For me, germ paranoia started when I was trying to get pregnant with my 14 month old daughter.

I didn't want to get sick because it can effect your cycle and I was doing the whole she-bang. Charting, BBT, keeping notes on everything, taking certain vitamins, I was on Clomid for a while, I bought a computerized fertility program. We were REALLY wanting to get pregnant

So, I was very cautious about things like not being around anyone sick, hand washing, etc.

Then I got pregnant and it was a dream come true. It was too good to be true, we were just beyond excited and thankful and blessed I wanted to do anything I could to protect myself and baby thoughout the next 9 months.

So then I stayed very cautious about germs because I didn't want to get sick while pregnant, epsecially when knowing what effect a woman's body temperature can have on the baby and  the overall outcome of the pregnancy.

Then, thank God in heaven, He blessed us with a healthy baby girl, 3 weeks earlier than her due date. I won't go into it, but long story short, we had to take her to a children's hospital 3 days after she was born because we discovered that her body temperature was too low.

Come to find out, she was perfectly fine and we were back home within 2 days (THANK YOU GOD) she was just preterm and sometimes preterm babies have trouble regulating their own body temperatures.

But, while we were at the hospital, you had to wash your hands for a full 20 seconds every time you came into the room and the doctors were telling us how important hand washing was because of staph infections, viruses, just all kinds of things that pass all around.

That whole experience was enough to make me even more paranoid. I made a decision and wouldn't let anyone around us for 6 weeks, until she was older and stronger. I just would NOT risk someone carrying something unknowingly and accidentally exposing it to my daughter.

So time passes, she's as healthy as a horse, we're all very healthy, but I'm still obsessively washing my hands and yelling at my husband when he so much as looks at her without washing his hands first.

More time passes, we're all still healthy and I'm hanging out with a friend of mine who has a daughter 3 months younger than my baby girl. My friend's letting her play all over the floor, with her keys, with whatever she puts her hands on, my friend isn't washing her and her daughter's hands after any of this and there they both are, prefectly fine and healthy and happy.

So it's good for me to see this. I can feel myself actually relaxing a little. I think, "That little girl is even younger than mine and she's doing all this stuff and is fine!"

I start to stop myself from washing my hands after every single thing I touch before I touch her or something she will touch. I stop using the sanitizers on every single thing. I tell myself over and over again, "It is good to be exposed to germs. It is good to build antibodies. It is healthy for her to have exposure to all these things." and I'm actually getting better.

Then, praise God in heaven! In shock, I discover I'm 2 months pregnant when my daughter is 11 months old.

I'm in disbelief. Again, it's too good to be true. We're blessed with a 2nd baby and this time we weren't even trying?!? I thought for sure that we'd have to try for a while like before, if we were even blessed at all again. I'm still staring at my daughter in disbelief that God blessed me with her, and here we are, expecting another?!?

Then I start getting a bunch of questions from friends and family asking me what I was going to do about the H1N1. I'm not even really aware of what they're talking about. One of my friends sends me some information about it and pregnant women, along with some information about how fast it's spreading in our area of the nation.

So. Much. For. Relaxing.

After reading about the FACTS (yes, they are facts, not a germaphobe's paranoia, but actual things that can happen to pregnant women and the baby if exposed) and then learning that where we live, the virus is widespread and spreading fast, I am not as relaxed anymore.

Every 3rd person I'd talk to on the phone knew someone who was just diagnosed with it. My brother was exposed. My sister's best friend. It's too close to home.

And it's not just me because of my unborn baby. It's exposure to my daughter as well. Small children can be hit hard. And if my daughter were to get this virus, there is no way in the world that I would not be with her. I would most definitely become exposed and then there we'd all be.

So then there's the vaccine. Easy solution, right? No. The more I read and the more people I talk to, the more I don't know what to do about it.

This vaccine is new. It contains things that I don't know are safe for the growing baby. The pregnant women who will be getting it are the first ones ever to get it. There haven't been studies on pregnant women who've been given this vaccine, they ARE the study. Do I want my baby to be one of the trial babies? Of course not. Are they saying it's safe for us? Yes. Can they assure us there will be absolutely no harm in getting it? No. Are they saying it's basically the same thing as the seasonal flu vaccine that's been around for years and years? Yes......but they're saying "basically". They're also saying it "should be fine".

"Basically" and "Should be".

Not words that make me feel very safe. They're good enough for me. But the alternative is to be exposed and possibly have a miscarriage and die.

But the arguement is all for not because the vaccine isn't even available. Even if we all wanted to get it, we couldn't.

So, my daughter and I aren't getting around anyone until this vaccine is available in our area (they think it will be in a couple more weeks). All kinds of flus are literally all around us right now where we live and it would be certain exposure to something if we went out and socialized.

I've heard people say, in other forums to other people who are nervous about these things that "it's just unavoidable" and that they just have to live their life, etc. but ost of those people aren't pregnant. They don't have to worry about  protecting a baby they are carrying.

I KNOW that relaxing and letting the chips fall where they may would be what people would recommend, but there hasn't been one thing I've read about all of this that is making me feel less paranoid about it. I'm in a position where I actually can stay away from the public, being a stay at home mom. My husband goes to work and back, takes a shower when he gets home, washes his hands repeatedly and stays as cautious as possible. Even though he could be some exposure, it's less than if we were out and about or if I were working or my daughter in a play group or daycare, so it's more limited at least. It's the best we can do.

So here are my questions. If you are pregnant right now, what are you doing to keep calm? Are you going out and about like usual? Do you wash your hands more? Are you getting the vaccine? If you are, are you worried about the unknown effects it could have on your baby? What did you hear or read that made you decide to get it?
 

Anything anyone would like to comment or add would be great. Thanks for reading and I hope you all stay very very happy and healthy

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