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Herpes & Pregnancy


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Ok so I have genital herpes and my boyfriend does not. He knows I have it and is ok with it, honesty, condoms, valtrex and we are good to go. Tonight we were talking about the future (way in the future) and he brought up having kids. I think of having kids all the time but have never thought that it may be different since I have herpes. Can I safely have healthy babies? I need advice from some couples who have successfully gotten pregnant with the lady having herpes. Did you pass it to your partner? To the baby? I'm clueless. Please any and all advice welcomed :)

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Heya! Welcome back!

 

You officially don't have to worry about passing it to your future beautiful, bouncy baby. Congratulations! :) As the birth day approaches, you can always up the amount of medication to minimize the chances of having an outbreak during birth. And if you do happen to have an active outbreak when the baby comes, you'd have a C-section.

 

If you were first infected with herpes before you got pregnant and you have no herpes symptoms when labor starts, there's less than a 1% chance of passing herpes to your baby.

 

And about the possibility of passing herpes to your baby via asymptomatic viral shedding, since you're having this baby in the future, you will have developed enough antibodies against herpes that you will pass on to your baby. These antibodies will help the baby not get the minimal shedding of the virus that may invisibly happen during birth.

 

Here's an article with all the info you'll ever need about herpes and pregnancy. :)

http://herpeslife.com/herpes-during-pregnancy

 

Also, about your question on passing it to your partner, I was in a 3-year relationship where we decided together for me to take anti-viral medication and not use condoms. I never passed herpes to her. I'm not suggesting everyone do this, but just to give you a first-hand account; it's up to both of you in partnership what level of risk your partner is willing to take on. And there's more of a chance of passing it from male-female (10% with no protection/medication) than it is from female to male (4% with no protection/medication). The reason for this difference is more mucous membrane vagina-wise than penis-wise. With body awareness, medication and condoms, there are 3 layers of protection to make the chances of passing herpes to him right around 1% (see the handouts below):

http://bit.ly/h-opp-diagnosis-handout

http://bit.ly/h-opp-disclosure-handout

This content is for informational purposes only. This information does not constitute medical advice or diagnosis. I'm not a medical professional, so please take this as friendly peer support. 

Helpful resources:

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Herpes gets transmitted from skin to skin, so it doesn't get passed through fluids or anything internal. Here's more on that:

http://herpeslife.com/how-can-you-get-herpes/

This content is for informational purposes only. This information does not constitute medical advice or diagnosis. I'm not a medical professional, so please take this as friendly peer support. 

Helpful resources:

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  • 2 weeks later...

My very first post!

I have four children all born vaginally. I've had herpes for 23 years; my oldest child is 20. That was the scariest pregnancy because at that time acyclovir wasn't considered safe during pregnancy so I literally had to just hope for the best. Thankfully, now the anti virals are considered safe and by the time I had my fourth (5 years ago) I took valtrex from about 35 weeks on.

 

None of my children contracted herpes at birth.

 

As long as you're aware of your body, prodromal symptoms, and have a good midwife or doctor all should be well.

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