Pregnant ICU nurse

As you all know I am a nurse in the ICU. Part of my duties on certain days is to be part of the "code team." This means that if a patient crashes anywhere in the hospital, I run to where ever the patient is and help save their life. This task is normally very stressful and the adrenaline flows freely (kind of like when you see cop lights in your rear view mirror and you realize you are about to get pulled over). Well, I recently was part of the code team and it was unreal how CALM I felt through the whole event. At one point I even checked my own pulse! I love the calming pregnancy hormones!

The only thing that IS causing me stress right now is the hype about the swine flu. I am on the fence about getting the H1N1 vaccine. The problem is that there is absolutely NO research showing that the vaccine is safe to pregnant women or the developing baby or that it even provides immunity to H1N1! Because the vaccine and this strain of flu is so new there has not been time to get adequate safety results through studies. The last thing I want to do is put something potentially toxic in my body. However, the Center for Disease Control reports that pregnant women are more at risk to get the virus and have worse outcomes if they contract the virus because of the changing body (lungs being swished by a growing baby) and the naturally suppression of the immune system that all pregnant women have because the baby is a "foreign body."

Another thing that is unknown is how the antiviral meds (tamiflu) affect a fetus. SO if you get the vaccine it could be harmful, if you get the flu it could be deadly to mom and baby, and if you take the tamiflu it could harm the baby or cause miscarriage. Sounds like a lose-lose-lose situation...YUCK! So, for now the obvious choice is to stay healthy not get the dreaded flu and wait for some results to surface regarding pregnant women and the vaccine...It's even more scary because I work in an environment where I could easily be exposed (2 patients on my unit right now have confirmed H1N1 and they are very sick). I will voice my concerns to Dr. K tomorrow, but I'm sure he'll be the first to admit that he doesn't have the answers...at least not yet. I am considering being vaccinated, but only if I can get the preservative-free (which does not contain toxic mercury or themerisol which is linked to causing autism, but again proof is missing for this connection) version which may be harder to obtain. So if anyone has some inside information or advice on what to do, please share! And pray that the pregnancy remains healthy.


I can't end the blog on a stressed note, so I will inform you that Owen felt the baby move yesterday! The daddy-to-be is starting to feel like he is really going to become a daddy!