help me be rational - pregnant and not vaccinated
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Anonymous
How are you going to completely quarantine? Miss all of your Ob appointments and deliver at home? |
Anonymous
OP here I’m in a small town upstate with like 85% vaccination rate and 0 cases in my town and surrounding towns for the past month plus. I’ve been going to the doctor with my mask face shield and gloves alone. And no way in heck would I deliver at home, what am I insane?!? Lol But I get it when I am due to deliver it’ll be winter and none of these factors assure me I won’t come in contact with the virus. |
Anonymous
| Remember that getting vaccinated while you are pregnant will provide some level of protection to the baby too. I don't think it's realistic to completely isolate yourself and the baby for months while the baby is young, especially since you have an older child. |
Anonymous
OP here are you pregnant and did you get the vaccine? (Or just generally unhappy with people that don’t get the vaccine?) Don’t worry I’m not at a firm, I’m a public interest lawyer, I wouldn’t be able to even afford a firm myself so you have your pick of best vault100 firms out there. |
Anonymous
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I completely understand your fears! I was in your shoes until today- I just had my first Pfizer shot at 22 weeks. I also went through the same cycle of wanting to be protected but fearing the lack of data for long-term effects for the baby. I chose to wait until the second trimester because my first trimester was difficult, had to take a lot of medication and I was on bed rest, so I was very worried with respect to the anomaly scan and when doctors confirmed that everything looked normal, I started gathering data on covid-19 vaccination in pregnancy.
There are very recent studies showing its safety and effectiveness in pregnancy (just today- a study on pregnant women who took covid-19 vaccine in Israel- published in JAMA). My obstetrician and GP both recommended the vaccine and I have a lot of obstetrician friends in the UK and France who also strongly recommended it. According to my friends, those who are currently in intensive care battling with their lives are pregnant women who refused to take the vaccine. With the mask mandate being lifted and life going back to normal, it will be extremely difficult to control your exposure to the virus. The constant fear of catching the virus and all the rational points raised by previous posts about hospital delivery, pediatrician visits, and most importantly the risk that COVID-19 poses to your life and that of your unborn child were more than enough for me to strengthen my decision to take it. I hope you will be able to let go of the anxiety, I know I feel much better now that I have taken my first shot. And as another previous post said, there are millions of pregnant women who have been now vaccinated. If there were to be a major side effect for the mother or the developing fetus, it would have been flagged by now. I hope this helps. |
Anonymous
OP here thank you this helps and I’ve also been researching what other countries are doing. I’ll check out the new Israel study. I have my OB visit next week and then right after the next day I’ll have my anatomy scan so hoping that makes it easier for me to book the appointment. Will you be getting the second shot on schedule? |
Anonymous
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I get it. I delivered earlier this year before vax was available to me and I'm glad I didn't have to make the tough decision. New disease and new vaccine. Ugh.
That said, I would feel differently in late 2nd or 3rd tri, like when you get the tdap. I waited till 2nd to get my flu shot as well Agree with PPs about the mental health and other risks/downsides of isolating. You say your 3yo is acting out. I have one too. They need to be out and socializing with peers at this age. So consider the vaccine could be helping oth your kids. |
Anonymous
One thing I'm gonna throw out there (as someone with anxiety) that might help. It's really okay to listen to the rational part of your brain and get the shot EVEN if you can't convince the anxious part of your brain. Even if there's a big part of your brain that spends all the time from now until the shot worried about it, plus another week after for good measure. Even if that anxious part of your brain spends your whole vaccine appointment screaming RUN GET OUT OF HERE. That's fine. What's important is that you get the shot, not that you solve every question and calm your anxiety and feel good about it. Let your rational brain schedule your appointment and get your butt there, and if the irrational side wants to scream and shout, so be it. Call that a compromise. |
Anonymous
| The irrational part of me would be very nervous too. I was lucky to get the vaccine right before I got pregnant. The rational part of me would take it. I had a 25 year old completely healthy friend who almost died of covid in her third trimester and is still suffering after effects. Plus, there were tons of reports of pregnant women in other counties dying or being ventillated during their third trimester. |
Anonymous
I am not OP but good answer PP. |
Anonymous
It's always good to see what other countries are doing- I know the UK and France at first only gave the vaccine to pregnant women who had comorbidities or were at increased risk being front line workers, but since April, they have recommended it to all pregnant women because even healthy, low-risk pregnant women were doing badly with COVID. The WHO changed their recommendation as well to offer vaccination to all pregnant women. I also know that Sri Lanka and Lebanon have started vaccinating all pregnant women too with mRNA vaccines, so I am sure,, by now, there are millions of pregnant women who have taken the vaccine. I woke up today with a slightly sore arm, and thankfully did not have any side effects! I feel energetic and good following my first shot yesterday. I will get the second shot on schedule, as I prefer to enter my third trimester with full protection, since , as others have mentioned, it's better not to catch covid-19 in all trimesters of course, but particularly in the third, as studies found that majority of women who have become severely ill from cover-19 were in their third trimester of pregnancy (possibly due to reduced respiratory capacity and immune changes). I completely understand you, we are living in very difficult times and it is hard for pregnant women to make decisions when then there is a life inside you that you need to protect. I hope all goes well for your anatomy scan, and hopefully that will put your mind at ease to take the vaccine, as the baby would be fully developed by then and will just grow in size after that. |
Anonymous
| If you want to worry - think about all the worries beyond the vax. Don’t you worry about the long term impact of continued isolation for your 3yo? Wouldn’t you worry about your baby being more likely to get COVID with no immunity from you? There are some unknowns on all sides but I want with prioritizing my existing kids mental health and development and my babies protection against COVID over some future vague worry that there is no science to support extreme worrying about |
Anonymous
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I am 28 weeks pregnant, have a 2 year old, and am not vaccinated. I'm in a state where about 70% of adults that can be vaccinated are. Our nanny is vaccinated and my husband is vaccinated. My daughter spends time with her friends (one of whom has a mom who is pregnant and not vaccinated) and we have eaten outside at a restaurant twice during COVID (in the last few months). My OBGYN said that 50% of the pregnant woman in her practice are vaccinated and that she is not going to force anyone who doesn't feel comfortable to get vaccinated given that there are no longitudinal studies on the topic of vaccination and that it is not FDA approved.
I am literally getting the vaccine the day that I give birth and think that you should do you OP. |
Anonymous
If you are a lawyer, you must be a smart person and should know there is no guarantee in life. Whether you get it or not doesn't matter to me but you sound not only irrational but also irresponsible for your kids/family. |
Anonymous
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We could try and combat your anxiety by chasing down studies and looking to science, but it'll never give you the 100% answer your fears demand. You said it yourself, they're irrational. When it comes to anxiety, you can't combat irrational fears with rational ones (your irrational brain will find a way to reject the logic).
The fact you reached out here tells me that deep down you DO want to get the vaccine; your anxiety is just holding you back with a lot of terrifying what-ifs. As someone who has coped with OCD-induced anxiety for a number of years, I've learned that there are some things in life you will never convince your brain of, but you can go on by listening to your rational brain and letting the rest go. I would suggest you let go of the irrational fears (they're irrational - it's OK to ignore them!), be brave, and get vaccinated. Do it for yourself and your family. |