Natural Childbirth and Herpes - Herpes Message Board

violetdragonfly · 03-31-2004, 03:00 PM

Hello everyone! I am 32 weeks pregnant and have Herpes. I would really like to give birth to my baby naturally but I am terrified because I have read so much about all of the terrible things that can happen to babies if the mother has an OB while giving birth. I will be taking something to suppress the OBs but I am scared that I won't know that I have one or that something will go wrong. Some people that I have talked to suggest that I just schedule a C-Section to be safe but this is something that I really don't want to do unless I have to. Does anyone that has gone through this experience have any advice or any success stories??

jesabella · 03-31-2004, 04:30 PM

I'm curious about this one, too.

movingrightalong · 03-31-2004, 04:35 PM

I've not had children yet, but this is one of my utmost concerns with herpes.
What I have read is that most people are able to have a natural childbirth. Sometimes people go on suppressive therapy toward the end just to help them not have an OB at delivery time. I think that the way that they check is by performing regular cultures (I'm not sure how often) and at delivery time they do a really thourough inspection. The most danger is when the mother contracts herpes in the last trimester, thus not having developed enough antibodies and not passing antibodies on to the baby.
A wonderful woman called "Backpacker" on the board has had 2 of her children while having herpes. One of them ended up as a c-section becuase she got herpes late in the pregnancy and had an OB at the time of delivery, but the other one was an all-natural birth.
Hopefully some others will pipe in on this one, it's a topic that I'm very curious about as well. Have you experienced increased OBs as a result of your pregnancy?

sarah1000 · 03-31-2004, 05:59 PM

There is some really good info on the net and in other posts on this forum all about this subject. There is a whole decision grid based on how long you have had the disease, your last outbreak, test on whether you have an active outbreak or are asymptomatically shedding at time of delivery. From what i've read it seemed like the risk was extremely low of transmitting it during delivery if you had the virus a while and do not have an active outbreak or prodrome symtpoms at delivery time (.02% or 2%). If you jsut got it during pregnancy or have an active outbreak, the risks are higher and they usually advise a C section. I know glaxosmithkline had a reporting study of several years that lead to these guidelines, you can probably find more info on their website.

backpacker · 04-04-2004, 02:52 PM

Hey everybody! I'm back from my backpacking trip! Couldn't pass this thread up.

First, mra, thank you for your kind description of me. Since you are so wonderful yourself, your opinion means a lot to me.

I think the type of advice you get about birth-with-herpes depends on the type of person or professional you ask. I was gung-ho all-natural and had had two homebirths with midwives before I contracted h. They had been in business for over 30 years (that was about 15 years ago, and they are still in business) and had had many births to women with herpes, and no cases of transmission. They were very positive, calming, encouraging, and helpful--which is exactly what you need when you're pregnant, right? I encourage you not to listen to or read any horror stories--it makes the chances of an ob (due to stress) more pronounced.

At 38 weeks of my third pregnancy I developed a primary ob (my husband--now ex--had herpes) and the sore wasn't healed by the time I went into labor. I called the midwives and one went with us to the hospital where my back-up dr practiced. I had the Caesarean--not a good experience when you have had two beautiful homebirths! But definitely necessary. Three days later the sore was gone and we could not get a positive culture from the site!

My next birth was an all-natural (Bradley method is much more successful than LaMaze!) homebirth. The midwives took cultures toward the end of my pregnancy, but otherwise never bothered me about it, and certainly never alarmed me! My husband helped a lot by taking charge of the other children and letting me sleep a lot. The trick, as always, pregnant or no, is to eat well, sleep lots, and stay healthy and happy. Anyway, I had a beautiful fourth boy, who has always been extremely healthy.

Good luck--please let me know how you're doing.