I really need advice

[Mom2baldie]

about this fifths disease thing.

Okay heres the deal: I did lots of research last night about it because I just really dont know what to do. I realize I need to talk to my midwife but I wont get to until my appt. tomorrow at 10:45. She also has a birth center and has appt.s at 10 and 11 so Im not going to get that much time to talk about things with her. It takes almost 2 hours just to get to her so I cant call her before my appt.

Okay the thing is that the research I found last night said the risk of stillbirth/miscarriage is between 2-10% for women who are not immune and who contract the infection. If a bloodtest comes back that you DO have the infection the "treatment" (that Ive seen on the internet) is repeat sonos to check for hydrops (severe anemia) that would cause congestive heart failure... An amnio can be done to check for sure if the babe has the infection and there is an experimental treatment of an inutero blood transfusion if the babe looks to be in danger of heart failure, but its not offered in many areas yet.

If I find out that I have the infection I wont have an amnio because it has risks also. All I would do is worry. Ive already had a miscarriage and I dont want to know if my baby is suffering or whatever if theres nothing that can be done about it. I just dont.

My friend said that one reason to have the immunity test would be to find out if the baby would need treatment immediately after birth...if thats something my midwife could look for or if I would need to be in the hospital for it...??? BUT I dont exactly "get" that reasoning because she has refused all sonos and something could be wrong with her baby warranting immediate med. care and she doesnt know about it (shes planning a homebirth also). The same goes for many of us on this board - planning homebirths and refusing sonos. If we are all doing this because the odds are on our side that everything will be fine with our children, then I shouldnt have to worry either because even 10% is a small number. Right?

Plus, I am VERY worried about the possiblity of having to birth in a hospital because of this. Maybe thats selfish, but its the way I feel. Having had a cesarean in the past I dont have a lot of choices as to where I could go where I wouldnt be basically forced to have another C because they dont allow VBACs.

I am still really leaning towards just not getting the test. I feel more peace with that decision. I just dont know. It just sucks because Ive taken all the measures to avoid unwanted, unnecessary interventions that could be brought on by not educating myself and then I have to deal with something like this that could happen because my son caught a virus at school. You just dont ever think about things like that.

Maybe I am making to big of a deal over this, I dont know. I do know that I have rambled on long enough and this post probably makes ZERO sense at all. :p

Does anyone have any words of wisdom or advice for me? Can anyone help me to put this in perspective or see it in another way? I need help here!! :( :(

I guess I will let everyone know what happens tomorrow.

[sistermama]

Lynsey :hug I would encourage you to get the test, simply because there is such a small chance you actually have it too. It would means months of no worrying if you were already immune. And then if you didn't have immunity, there is still such a small chance that the baby would be affected. Is your midwife going to require you to have the test? There might be some concern that you will risk out of a homebirth if you don't have the test or if you don't test positive for immunity.

Is there any info that you've seen online about risk decreasing the further along you are in the pregnancy at the time of exposure? That might move you a little closer to the 2% risk than the 10% risk.

About the interventions too, I try to remind myself that they in and of themselves aren't "bad" but should exist for when they are necessary. The problem is that most of them are used indiscriminately.

Try to stay positive, I know just from the pregnancy boards I was on last time that it is not uncommon for women to be exposed to Fifths disease while they are pregnant and that the vast majority of women and babies have a good outcome. I'll be thinking about you and your little one.

[banana girl]

Sounds pretty complicated, I am so sorry that you have this additional worry right now. I am sending you lots of love and comfort.... follow your heart, but listen to your mind too.

xoxoxoxoxo
Anna

[Caroline248]

Lynsey, I am guessing you have already seen the midwife by now. What happened?

I have to agree that interventions are there for a reason, and if your baby would benefit from them, I would try to have an open mind to them. But, I will wait to see what you and your MW decided....

Caroline

[Mom2baldie]

Well, I talked to my midwife early this morning before I read anyones reply posts. We decided that I wont get the blood test. I am happy with this decision, as we will know if something is going to happen within 8-12 weeks. She agreed that the only reason to get it would be reassurance if I was immune, but if it shows Im not then it would be extremely stressful knowing something could happen to the baby and theres nothing we could do to stop it. The blood transfusion isnt available around here and it is still very experimental anyway. If the baby makes it to term (and theres only a 2-10% chance it wont IF Im not already immune) my midwife will monitor for signs of anemia and do a blood test if necessary. I will have to take the baby into the ped. most likely earlier than I was planning, but already nothing is turned out like I had planned so I shouldnt be surprised.

I was able to email with another midwife who reads on the ICAN list also and she said one of the reasons for the sonos is to decide whether or not you would like to terminate if it looks like the baby will not live after the birth. I wont terminate so there is just no reason.

Anyways, I am glad that I got to make my own decision instead of being pressured into doing something that I didnt want. For now I am just going to go on like everything is fine, which I am sure it is.

[Caroline248]

Lynsey, sounds like a good way to deal with it. The chances of anything happening seem so low. As long as they are awares that they should look for it at birth, I am sure the baby will be fine! Are you feeling better now?


Caroline

[Mom2baldie]

Caroline,

Yes Im feeling okay. Im still thinking about it more than Id like to but Ill get over it...

Thanks for asking.

And thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts with me. :hug

[JenInMpls]

Lynsey - sorry I didn't get in on this when you first brought it up but we were out of town -

Have you been recently exposed? Does one of your kids have it (is that what you meant when you said your son picked up a virus at school)?

There is a good chance that you have been previously exposed and are immune. My mw suggested checking my immunity on my first visit simply because I work in a school so that I would know whether or not I would have to take precautions in case it came up. It turned out that I was already immune even though there had only ever been one case that I knew of in my teaching career. My mom thought about it and supposed it was maybe that rash I had when I was 3 months old.

I'm glad you found a solution that brings you peace of mind.

Jen :)

[Mom2baldie]

Hey Jen!

Yes, my son came down with "the rash" last week so he was prob. contagious for the week prior to that.