that isn't always the case.

What if swine flu doesn't come back?

Oh tangle that is horrible, you poor thing
It does put it in perspective though - vaccine may be untested in pregnancy but nobody has lost a baby after having it as far as I know.
I'd really like to be tested for the antibodies to know if I've already had it nor not, as tangle says and I remember reading at the time, lots of people had it without realising. I did have a very bad cold with sore throat at the time, so you never know could have been it. Having read tangles story I think I would be inclined to get the jab now.

I have heard a couple of people say they know of people who have miscarried after the vaccine - however, I don't know if anyone can say they wouldn't have miscarried anyway. Is there any evidence of it causing other side effects, like developmental difficulties as the baby grows?

I didn't realise you could be tested for antibodies - I'll definitely look into that.

Biscuitbreaker - swine flu hasn't gone away! It's still circulating in the UK at lower levels, but it's not being reported by the DOH, and won't be unless/until it reaches high levels again. In countries where it's flu season now (India for example), rates/deaths are increasing as they did last flu season.

There are some m/c reports - but the rate does not appear to be higher than you would expect to happen naturally - flu, swine flu included, on the other hand causes higher rates of m/c, and stillbirth to occur in the population than expected, and this risk is greater early in pregnancy. That's the risk at a "population" level, that's not to say in an individual women, the jab or the flu will cause problems.

The Americans are big on giving women flu jabs early in pregnancy, and have been for years,these don't appear to have side effects to the baby, and the swine flu jab isn't too much different - and also, SF jab has been used on a lot of pregnant women in the past 6 or 8 months, so if there were any really major effects, it's likely the'd be showing up by now.

You can get antibody tests, but you may find you have to pay to get them. Just before the vaccine came out, my DH was exposed to the virus by accident in the course of his work (dr), and although HE was tested for swine flu, we, his family were not - and were told it would cost about £200 each to get a private lab to do it. Maybe this situation has changed in the past few months, and the NHS will do it now?