help me be rational - pregnant and not vaccinated
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Anonymous
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I am a lawyer have a healthy three year old and am 35. I am currently 18 weeks pregnant and not yet vaccinated and I cannot get over my irrational fear of the vaccine.
I work from home, kid stays at home, no family or friends near, and a small town with 2 cases in the last month and in a state with over 60% vaccinated. I am self isolating still and only outings are hikes and empty playground and yard and maybe a curbside pickup for food. But I am miserable and lonely and I want my kiddo and husband to go out in the world after a year plus of this. I am afraid of two things: if I get the vaccine, am I 100% guaranteed it won’t affect the baby (like cause a stroke or cleft lip or no arm or neurological issue anything)? if I get the vaccine, am I 100% guaranteed my baby later in life won’t have any issues? I don’t know why I can’t be rational about this - the only way the two questions above are 100% is if I don’t get the vaccine. But delta and covid scare the heck out of me. I wanted immediate vaccination after giving birth but not sure that waiting is smart. Help me be rational (and yes I have healthy anxiety). |
Anonymous
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I get it. I'm about as pregnant as you are. I chose to get vaccinated right after I found out I was pregnant (which was as soon as the vaccine was available to me). Baby is perfectly healthy. I'm protected from covid. There is no reason to believe there will ever be any adverse reaction to the vaccine. Pregnant women and babies are vaccinated for other things all the time. And pregnant women are more at risk of covid. For me, it was a pretty easy decision once I thought all these things through. Have you talked to your doctor?
One thing to consider is that your medical appointments are going to become more frequent, which means more risk of exposure. You cant avoid indoor outings for the length of your pregnancy/delivery. |
Anonymous
A doc on TV said it messes with placenta. Messed up my period. I sure wouldn't. Signed Vaccinated person |
Anonymous
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Well, you aren't considering the long-term impact of getting covid-19 when unvaccinated in your decision matrix. This probably won't help your health anxiety, but I have a family member who contracted an unusual virus 10 years ago and the long-term health impacts of living with that have been severe. As in, that relative will have a shorter lifespan and lives with severe health problems, is not very functional because the impact is so large. Personally I think we are going to see reduced lifespans from people who got covid-19 but not from people who vaccinated. The cardiac damage alone will do it.
Good luck with your pregnancy. Pregnancy and health anxiety is a real struggle. |
Anonymous
| Yes. You should get the vaccine now to protect yourself, your unborn child, and your unvaccinated toddler. I would also recommend seeing a mental health counselor to discuss pre-partum anxiety and how to help manage it so you can have the healthiest — both physically and mentally — pregnancy and fourth trimester possible. |
Anonymous
| There are no data showing risks to fetuses from the vaccine, but there are data showing that COVID can lead to preterm birth. I know you think your risk is low, but delta is much more communicable and will become more widespread by the fall. FWIW, I'm currently 21 weeks pregnant and got the vaccine when I was 8 and 12 weeks pregnant, so I have taken my own advice. |
Anonymous
| My SIL got covid when pregnant. She only experienced it as a minor cold, but a few weeks later delivered very early. |
Anonymous
+1 This was my experience too (currently 19 weeks pregnant, vaccinated at 6 weeks; healthy pregnancy). I called my doctor as soon as a spot for vaccination opened up and they strongly recommended it, which helped me feel more comfortable when there is so much unknown. I would get the vaccine because while I do understand your concerns since of course there are no 100% guarantees of anything, keep in mind that the only way you can avoid getting COVID (which you acknowledge is quite scary!) is by being vaccinated. It's great you're able to continue social distancing but as PP points out, you have to go to the doctor a lot while pregnant, and you have to go to the hospital to deliver. Maybe after the anatomy scan would be a good time to schedule? After all, a lot of the large scale development is done by then and you'll have ultrasound confirmation that everything is fine with your new baby. |
Anonymous
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There are no 100% guarantees to anything. Your baby may be born with a disability or aquire a disability whether or not you get vaccinated or get covid. It's not a decision between risk and no risk. It's about how can you lower risks and what risks are you willing to take.
Talk to your doctor about the risks of the vaccine vs covid vs indefinite isolation. Don't ask what course of action is guaranteed to be 100% safe. |
Anonymous
OP here thank you everyone for the rational responses and experiences. This post hits on something yes now I feel comfortable because here and surrounding towns it’s been no transmission but at the back of my mind with delta and people socializing and no masks, I know the number will go up. |
Anonymous
OP here I also wondered f I should wait until fall and third trimester when baby is more “baked” but again I come back to my two questions. Because of covid when so much was unknown I didn’t want to get pregnant last year but being 35 I also didn’t want to wait more, so now I’m in this limbo of decision making. God I hate this pandemic. |
Anonymous
| This is anonymous but I met someone who lost their mother to covid in spring 2020. Mom was pregnant with sibling. Baby survived. Mom died. The girl is a teen and the trauma is unreal. Get vaccinated. You are in your second trimester. I had three miscarriages and would get it in second tri for sure. |
Anonymous
| You are a sitting duck. Don’t be stupid. Listen to the experts. |
Anonymous
I think you will feel better once you do it! I was never that worried about COVID until I got pregnant because I have no risk factors (of course we quarantined, masked, etc. - I just didn't spend a lot of time worrying). Nonetheless, I felt a lot safer after my second shot. I also have two unvaccinated kids (3 and 5) and they go to school, so I knew they were always going to be a potential vector for infection. You are not going to find 100% certainty about any decision, but if you weigh the relative risks and benefits I think you will find vaccination seems like the better choice. Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy! |
Anonymous
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We're all experiencing decision fatigue at this point--every single decision to leave the house or interact with other people for over a year has been a risk/benefit analysis. It's exhausting! So, don't be too hard on yourself--you're pregnant and the stakes feel high. That being said, you're admitting that most of your reasoning is irrational, and that's a good first step. The economist Emily Oster has been super helpful in terms of this particular decision using data. Here's a link to one of her articles:
https://emilyoster.substack.com/p/new-data-on-pregnancy-and-vaccines And this is her bottom line (which I happen to heartily agree with): "What I will say is I would get vaccinated if I were pregnant and if you asked my advice as your friend, I would recommend you do so. The risks of COVID-19 in pregnancy are real, and the safety data is very reassuring. I’m further excited by the possibility of antibody protection for the baby." I have several friends who have been vaccinated during pregnancy (at various points). All take great comfort in the fact that their newborns were likely born with protective antibodies because of their decision to be vaccinated. And I hate this pandemic too! Good luck, Mama--take care! |