I’m 24 weeks pregnant and heck yeah I’m concerned about swine flu! Watching the news can be absolutely terrifying as CDC officials are warning Americans to be cautious and the front page of Yahoo has the “Swine flu: 5 things to know” article front and center. Now, I had a flu shot last September before I became pregnant and I have been very healthy since then. I don’t even think I’ve had a cold at all this year. A few allergy symptoms here and there but’s that all. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I’m not totally concerned about the possibility of being exposed to swine flu and what that could do to my baby.
Fortunately today is my monthly check-up at my OBGYN… and you better believe that swine flu makes the top of my list of questions that I’ll be taking into the room with me. Here’s my entire list, for those that are curious.
1. Swine flu – How worried should I be? What can I do?
2. What can I do to help the back pain that I’m experiencing?
3. How often should I feel the baby girl kick? (I feel her multiple times per day now)
4. Have you ever heard of Pediatrician X?
5. I have a couple of weekend trips planned at the end of May, is it safe for me to travel then?
I did some research to try to find you preggers mamas some good info on pregnancy and swine flu and unfortunately there isn’t a lot of solid info out there. There was however a list from the Centers for Disease Control for people with confirmed or suspected “swine flu” infection. Here’s the paragraph that directly relates to pregnant women:
Pregnant Women
Oseltamivir, zanamivir, amantadine, and rimantadine are all “Pregnancy Category C” medications, indicating that no clinical studies have been conducted to assess the safety of these medications for pregnant women. Only two cases of amantadine use for severe influenza illness during the third trimester have been reported. However, both amantadine and rimantadine have been demonstrated in animal studies to be teratogenic and embryotoxic when administered at substantially high doses. Because of the unknown effects of influenza antiviral drugs on pregnant women and their fetuses, these four drugs should be used during pregnancy only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the embryo or fetus; the manufacturers’ package inserts should be consulted. However, no adverse effects have been reported among women who received oseltamivir or zanamivir during pregnancy or among infants born to such women.
Now… that’s not the simplest paragraph to read, so you might want to glance over it a couple of times or read the entire recommendation from the CDC, “Interim Guidance on Antiviral Recommendations for Patients with Confirmed or Suspected Swine Influence A (H1N1) Virus Infection and Close Contacts.”
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