Vaccinated Nephew has Mumps I am 40 weeks Pregnant!

[mitintraining]

Hey ladies,
Not sure if this is where I should post this. I am a mother of 5 lovely kiddos ages 11-1 and was due yesterday with #6. My nephew was diagnosed this morning with the Mumps at the ER. He has all the classic signs and started the swelling yesterday. We had him at our house on Tuesday to play. My sister and my mother were planning on being at my home birth(obviously anytime now) and I am concerned about exposure. Not of the new baby but more so of having 5 kiddos down with mumps while trying to baby moon with a newborn. Any thoughts on what to tell my family. I know that he was probably not contagious on Tuesday but Wednesday he would have been. Also my sister came from his house to our house last night and played with my kiddos. Any chance that secondary exposure could do it? I am not really worried about them getting the mumps, we have dealt with whooping cough and the like, more concerned about the timing. I guess I just need some support. My sisters doctor said that since we do not vaccinate our kids that they will probably get it.

[amnesiac]

Since this is about disease exposure rather than vaccines I'm moving it over to H&H.

Personally, without any lab evidence I would be doubtful of a mumps diagnosis based on symptoms alone.

[mitintraining]

I know they did blood tests to check his white cell count which was not elevated so obviously not a bacterial infection, and from what the doctor told my sister, which obviously no doctor is perfect or even unbiased, it was a pretty cut and dried case. There has been pockets of mumps going around near our area, but not specifically in it. So I am not sure what the dx criteria was.

[tanyalynn]

That's cutting it really close on whether he was contagious when he was visiting. I'd make a plan for dealing with the possibility of your kids coming down with mumps too--better to have a plan and not need it, yk? It has a long incubation period so you've got time to stock anything you might not have on-hand.

I haven't read that mumps can travel on, say, clothing or spread that indirectly. If your mom/sister visit, I'd probably ask them to wash their hands first thing. Do you know if they've had mumps or been vaccinated? If they've had mumps, I probably wouldn't worry about having them visit, but the studies I've read discussing people who come down with mumps have had a fairly sizeable % who were vaccinated. So I guess it comes down to how much you weigh the benefits and risks of having help/not having help after your baby arrives, having to delay the introduction of the new baby to the family, the risks of a newborn being exposed to mumps (I have no idea how great the risks are), and the serious stress of dealing with 5 kids with mumps plus a newborn. And the timing is just so close as to when your nephew visited and when he got symptoms.