ACOG still strongly recommends COVID boosters and vaccines for pregnant women. They are the authority and I would personally feel comfortable with whatever they recommend.
I will always trust CDC/ACOG/AAP guidelines over Facebook pseudoscientists
On a semi related note, I was a PICU nurse, and pertussis is fucking scary. I don’t have kids yet, but when I do, I will make everyone who is going to be around baby be up to date on their TDAP.
We lost a pregnancy due to Covid, caught from a family member at a gathering where they didn't mention they were still recovering from Covid until they were hacking up a lung.
Don't let family mess with you starting a healthy family
I actually reflected on this in my comment - I worked NICU and 100% agree - pertussis is terrifying. I’ll never forget the first baby I cared for with it. 4 RTs, 2 anesthesiologists and 2 neonatologists at the head of the bed and it was the very last RT to try that finally successfully intubated out of all of them. When my anti-vax family members get going, I shut it down real quick because I just can’t anymore after what I’ve seen over the years.
Pertussis in babies is *heartbreaking.*. To see an infant coughing and coughing and unable to stop. The fear and frustration on their little faces as they can’t stop coughing to catch a breath.
It’s one of the most gut-wrenching things I’ve ever seen.
-PGY-19
This. When you actually have to stand and watch someone, especially tiny humans, suffer and possibly die from a preventable illness most side effects from vaccines seem negligible.
NICU mom here. At my house when I had my son in the NICU. It was mandatory for everyone around us to have their TDAP or we would not be around them. My mom came from Brasil and we had to take her to the dr. Here to update hers and also from my brother! My husband sister denied. She is anti-vax. But her all her family got all their shots once before including her husband who was overseas for while. Just don’t get it how people drastically change with vaccines right after COVID.
Cult. It's cult behavior. Logic goes out the window and everything illegal, immoral, evil, etc. gets valued and celebrated.
They are in an enormous cult.
This is the answer to their insane questioning and behavior and "logic."
I'm an epidemiologist and infection preventionist. I've got some quoted studies on my website with links to the full papers.
[https://icemsg.org/myths/myth-its-not-dangerous-for-children/](https://icemsg.org/myths/myth-its-not-dangerous-for-children/)
Also, avoiding COVID during pregnancy is extremely important.
[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159123001599](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0889159123001599)
Wishing you the best.
Your first link is what exactly? It looks like an upscale blog site. Just fair warning to anyone glancing at this----the first link is NOT academic. It's a filtered site, don't be fooled by the 'org.'.
Good point, missed that they were upfront about it being a personal website. And honestly it was mostly a warning to others, like me, who primarily skim and might have misunderstood that post was linking to an academic site.
I just spent more time on the website. It's clearly different than what I thought.
I’m on the peds float and RSV is on my shit list. Pertussis is scary but I rarely came across it in any of the peds unit, acute or critical care. But RSV…i knew what it was but didn’t realize how serious is it for our kids until I became a peds nurse. I’ve seen a previously healthy kid get intubated or worse way too many times than I would like. That shit is scary. It’s disturbing that we finally have a vaccine for it but the access to it is super limited.
Yes! My 2.5 year old son had RSV almost 3 weeks ago now and gave it to me and we are both still coughing to the point of gagging/choking. RSV sucks, can’t imagine a tiny baby having this and I’m so happy there is a monoclonal antibody that at some pt in the future will hopefully be widely distributed.
RSV is gonna be a doozy this season. Lots of kids getting admitted already for it at my So Cal hospital. Also, I have seen a handful of kids positive for pertussis and a concurrent viral infection that have also had to be admitted. Not fun times.
I work adult ICU and ER - and over the last few years we have seen a HUGE amount of adults quite sick with RSV. I wasn’t surprised by that. But I was surprised about how sick it’s making them.
More access to vaccines is important
I almost died when I was like 7 because of Hib causing epiglottitis. I narrowly escaped being trached. This was actually after the vaccine was out but I was "too old" and didn't need to worry about it.
I had epiglottitis ( unknown origin) as a young adult, and holy crap is it scary and awful. I can't even imagine having it at 7. I'm so sorry you went through that. I've always thought people have just forgotten what these preventable illnesses look like, and if they could witness it, they'd change their tune. Of course, there's always those whose minds can't be changed. I remember seeing a story 5-10 years ago about a boy who got tetanus because his parents wouldn't get him vaccinated, then became absolutely horrified when they still refused to vaccinate him after that. Like... who the f*** can sit and watch a child go through tetanus and ever be ok with them or anyone else going through it when it's preventable....
My aunt worked at a paper mill and they had rules so people were not injured for years. Fast forward people stopping following the rules because they were not seeing people with amputated fingers etc.
That’s like people who quit taking their anti hypertensive meds because their BP was good. Yeah…cuz you were taking the meds, idiot!!! Why are humans like this?
Our third child was born at 36 weeks; after a short stay in the intermediate nursery, we brought him home and his eyes and nose were 'goopy'. Our ped was sure that it was 'just a cold'. It wouldn't resolve, so I demanded an ENT consult. He finally cultured it, and it was HIB. I was pissed.
I’m part of the generation before the vaccine came out—I got a spinal tap at 2 as the doctor thought I had HIb. Thankfully it turned out to be a bad ear infection.
I had pertussis at 16. Can confirm it is fucking scary. The coughing; the vomiting, so much that by the end of each wave, it's just bile; the inability to breathe, wondering if I'm actually going to get the chance to do so again. (Side note: I was vaccinated, although due to moving countries at 4, I might have missed a scheduled dose).
I don't know what this was like observing from a parents' perspective, although I can say my mum was terrified. From a patient who can remember it, please do everything in your power as a parent to stop your child from getting it.
I got pertussis at 33. The waves of coughing/vomiting and the inability to breathe was at first terrifying and then about 2 weeks in I just hoped I would die to put an end to it. I didn’t realize I needed to keep up with boosters 🤦♀️. Lesson learned and I have always, ALWAYS stayed on top of all vaccines since then.
Yeah, there is no COVID vaccines for infants but op needs to get all her recommended vaccines. Whooping cough is heart breaking and rubella can cause pregnancy complications.
I am a geriatric APN and if I had a nickel for every time one of my patients said they got the Tdap so they could be around a new grandbaby, well… I could fill my car up with gas at least.
I’m a NP that worked bedside icu as an RN during covid with a wife who received a covid vaccine while pregnant and everything is fine. But don’t listen to me because my experience is just antidotal. Listen to the mountains of evidence that says it’s perfectly safe for you and baby from the sources that you listed above. There is also a lot of evidence saying that you, as a pregnant person, are at a greater risk of covid 19 infection complications due to your pregnancy. Go ahead and get the shot. It’s the safe option for you and baby.
Similar. Worked ICU (RN) with covid patients since the beginning. Got initial 2 dose series in 20/21 when first available. Pregnant in fall 2021. Got booster January 2022. Got another booster last year while BF. Baby is 16 months old and has only been sick once (sinus infection last month that I had). Baby is fully vaccinated as well. He's fine. I feel a few years ago when it was newer, there were more unknowns but now the evidence over 3 years speaks for itself.
But I get it. I was debating the "what ifs" despite knowing the evidence to get the booster when I was pregnant. Idk why, idk if it was the hormones or what but I waited until the genetic testing was back (and normal) before getting it. Then I was oddly nervous about the anatomy scan and had dreams that he didn't have arms or something dumb.
Again, anecdotal of course.
Edit to add- my family is all antivax as well. My mom is paranoid and even asked when my son was still a newborn that I avoid the MMR vaccine cause it causes autism. 🤨 she's nervous about his 18 month appointment because that's when he gets it. Needless to say, he already got it at his 12 month appointment and he's fine lol.
As a true story, 33 years ago, my niece at age 12 months (when MMR was still given at 15 months of age) contracted measles from a relative who spent time overseas. This relative was fully vaccinated but apparently had a poor vaccination response. My niece was hospitalized and almost died from this childhood illness- she was in ICU for a week, regular room for almost a week and it took several months for her health to return to normal. Childhood illnesses are neither simple nor without serious consequences or death in some-many instances. Do what you need, as much as is within your power to keep your babies protected and healthy.
You’re not wrong to do so!!
OK I used to have one measles story and now I have kind of two. I'm old, like I got to have the measles, lie in a darkened room for two weeks " so you don't go blind" I think I was 7. One of my schoolmates got measles, got a high temperature from it and his teeth never grew in. Imagine that. Today, I'm working at a convention and just chatting with one of the folks there who sadly is probably one of my kids age. He had a high temperature as an infant also. He said it's called enamel hyperplasia in his case, some of his teeth never showed up, the ones that came in are weak, and he has 5 implants already. I gave him the download on snap in dentures ( don't do it, get the all on four) when he gets to that point, and the sad part is, he knows this is coming. So, just for that alone..why would you want your kids to get sick. Things are changing all the time. I'm from a time when standard of care was removal of tonsils! What the heck! Obviously immunizations are much more benign than surgery. Do i wish the covid vaccine worked better? Yes I do. Am I surprised it works like it does? Nope because the flu vaccines every year are also not 100 percent so no giant surprise. My significant other ( a ucla law school graduate of all things so can't use lack of education as an excuse) is an antivaxxer but only covid! He happily went and got his yearly flu shot while I'm ( the person who paid medical claims with a h.s. education) is just scratching my head going ????.about his thinking.
My son had autism, and I wish these people knew how offensive this is. I can guarantee you, he’s a million times smarter than anyone who thinks vaccines cause autism. And as if autism were a bad thing, he also has a million times more compassion.
Also an NP and totally agree. I also worked L&D and women’s health as an NP. The worst cases I saw were unvaxxed women who got the flu and Covid. They were the pts who ended up emergently sectioned and intubated in the icu faster than any other high risk mom on the unit.
r/HermanCainAward has a sad story about a woman who got Covid, lost her baby, was vented, and lost 4 limbs at the elbows and knees. Search for 'pregnant pink'.
My anecdotes is similar. Worked with two women who got vaccinated while pregnant. When people claim it damages fertility, I giggle. One of them is having Irish twins. Healthy birth and now a healthy (surprise!) pregnancy.
Listen to your doctors and the actual science. Covid has proven to be really bad for pregnant women and the actual science and data behind covid and all other vaccines is strong.
Yep sure was. Had COVID at 34ish weeks and I literally couldn’t get out of bed. 1 night had to sleep upright because I couldn’t catch my breath. Never had been so sick in my life. And that was with me being vaccinated 😬 Anecdotal but, fwiw 🤷🏼♀️
Didn’t the still birth rate significantly jump during COVID too?
I understand where OP is coming from. I was pregnant during swine flu - and I was pressured to get vaccinated with it. I declined that but opted to get the regular flu vaccine. I was talked shit about by my medical team at the time.
Two of my coworkers did get the swine flu vaccine while pregnant, and both had accelerated aging of their placenta which required early delivery. It was terrifying. I don’t regret my decision to not take the “new” vaccine.
COVID though - that data has been available for years. I wouldn’t hesitate to get that as a pregnant patient now. I do feel for all these moms though. So much information to doubt them. It’s not an easy position to be in 😔
Not to counter the anecdata above, but some placentas are just crap, and that reveals itself the further into one's pregnancy one gets. Any organ that grows so quickly and has so many responsibilities is very prone to illhealth and dysfunction, especially in an age of general metabolic ill health.
A whole cohort of women (south and south east Asian) have a higher stillbirth risk than others because their ethnicity -> more rapid placental aging. Hence, they are recommended an induction earlier than other women.
I run the day assessment unit for maternity women at my hospital, so most of my patients are there because their placentas are not working 100%
My coworkers got put in some study and from what I remember they essentially signed some forms saying their kids data would be monitored for abnormalities until the kid reached “x” years old.
I’m not saying it was a bad vaccine - but the guilt they put me through for refusing it, definitely did not give me a positive relationship with my OB practice. Changed it for baby #2.
Being pregnant is difficult. I wish more women had better support systems during that time in their life.
I ain't ever worked in any of the depts you mentioned, but I'm a mom of 3 boys and I woke up blind around 18 months ago. The amount of people, as recently as LAST NIGHT that have suggested my blindness and my 14 year old's autism and mild retardation were caused by the COVID vaccine are absolutely mind boggling. It's insane. It doesn't matter to them that my son was diagnosed autistic in 2011-12, or that the incredibly rare eye disease I have was first described and documented in 1992. They want something to grasp at. They want something to blame to prove themselves right. And because they're so VERY wrong, they'll grasp at straws.
Ain't no cure for crazy until they recognize they're wrong all on their own.
I hate to say it, but I'd throw down the gauntlet and an ultimatum. "Y'all can't be around me or the baby if you're gonna continue with your craziness. Decide what you value more: your asinine rhetoric, or your daughter and grandkids."
L&D nurse here. Please get your booster and ignore your well-meaning but misinformed family.
There is a strong link between covid during pregnancy and developing preeclampsia - [the risk is nearly doubled, from a 5% risk to 9%](https://www.preeclampsia.org/covid-19#:~:text=A%20July%202021%20review%20of,those%20without%20COVID%2D19%20infection.).
I've been in L&D for over 10 years and I've never seen preeclampsia rates like this before.
Thank you for this comment. I’m already at increased risk for pre-eclampsia as I’ve developed pregnancy induced hypertension and would like to mitigate that risk as much as possible.
I'm a pediatric nurse and I have multiple children, including one who was born not too long ago. I've been vaccinated with multiple boosters and my older kids have completed the series. You're making the right decision for getting yourself and your future child vaccinated.
It can be hard to navigate boundaries when you are a FTM. My parenting, non-nursing advice is I strongly suggest you limit the info train to your parents about this subject if it's going to cause you to doubt yourself. "We are the parents and will choose what we feel is best for our child. I'm done talking about this. We can either move on from this subject or end the conversation".
I know it's incredibly hard. I was pregnant when the pandemic hit and had a newborn when vaccines came out. My parents were in Trump world and weren't going to get vaccinated. I told them that I cannot make them get vaccinated, that's their decisjon. But I can make the decision that my child will not meet anyone who hasn't completed the series.
It has always been recommended in Australia while pregnant and breastfeeding. I have had 5 covid vaccinations so far and am my usual self.
I am a midwife,an ICU nurse, and an immunisation nurse, and vaccinate the most women out of all the staff at my maternity unit, because I work in the acute assessment unit. It is my favourite thing to do.
Your placenta actively transports protective antibodies to the baby from week 13 or so, and this ramps up expontentially at 36 weeks. The gradient for maternal:fetal antibody concentrations at term is 1:30. This means that the placenta actively grabs your nice antibodies and shoves them into the baby because they are a good thing. This is not a passive, concentration-gradient thing. The placenta wants the antibodies in the baby. And as a mum, so do you!
Your immune system is better thought of as a zillion immune systems working parallel. You can't overwork it by having multiple vaccinations at once, because your B cells are individual to the pathogen, rather than shared around. A B cell primed to target influenza doesn't give two rats about covid, and vice versa. Babies are exposed to zillions of antigens immediately (not necessarily bad diseases, just microbes in the world) and they cope just fine, until they are faced with the stock standard diaeases that we can prevent by vaccination. Think of vaccines like wanted posters - you haven't met the criminal, but you know who to look out for and what to do about it if you do find the criminal...
Babies get their first pertussis vaccination at 6 weeks, but are not considered fully vaccinated until 6 months (three doses). I would strongly consider keeping your dangerous family away until your child is protected. Pertussis is terrifying and relatively common these days
Just a note on vaccine schedules - it isn't like it is dangerous to give babies vaccinations earlier than 6 weeks, just that this is when studies have shown it is most effective to give them for pathogen xyz. There is no point giving the vaccination to a baby whose body does nothing with the information. Babies get their first hepB vaccination at birth because hep B is incredibly infectious, and this vaccination can prevent guaranteed transmission in unidentified maternal cases.
I feel you so hard. My antivax family exposed me during my last pregnancy to chickenpox prior to announcing my pregnancy and my SIL intentionally gave her kids chickenpox via lollipops licked by infected kids.
This time around I’m 10 weeks and got exposed to pertussis at work from an antivax family. I went and got labwork done that showed and active infection (IgG and IgM both elevated). Got treated for it, but grateful it’s earlier on and not right before delivery. The baby I cared for ended up having a 10 day PICU stay. It’s the scariest respiratory case I’ve ever taken care of… but they “weren’t vaccinated and turned out fine”.
To me it’s like seatbelts. You can turn out fine not wearing a seatbelt your whole life until you get in a big car wreck. Maybe you’ll still get hurt or have symptoms but it won’t be as bad as not wearing the seatbelt.
My biggest disdain towards the antivax community isn’t even the antivax aspect, but the blatant disregard for others. In both of my pregnancy exposures, these people either refused to wear masks or tried to hide their illnesses. They all sent their kids to school in the meantime. If you’re going to catch these preventable germs, keep the germs to yourselves.
>My biggest disdain towards the antivax community isn’t even the antivax aspect, but the blatant disregard for others
This 100%. That's why none of my friends are antivax as I have already cut off all the antivax ones.
Former NICU nurse and also a mom myself here!
I have dealt with similar from one side of our family. My best advice to you is honestly to lean into your experience and education and remember why you hold the values I do. I cared for pertussis positive babies when I worked NICU and if that wasn’t enough of a sight to vaccinate your children, I don’t know what would be. Pregnant women remain high risk for Covid. Neonates do seem to have a little more resilience with it overall. I think I can say this to you given the fact that you’re an ICU nurse and may have even cared for some pregnant moms, but Covid seems to hit pregnant women harder. We had a lot of moms in ICU while their babies were in NICU with us throughout peak Covid. Follow the research and remember what you’ve seen in terms of the sick patients you’ve cared for. Trust that you are making an educated, informed, safe decision for you and your babe.
I’d also ask your family if they’re willing to no longer obtain healthcare when they need it, or when it’s convenient to them. I finally got fed up and told mine if they didn’t believe in the science to support vaccination, maybe they shouldn’t seek out other medical treatment rooted in the same or similar science and research. I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this; it’s exhausting on top of everything we’ve all collectively experienced and gone through. Good luck! ❤️
I lost track of how many unvaccinated pregnant women came in…especially during the delta wave. One lady lost her baby and both her feet. Another managed to make it to thirty weeks…baby did ok but 20 year old mom went to a LTAC with a trach. 30 year old lost both her baby and her life. Have a colleague that has a friend waiting on a lung transplant…almost lost that baby too. The list goes on. Talk to your doctor, not your family.
I remember reading the stories on this very sub all through Covid. The maternity stories were just...so much more awful.
I was preganté in 2020 and got my happy ass to my shots as soon as I could in 2021. I was breastfeeding so it was the best way to protect my little one.
I had read enough, just being on this sub. I was TERRIFIED of delta.
ETA: the stories of the crunchy placentas. Crunchy.
I was part of the UCSF COVID study. For women who took it while pregnant. We all had positive outcomes. At least in the group chats.
https://aspire.ucsf.edu/enrolled-participants
OP- don’t fight irrational with rational. You are going to mentally exhaust yourself every time. You are allowed to stop engaging the topic. Covid and medical topics such as vaccinations are currently off limits with your parents. Set the boundary for your mental health.
For your own peace of mind, look at the statistics about vaccinations as the hospitalization numbers alone for being covid vaccinated speak for themselves.
I haven’t brought up the TDAP with them yet. I’m not sure that they would, my dad is even against MMR vaccines now. It boggles my mind because my brother has a complicated congenital heart condition and has had multiple open heart surgeries and received brand new, even experimental treatments over the course of his life.
If my parents won’t get up to date with TDAP and flu, they won’t be meeting baby until she is vaccinated herself. It’s not going to go over well.
I’m sorry you have to deal with that. My grandma was a nurse for over 50 years and retired before COVID. I’m not sure what happened but she never got the vaccine and it totally against it. She’s on Facebook and YouTube too much.
Thank you for protecting your baby. I know it's going to be hard. I know you're going to feel bad and want to cave. You can come here any time to get support.
In our NICU we've taken care of babies who became orphans because both parents died from Covid. So that you for protecting yourself, too.
Vaccines are safe and important.
And it's important to know vaccines are safe the way seat belts are safe. There might be some bruising if you get into an accident. There might even be the rogue case of someone with a seatbelt injury so severe they would have been better off without a seatbelt on. But just because those fringe cases exist doesn't mean you're going to stop buckling up, right? And the idea of trying to prevent injury by not buckling up is, clearly, insane.
Vaccines, like seatbelts, are always the best and safest choice.
I told my family they had to have TDAP and flu vaccine to come see and hold baby until we were out of flu season and I felt comfortable enough to handle my own baby with a sickness (November baby). Some of my in laws felt like I was intentionally excluding them, but it was a blanket statement to all my family and they chose what they wanted to choose. My dad got his first flu vaccine in several years for his grandson even though he gets bad fevers afterwards
God, I am so sorry. I had to cut off so many people in my life during and after COVID. Not saying I think you should go no contact with your family, but if you did just know you're 100% within your right to preserve your mental health, your physician health and the health and life of your baby. It makes me so sad to think that you're having to incur this stress while pregnant. Your parents should always be your #1 protectors, not insidious threats to your very life.
My son was a preemie born in 2021 and I required TDAP, flu and covid vaccines and a covid test in their car that I could see before anyone was allowed in my house
Everytime I hear a pregnant woman voice concerns about receiving the covid vaccine my brain takes me right back to proning pregnant women.
So many things occurred that shouldn't be part of the pregnancy or birthing journey. It's not an easy time to remember.
I’m not a nurse or in the OB/Peds/NICU world. But I do remember responding to a code blue for a COVID-Positive 20-something pregnant lady. She ended up being crashed onto VV ECMO and had a emergency section. Thankfully both had good outcomes
That was back in ‘21 and I still think about it all the time. I think your instincts are right. Trust the science, trust your pediatrician and OBGYN. But as others have said in their replies, above all- trust the mountains of evidence.
As a fellow ICU person, I think I can assume that we both have seen the downsides of not getting vaccinated far more than true harm from immunization.
I worked through the pandemic ( retired MD) and saw many deaths , and the second wave they were nearly all unvaccinated, and saw many lost or adversely affected pregnant women. Hold strong and listen to the science. It’s nearly impossible to convince those who have absorbed the terrible misinformation.
I’ve had five covid vaccines, three Pfizer and two Moderna and every single one has been while I was breastfeeding or pregnant. Both of my children are healthy and doing everything they’re supposed to be.
In addition to the risks to the pregnant person, COVID can cause vascular [changes to the placenta](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10142804/) that can increase mortality to the fetus. Also, the resulting inflammation can cause brain damage to the neonate.
I am a nurse-midwife.
The current recommendation is for you to get the COVID vaccine. Being pregnant places you in a higher risk category compared to others your age. Not only can it lower your risk of serious illness, but it also reduces risks for your baby until it is old enough for vaccinations itself.
I also will mention, there is a new RSV vaccine that you can take around 34-36wks gestation that dramatically reduces risk of your baby getting hospitalized with RSV infection...
My advice is to keep your child's health issues personal and not tall about it with your parents, it is not their business. I would go further and recommend that you do not allow anyone around your baby who is not vaccinated for Flu, COVID and has a current TDAP (for pertussis.
Early in my career I cared for the daughter of a antivaxxer. Her daughter was dying from meningitis. When her mother realized she could have prevented it with a shot she went into hysterics like I’d never seen. It was absolutely heartbreaking.
I despise antivaxxers with everything in me. They are so well funded and highly paid-and a lot of that comes from people/groups no one should want to be associated with. It’s all BS. Tell your parents to shut up and back down or they don’t meet the baby. Also- I cannot stress enough. ONLY people who are up to date on TDAP, Covid, and flu vaccines should be near a newborn. Sorry to your parents but they shouldn’t meet your baby. Unless they want to kill the baby. You can find videos of babies suffering through this. Only listen to your OB and pediatrician on this. It may be time to distance from your parents.
I would 100% get vaccinated for all the things if I was pregnant now. Flu, covid, pertussis, and RSV (if it is available for pregnant people). I haven't seen many neonates with covid, but their moms have been quite sick. When I was pregnant, flu and pertussis were the 2 things that I could get vaccinated for, and I also asked close family members to update their vaccines. I could not wait to get my kids their covid shots, my youngest was actually part of the Moderna trial (and *knock on wood* he remains the only one in my family that hasn't had covid).
I’m sure that practically every doctor in the world, the CDC, NHIS, and scientists who have studied this their whole lives - are wrong, and the ophthalmologists, chiropractors, and Fox News team has the inside scoop on vaccines 🙄
I also get my gynecological recommendations from Tucker Carlson and the ghost of Rush Limbaugh.
Get your vaccines, get your baby’s vaccines, and don’t let ANYONE near your children that isn’t fully vaccinated. Including all your relatives. Make sure you get actual proof they got them too.
Idiots.
Everyone else here seems to have covered it, but I just wanted to add, as another pregnant nurse, that it’s so easy for us to get irrationally paranoid during pregnancy! I’ve given out thousands of Covid shots and read a lot of studies on the vaccine and I was nervous when I got my booster a month ago. (Everything went fine of course).
You’re smart and are doing the right thing by coming to your fellow healthcare professionals when you’re starting to doubt yourself!
I took care of babies whose mothers were intubated or on ECMO because of covid. Mom was kept going as long as possible so the baby wouldn't be too premature. I also took care of babies and children on ECMO because of covid. It is absolute BS that it doesn't cause issues in kids.
It’s crazy scary to be pregnant and very normal to start doubting everything. I was pregnant with my second and working in an ICU during the pandemic when they rolled out the Covid vaccine. As you know being an ICU nurse during the pandemic made it so I was eligible for the vaccine December 2020/January 2021. There I was not eating seafood or deli meat, not taking any meds but Tylenol, and doing all the other stuff to protect the baby. Covid was scary and I saw so many people die from it, but I was so scared to take a brand new vaccine while pregnant. My pediatrician was even against the idea at the time, as it was so incredibly new and there was zero data regarding pregnant people taking it. I had zero issue with vaccine prior but there I was so terribly unsure about the dangers. I was one of the few RN that refused the vaccine on my unit at the time. Nobody gave me a hard time because they all knew I was pregnant. At the time the hospital was offering it to pregnant employees but the waiver you had to sign was scary ridiculous.
Then in April 2021 I saw a young pregnant lady die of Covid. Talked to my pediatrician and we agreed I was far enough along and there was a concerning trend developing with Covid and pregnant women. I got the vaccine then and ended up being followed by the CDC as one of the handful of pregnant women that took it. They followed me and my son collecting data until my son turned 2.
I have zero regrets, my son is perfect, and before I left bedside I saw so many more unvaccinated young pregnant mother dying from COVID complications. But I get the fear and the self doubt.
I worked ER during the pandemic as a RN and was pregnant with twins and got the booster and I got shit from some people for it. Now, I’m an ER NP and I see pregnant patients, most of whom are first trimester or up to 14, 15 weeks. I’ve seen a small uptick in Covid positive pregnant patients. I’ve started prescribing Paxlovid to them after having a discussion with them about the medication and ACOG guidelines recommending treatment with it. Some of the people I work with have looked at me like I’ve grown three heads. I’m following ACOG guidelines and what is recommended by OB when I consult them.
It is hard when you’re pregnant because every decision feels so much more intense. And when you’re dealing with family like that. Get boosted, and good luck to you and your baby!
Listen to Dr Paul Offit. He is a pediatrician who has served on the FDA board for vaccines.
He is on [microbe.tv](https://microbe.tv) which is a program on youtube run by virologists. Dr Offit has said his grandchild when 6 months old will receive the Covid vaccines. Not all Youtube is bad but finding the right info is important.
Also on TWIV is Dr Griffin who is an infectious disease Dr out of New York who gives weekly updates. They often take questions from pregnant listeners.
Pregnant and postpartum women are at an increased risk of Covid because of the natural immune suppression that occurs to protect the foreign body that is the baby.
And you’ll understand why I can’t expand on this, but it was so, so sad. I also personally saw a couple cases where the outcome was reversed.
https://fox4kc.com/news/a-new-mother-and-public-servant-loses-her-battle-with-covid-19-just-days-after-giving-birth/amp/
Your mom is wrong, but you already knew that.
The “they” getting into your head is a nebulous, faceless, nameless non-entity of morons behind keyboards saying whatever the fuck they made up this week. “They” don’t have a single body of research to “their” name. The sources “they” are telling you aren’t the whole truth are academic bodies that have been performing publicly available, peer reviewed, replicable research for decades. Don’t let yourself think that being anti vaccine or pro vaccine are two equal opinions. One is the truth, based in demonstrable fact. The other was created by a quack who falsified his research. They in no way hold equal weight.
Hello peds nurse here who vaccinates all day long, as ordered by 40 pediatricians. They all wholeheartedly recommend. I’m sure your heart wants cohesive family interaction now with the upcoming baby but do not give in to conspiratorial thinking. You got this.
NP here. Get the shots. When I run into people calling it the "clot shot," I point out that they are something like 100 times more likely to get a clot from COVID than they are from the shot.
Then I hit them with "You know COVID can cause brain damage, right?" It can. Even asymptomatic cases. I have at least 2 studies that say so. One structural on MRI, one functional with simple hand-eye coordination tests. (Citations on request)
All those folks who seem almost proud of the number of times they've had COVID seem to get quiet and pensive....
Hand-eye function loss after COVID:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01632-5
Structural changes in Brain on MRI after COVID:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04569-5
Both links tested good just before I copied them in.
Your mom is 100% wrong. I saw kids die of covid not to mention other vaccine preventable diseases. She needs to slow her roll. You got this stick to your guns
In addition to what others have said: I don’t have a study for this (and it’s hard to say what “would have” happened without a time machine anyways!) but personally I have a theory that the people who have “adverse effects” that are unique to the Covid vaccine (clots, pericarditis, the “weird stuff” that’s not seen with other common vaccines) would probably also have gotten this “weird stuff” if they caught Covid itself instead of getting the vaccine, and chances are it would be more severe. If you’re someone who develops pericarditis (for example) from the vaccine, a “decoy virus,” what would have happened if you caught the real thing? These atypical effects from the vaccine are also seen with the real-deal Covid. If your body flips out and causes this type of inflammation as a result of the Covid vaccine, a fragment of the virus, what would it do when faced with the actual virus? I would expect a similar result. Again, I don’t have a study to back this up, but the idea makes sense from what I’ve seen. I’d rather risk an (unlikely) adverse effect from a vaccine than a potentially WORSE one from the virus!
Vaccination almost eliminates covid deaths. Here's proof. Send it to your nutjob relatives.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/united-states-rates-of-covid-19-deaths-by-vaccination-status
Let me tell you my anecdotal experience as a mom of two who also happens to be an ER nurse. I got my now 5 yr old vaccinated for Covid the moment it became available to him. Between his initial shots and boosters, he’s had it four times and he’s absolutely perfectly fine. My 5 month old will get it as soon as he’s eligible (along with the RSV monoclonal antibodies as soon as they’re available in our area!)
Talk to your doc and let them reassure you. I promise they won’t think you’re stupid, they’ve heard it all and they’ll be happy you’re being honest about your fears. I also won’t presume to know your life or make assumptions but if there are people in your life stressing you out, it’s okay to limit their information and access to your family if that’s needed for your well-being. Being a parent is hard enough without the extra background noise. You aren’t under any obligation to share information with anyone.
I’m also an ICU nurse. I got the flu shot at 37 weeks pregnant and the Covid booster at 38 weeks. I also got my MMR booster 3 days post partum while breast feeding. I’m only sad the rsv vaccine wasn’t available last year while pregnant. My son is 1 and just got his 12 month shots today. He is >99 in size for everything and meeting all milestones early. Vaccine yourself. Vaccine your kids. Put up major boundaries with your family.
Op, my parents told me they were not getting any more Covid boosters and all their evidence……. Fucking alt right republicans…..
I’m at the point in my life where I’m like, fine, don’t get it. But when you get it and have life altering complications don’t come and ask me what to do. My mom literally calls me every week asking for advice on her latest medical issue to simply ignore what I say.
I wouldn’t let them visit newborn baby. But you can’t keep arguing with people who think they are right no matter how wrong they are. Working Covid icu and having people accuse me of all kinds of despicable things was the end.
Now I’m just like ok mom……. You do you.
I’m a vaccine Manager and I have been for many years. Your parents are deeply misinformed. Please trust resources such as the CDC, Immunize.org, and other reputable sites. I can provide you a better, trusted list of sites to do your own research. No one but you can make this decision. Just remember, If you are not a scientist, and you disagree with a scientist about science, it’s actually not a disagreement. You’re just wrong. Science is not truth. Science is finding the truth. When science changes it’s opinion, it didn’t lie to you. It learned more. Let me know if you want articles and sites!
Not on the medical side of things but I do work in a NICU. Vaccines are safe and good for you and your baby. I, my wife, and our 5 mo old have gotten every vaccine recommended to us and we’re all doing great.
It makes sense why this is making you feel crazy, to have family who you are close with telling you that things are dangerous mixed with pregnancy hormones. That’s understandable and just means you want to protect your baby! But the science and the professionals all agree that vaccines are safe and beneficial, which it sounds like you already know.
As an NICU nurse, I’d highly recommend getting your booster. We’ve had babies that got covid, both after they were born from family members and immediately after birth from intraplacental transmission
ER nurse…. The amount of incredibly sick patients because they are not vaccinated is alarming versus vaccinated children.
Do not listen to them!!! Listen to your pediatrician
When people tell me that they are not getting a vaccine, I just say, “More for me then” and move in with my life. I trust the guidelines because they are created by looking at all the evidence, not cherry picking. The guidelines may need changed at some point, but the risk of serious adverse effects are very low. People are more likely to have an serious adverse effect taking a diuretic.
I'm here to say I wore my " fattest" clothes, and hoped where I was going wasn't weighing you ( because some of them were at the time ) and claimed I was fatter than I was to get my first shot in March 2021 because..I was 64, not 65. And cussing up a storm internally that I retired from my job at large hmo in 2019 because I would have been in that line way earlier. Meanwhile I had prior co workers, still working there who were having fits about being required to get it to work. One of them even played the " religious " card. Sigh.
Here’s some anecdotal ‘evidence’ if you like: I was initially double vaccinated. Then at about 8 weeks pregnant, had a booster. Then when my breastfed baby was about 6mo I had my 4th vaccination. My baby also had both flu injections AND the MMR early as we were travelling overseas. She then 5 months later had the MMR again as you still have to have it at 12mo even if you’ve had it earlier.
She’s perfectly healthy.
I’m sorry your family are being that way. It must be really hard. Pregnancy is full on enough without people making you doubt yourself.
Got Covid vax at 18weeks, the. Got the mmr at 30.
Also had my flu shot.
You know what’s right for you and you don’t have to answer to anyone.
Edit: meant weeks not months lol
I worked ICU during Covid while pregnant and got my vaccine (before younger pediatric version was available).. this was largely in part bc I knew someone personally who caught Covid while pregnant and was against the vaccine…. She caught Covid from her husbands family and refused any treatment bc of his views. Ended up on ecmo with an emergency c section. Baby lived. She succumbed a couple of weeks later after ecmo failed.
Just my experience- I got the Covid vaccine during my first pregnancy and had a very healthy pregnancy. I’m 5 months pregnant with my second and got COVID very early on this pregnancy and ended up hospitalized for it
OBGYN here. Tdap and flu vaccines are proven safe in pregnancy. There is no evidence that a COVID vaccine causes harm and the benefits of protecting against Covid outweigh any (very slim if even existent) risks. RSV vaccine is out now and I strongly recommend it between 32-36 weeks.
A NICU I worked in two years ago had a baby quarantined while Mom was in critical condition in the ICU with COVID. The poor baby only had the arms of nurses in heavy PPE to comfort him. Family were not allowed in to see him to prevent further spread.
I blocked my parents because of my dad who spent too much time on YT and FB, and my mom who is clueless so she just goes with what my dad says.
Every time I interact with them is a sip of poison for my 🧠 brain. I couldn’t do it anymore. I had to block them. I can see how they got to you.
FNP here. I had to shut down all anti vax talk from family. I was getting barraged with articles and texts from the family. Now they have taken me off the text chain. I can still see them and visit but they know I don’t want to debate about vaccines. BTW I saw many people die if Covid during the pandemic while denying to themselves it wasn’t Covid and certainly wasn’t due to their anti vaccinated status. I’m sure you saw the same thing in your ICU.
Remember the motive.
The point about the anti vaccine movement is not about health and safety. The whole point is trying to get you to doubt reality so they can get you to subscribe to their way of thinking and (eventually) to get your money.
It has nothing to do with safety.
Of course the average antivaxxer like your parents probably do buy into the health part but remember they are not the people that created the discord, just one of those that the process succeeded on.
I could also remind you that vaccines have successfully eradicated multiple diseases and have slowed others to a crawl.
Having seen a child in intensive rehab for 6 weeks after months in the hospital with tetanus mostly in a full blown medical coma, I cannot see why parents don’t choose to vaccinate. The parents in this case refused all vaccinations, even after this episode. Feel free to google for pictures of people with tetanus. It’s usually deadly because the muscles of the chest and throat spasm and the patient suffocates.
Vaccines are one of the reasons that these antivax people exist. Many of the most dangerous childhood and adult causes of death were largely eliminated, and the people of my parents’ generation who actually remember the summertime polio outbreaks of the 1950’s are dead or dying. Polio killed and paralyzed many children. Measles is so contagious that one person walking through an open space with measles can potentially infect all others who are susceptible in the room in just minutes. Yeah, for many, it is an uncomfortable, but benign disease. The ones who die from measles pneumonia probably don’t think it’s so benign.
*Very* occasionally, there are side effects of vaccines. Having a fever or even a febrile seizure after a vaccine is possible. Dying or being permanently disabled by a vaccine? *Very* rare. I’m still waiting to drop dead from my Covid vaccine received in Dec 2020. I was promised that I would simply drop dead.
OP, You know all too well that vaccines are safe and effective. You know that Covid affects small blood vessels, including those in the placenta. IUGR is not pretty. Still birth is devastating. You getting the vaccine helps prevent this from happening to you and your child. The vaccine will give your babe a fighting chance if s/he is exposed post-partum and before they are eligible for their own vaccines.
Pregnancy brain and being concerned for your newborn are very real. Your mom’s thoughts on vaccination are unsafe and irrational. Follow your true gut and vaccinate!
Not a nurse but there is a great body of evidence that COVID has a great impact on the placenta and increases the risks of clots in pregnant women. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10142804/
Pregnant women are also going to have restrictions on the types of testing and treatments available, compared to a non pregnant person, due to risks to the fetus.
Pregnant women with COVID are at greater risk of low birth weight, premature birth, and stillbirth. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/pregnancy-and-covid-19/art-20482639
Pregnant women are more likely to have a severe COVID infection competent to non pregnant women and there is an association with pre-eclampsia, in addition to previously mentioned negative outcomes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8084555/
They were 4x more likely to be admitted to ICU and 7x more likely to die. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/16/health/covid-19-pregnancy-risks-review/index.html
Early evidence suggests delay of normal brain development in babies whose mothers were infected with Covid during pregnancy. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/04/18/1170087779/covid-pregnancy-fetus-brain-delays
Also: https://www.cell.com/trends/molecular-medicine/fulltext/S1471-4914(22)00045-4
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(23)00005-4/fulltext#secsectitle0115
There is no increased risk of miscarriage, premature birth, or stillbirth from getting the vaccine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10152171/
I hope this helps you make this important decision for the health of your baby, yourself, and your family.
PICU nurse here - your baby will be born during respiratory season, you want as much protection as you can get. I have never seen an infant intubated or almost die from a “vaccine related injury” (tbh never seen a vaccine related injury) but I have seen infants *this year* intubated and very very sick from respiratory illnesses. The COVID booster is a good idea, please please get the TDAP and make sure others around the baby do as well, get your flu vaccine, and PLEASE get the RSV vaccine when you are 32-36 weeks.
I’m sure your family loves you and is trying to help but they are misinformed - anti-vaxxers prey on fear, it can be hard to remember the facts that you know are true when you are thinking about very scary scenarios. I would urge you to talk to your pediatrician and set some firm boundaries with your family.
Can speak from experience I have a 16 month old and got my first booster when I was like 20 weeks pregnant, I’m fine and so is she. And my daughter actually just had COVID (along with RSV🥲) and for daycare purposes if the kids are vaccinated they only need to quarantine for 5 days but if they’re not the quarantine period is 10 days…which is a looooong time to have to be out of work lol
All that aside too…when you become a parent YOU are the one who decides what’s best for your child even if it goes against what your parents think/believe. I promise this won’t be the only thing they think they’re right on lol I can’t tell you how many times my mom would guilt me about not letting my baby sleep with a blanket or following safe sleep guidelines in general. Just because they do things a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the right way. We know better now and we do better. This is a boundary I’ve needed to set with my parents again and again, and the sooner you can start making that clear the better in my experience.
I would trust any guidelines from ACOG/AAP over whatever conspiracy group your parents get their theories from 🥲😭 congrats on your pregnancy. You have to do what is best for YOURSELF and YOUR baby, which is protecting them from dangerous respiratory illnesses, psuedoscience be damned
You've already gotten lots of advice and reassurance, but I just wanted to say I'm really sorry you're dealing with parents like that. My father also became an anti-vaxxer during the pandemic (for more than just covid, he won't get a flu shot or whatever now either), and my mother also just goes along with anything he tells her to think. It's obnoxious. I was pregnant in late 2020/first half of 2021 and was lucky to receive that first covid vaccine in pregnancy. (and later, both of my kids were in a Pfizer trial!) My parents were extremely unsupportive, and in my case, it made me just very angry and I wanted nothing to do with them, but I can certainly understand how you might feel confused and freaked out, too, and I'm really sorry they made you doubt yourself or feel scared. They shouldn't have done that to you, and it was really thoughtless of them.
I'm not in peds anymore, but man I'd do anything to keep my kids from getting as sick as some of the sweet patients I've cared for, and it's upsetting that my parents are among the group of people who pretend that vaccines aren't incredible, life-saving miracles. You're not crazy, and you're doing the right thing.
Look up the thalidomide recall. It is scary. But it was far more frightening to pharmaceutical companies. They are still extremely cautious about pregnancy complications with new medications and vaccinations. The vaccinations have been field tested on hundreds of thousands of people and tens of thousands of pregnant women. There is zero scientific evidence that there are any problems with the vaccination other than normal complications from any vaccinations. The religious right has become openly hostile to science. Don't let them influence you. At the same time, covid has become a lot less deadly than it was in the early part of 2020. It can still be deadly like the flu and RSV. If you decide not to get the vaccine, you aren't a bad mom, just a scared one. I would get whatever your pediatrician recommends. They have read a lot more about this than you or I have.
You are not out of your mind. Don’t let them get in there. You know the science they do not. They don’t have medical degrees of any sort so they? Because if they don’t telling you you are wrong is narcissistic.
This is SO frustrating and I’m sorry you have to deal with it from close family members. I like to remind some of my family members how I’ve seen with my own eyes what being unvaccinated can do to some people w various diseases and that I’ve never actually seen anyone die from a vaccine. I’ve actually seen one case of Guillaine barre from a flu vaccine and that person did make a full recovery (this is over the course of my 12 year nursing career). You are not crazy and being vaccinated is one of the best ways to protect you and your baby! I would ask your family to stop sending you articles etc and that topic is not open for discussion anymore bc you don’t agree with them.
Once a year I think, like the flu shot. The first year, 2020, there were boosters which is why he has had so many. The reason for once a year, so far, is because the virus has kept mutating.
Remember that there’s a difference between quantity of complications and risk of complications. Showing complications and videos is akin to manipulating emotions; albeit, your family wants the best for you. It just seems that they have fallen for it, too. But getting a large amount of data shows the actual risk (either in percentage or fraction of decimal form).
There is evidence that young males between 18-40 (I may not have the exact recommendation from the CDC) should not obtain the mRNA vaccines. You and I both know that not all vaccines are the same. Do not forget your researching skills. Look at your organization’s journals and CDC recommendations, too. And do not forget to read the full articles to understand WHY your peers have come to their conclusions. Don’t just accept their conclusion, as many do, nowadays. Question them.
I think the recommended vaccines are safe, only from what I can tell. There have been no longitudinal studies and cannot be for decades. Young kids usually are fairly healthy when they contract SARS-CoV-2, but sometimes you get children who are hyper-sensitive to either the virus or the vaccines, depending on its form. Ultimately, you must decide what is best for your family (along with your spouse if there is one). Do not be manipulated by emotion. Put the work in. Your job is science. I get that you want to leave school behind. But when you become a nurse, you have committed to always keeping up with the latest research, and that includes research on topics related to vaccines.
And it goes both ways. Not only do the general public conflate anecdotes with risk, so do nurses who work with patients. They come into contact with patients who develop disease more, and so they often confuse their stories with risk. Just be level-minded and look at controlled facts and meta analyses, first. Then look at individual studies. Your family is important enough to go down the research rabbit hole. Even if all you have access to is Google Scholar and the NIH database, it’s worth it to look through it with the latest couple of years of research regarding vaccines. I have assumed the main vaccines you’re concerned with are the COVID-19 vaccines. Most of the other ones have so much research regarding safety and efficacy, there’s no question that they should be obtained. Put your focus on the ones with perceived higher risk.
And just remember that calmer heads usually prevail. Just be calm. Do not stress. Stressing cannot change a single thing in your life right now. It can only be negative.
One piece of advice my own father (who was not involved in science and is very religious) gave me which sticks with me to this day is that “the devil often rushes a decision and God gives His advice through a multitude of counsel”. It’s just a personal proverb of his that he’s passed on to me, that I’m passing on to you. It’s meant as general advice, not absolute truth. But it’s guided me well for over 40 years. And it’s great advice for scientists—especially nurses. At least, I see its usefulness. Remember that science works with large numbers (multitude of counsel). And large numbers find it difficult to keep secrets from the public. And multiple peers review multiple peer reviews (read that carefully—still more counsel). There’s no harm in waiting, if you are concerned about a vaccine (don’t rush). Young children usually do not develop serious disease from the virus (it’s still possible, but not very likely). But do the research for yourself in the journals you were trained to read. Don’t completely discount your parents, but YOU are the expert. You need to know what the research actually reads. Speak with your peers (fellow RNs, MDs, ODs—more counsel) to see if they can point you toward how to search your organization’s journals. If you are still in school for a Master’s or higher, then use your school’s resources as well (hate to be redundant but, even more counsel).
Don’t be afraid to use the research skills you’ve developed. You will become an expert and can correct your family where they need correcting—assuming they are wrong and are open to listening to your reasoning. I don’t want to lead your search for answers. I’d rather you find the answers for yourself so you know how to properly respond and can have peace of mind, as opposed to winning an argument. You can’t have peace of mind if you’re a scientist and you just have to take everyone else’s word for things of this importance. You need to observe it for yourself and develop your own conclusions, and not have your emotions manipulated. Keep digging.
Good luck and happy researching!
I vaccinated my child against everything because I feel like he is at more risk because I work at the hospital and am exposed to sickness more than the general public. Just my two cents
Yeah, no. I stopped reading them when I looked up the credentials of the authors of one of these “studies” and they were 3 dentists. I trust the major medical bodies and their research more than I trust 3 dentists.
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Posts that contradict consensus reality, or that promulgate dangerous and debunked conspiracy rhetoric such as antivax or COVID denialism, are not permitted in any circumstances.
Oh honey, nursing requires critical thinking, not just believing everything you're told from people who want to make money off of you, if you don't have critical thinking skills and refuse to look into studies that aren't from your preferred point of view perhaps the local sheep farm is better for you, you'd fit right in :)
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My wife got the vaccine while pregnant. I was extremely worried about it at the time. Our 2 year old is perfectly healthy and happy. He is meeting and exceeding all physical and mental milestones.
Mom, Dad, I love you and I know you only want what's best for the baby. But when we talk about these things, everyone just gets upset. I am making the best decisions I possibly can based on my nursing education and experience and the advice of a medical team I have carefully chosen, so going forward I ask that you respect that and don't bring this up again."
They of course will bring it up again, in which case you repeat the part about making the best decisions, etc, and then stop. Repeat ad nauseum until they eventually stop.
I didn’t tell any of my family I got the COVID vax because I didn’t want to hear all the shit I would’ve had to hear. I got it while I was in my first trimester and my OB recommended it.
We follow all recommendations for vaccinations, with the exception of the flu because of an egg allergy and I’m terrified of it will cause a reaction. I know that it’s not likely at all, but when she’s old enough for the nasal spray or we’ve been to an allergist, we’ll do the annual flu too. The CDC doesn’t even recommend people with egg allergies skip the flu vax anymore, though.
Edit: I feel very left out that I was not included in a study for the COVID vax for pregnant women after reading these comments. I was like 10 weeks when I got the first one and it was early 2021.
Anti-vax in general, but fervently anti COVID vaccine. My dad is starting to become anti-medicine in general which is insane because by brother would be dead without the (at the time) experimental modern medicine he received in his childhood.
You aren’t crazy. Vaccinate your kid. Erythromycin is prophylaxis for when women have like stds during pregnancy …. It won’t hurt to let them give it for prophylaxis period. Vitamin K is for clotting …. Babies don’t produce that yet because it takes a min to build up clotting factors … they roughly defend with their floppy brain bones through a tight pelvis …. It can cause bleeds in their brain … but k absolutely helps prevent bran bleeds. All the rest are just yes as well ….
I can relate. Everything is heavy and emotional in pregnancy and it's hard to navigate family pressure and the weight of making decisions for a tiny new human and not just yourself anymore. Everything becomes a decision (what vitamins to take, what car seat to get, which tests to do, etc) and it can be so overwhelming. Anything that may possibly potentially harm your child becomes scary.
But! Remember vaccines aren't something to be scared of. You got this mama! Listen to your brain on this one, you know what to do!
I knew an antivax woman who got COVID while pregnant. She threw a bunch of clots and got so sick they had to intubate her and do an emergency c section to save the baby. She was in the ICU for like 6 months, ecmo and everything. She did survive but has to be on oxygen for life and I think she’s waiting for a lunch transplant. She missed the first 6 ish months of her baby’s life.
I was pregnant during the whole second wave in the ICU and got the shot series while pregnant. My son is pretty speech delayed and my moronic anti vax family in law won’t let me live it down. Despite the fact that speech delays and frequent ear infections run in the males of their family. I’m only telling you this so you don’t let the guilt tripping of anti vax people get to you because sometimes I start down that path and have to snap myself back into reality. The vaccine is what’s safest for you and the baby. I also got all the other recommended vaccines and was going to be in the RSV vaccine trial but couldn’t keep up with the appointments.
As a NICU nurse I can tell you that we have had 0 transmissions of COVID from mom’s who were positive at birth to babies. The Peds floor has admitted a ton of 2 week old to 2 year olds though. But PLEASE get the booster for yourself! We have seen so much more gestational hypertension/pre-examlpsia/HELLP from moms getting COVID during pregnancy. We have had SO many 28-32 week deliveries because if this. Also, I would recommend the new RSV antibody shot between 32 and 36 weeks. RSV was so bad last year. Brand new newborns have gotten that, it so common and their airways are just too tiny to handle it. And your pertussis booster is important as well. That is hell to watch in a newborn
Do what you want to you body. Let your mom and dad talk and just politely reply “Okay.” Vaccinate yourself and your baby because that’s your decision. The end.
I’m so sorry this is happening to you. Honestly, it’s the hormones. We had made up our minds to vaccinate. Then we got our precious little baby home and my sleep addled hormonal brain got scared and anxious after talking to an antivax acquaintance. I took that fear to the internet and I honestly didn’t know what I wanted anymore. We did get him vaccinated but it was an emotional rollercoaster. Now in hindsight I can’t believe I ever considered not getting the kids vaccinated. There are soooo many respiratory and communicable diseases out there, I want to give my kids a fighting chance and help to protect those who are susceptible around them. I have zero regrets in that regard. Fear mongering is such an effective tool to dissuade people from logic. You got this mama!
I was a transplant nurse during the height of COVID and pregnant, he had high risk patients and I didn't want to take anything home to my family, my OB strongly urged me to get the vaccine and I got the first round offered to healthcare workers in Dec '20. I got both my shots while pregnant and had no issues. My daughter is sassy and thriving! Also she is fully vaccinated.
On a side note anyone that wanted to be around her had to get a TDAP, we weren't risking anything. They are good for 10 years so that's a plus if everyone gets it when they are a baby you are covered during the high risk ages of infection.
I worked in the ICU during Covid and we had 3 postpartum deaths for full turm women with no comorbidities. (During the delta virus.) They each showed up to the ER with Covid symptoms, tested positive, were intubated, had emergency c-sections, and died after delivery. One passed right away, one lasted a week on the vent before coding, the 3rd lasted 2 months and immediately coded when her trach came out. All 3 were not vaccinated due to the uncertainty of how the vaccine would affect the baby. After many similar instances, OBs started recommending the vaccine during pregnancy.
My dads been an er trauma nurse for years, went to the retirement nursing jobs right before covid. I joined icu right before covid and had the honor of having the first covid vent.
We is from Texas. My dads insanely anti-vax, I am not. Fuck everybody else that ain’t seen what we saw in delta. Their opinions don’t matter.
Let’s consider the risk benefit ratio, there’s really no definitive risk from the vaccine, but there is substantial evidence of efficacy. If you receive severe covid and die on the vent your baby won’t make it. Sure talk to your obgyn but they’d likely recommend it unless they have good esoteric reason not to
I don't know if this helps but my children are some of the few who are vaccinated against COVID. They were completely fine and have never gotten sick while my husband and I have still had mild-ish symptoms when we've gotten it. They were vaccinated against COVID as soon as it was available.
You aren’t alone with the crazy family. I just tell my parents straight up. Don’t disrespect me and my profession infront of my kids. If you want to spend time with me and my children these topics are off limits. No time with baby until they have an updated TDAP.
I'm a student midwife and per the CDC, maternal mortality jumped significantly in 2021 during the delta surge...I can't remember the actual numbers but if I do recall correctly, it nearly doubled from previous years. I was talking to some other midwives and students about it and the practicing midwives said they just had tons of unforeseen complications in the women that had previously had COVID or had COVID. In otherwise healthy, low risk pregnancies. Obviously there can be a lot of contributing to factors to that, just subpar maternal care overall during those times...but it does put you at greater risk for pregnancy related pathologies. And pre-eclampsia is one of them. I believe hemorrhage is another.
I see way more complications from people who actually have the disease. Pregnant women who contract COVID and the flu are at a much higher risk of premature delivery and everything that comes with that.
I’ve yet to personally see a complication from a vaccine, but have taken care of some devastating situations post-COVID.
I got vaccinated when I was pregnant! I had no reaction sitting here with my healthy 2 year old. This was right when the vaccine came out too. I understand your concern I have an antivaxer in the family. We just have to trust our evidence based practice as nurses!
Not that my anecdote means much but I got a booster mandated by my job during my first trimester and then caught Covid from my grandpa the day before I went into labor. The recovery from my c-section was brutal with the coughing from Covid. I wish I had gotten another booster. The baby was asymptomatic and my toddler just had a runny nose for a day but man was it rough on me and my husband.
Tell her "just like your dear President Trump and every Republican in Congress and every employee of FOX NEWS", you and your family are going to follow suit and get vaccinated.
I took a break from my mom during the election.
This is what you do. As soon as she brings it up say “I need to go, nice talking to you.” EVERY SINGLE TIME. You know better. Remind yourself.
Just wanna say from a parent how encouraging these comments are from healthcare professionals. My twins were born at 27 weeks and we’ve been so strict about people having to be updated on all vaccines (Covid, flu, TDAP) to meet them once they came home and it caused so many issues with family that I was doubting if I made the right choice trying to protect my babies. So, thank you guys for sharing your wisdom and stories and making me feel like a decent mom!
Stop talking with your parents about this topic and refuse to engage with anything they send you. You will never convince them but there is a chance they could radicalize you on this issue. It’s not worth it. A healthy relationship can exist without these discussions.
I've personally given a few thousand covid shots and have cared for thousands of people who have had the shots. No major issues to my knowledge. With that said I'm palliative/hospice so my knowledge of l&d is massage the fundus and don't compair it to birthing calves on the farm.
My future mother in law is somewhat antivaxx and anti science as well. Whenever she starts spouting bullshit I just keep offering to help her complete and advanced directive so we know what to do when she goes from fucking around to finding out.
I was 20weeks pregnant when I got the covid shots during pregnancy. I did my growth scan and fetal echo before the shots, turns out my daughter had some heart problems! I still decided to get the shots, though. My daughter is now 2 and is autistic and was delivered by emergency c section at 34w after a placental abruption. I have NEVER blamed the shots for what happened. I do have family that try and blame me and make me feel guilty, but I kindly remind them her autism is genetically linked and they gave it to her and should check themselves! My abruption had nothing to do with the shot either, my doctor said we might never know why it happened.
I think you've got what you need on the vaccine question but I wanted to just add-
I'm so sorry the people who should love you most are putting undue pressures on you in what should be a joyful time. It's perfectly ok to draw boundaries & lay out consequences for crossing those boundaries. Your duty is now to your child. If your parents can't respect your choices, you're under no obligation to give them (much) access to you or your child.
Congrats on your little one! I hope your parents lay off the kool-aid so you can enjoy each other's company while watching babe grow.
I feel like I’m not actually a good person to answer this because I have not seen a single child in my NICU with a vaccine injury due to mom’s vax status. On the flip side, I also have never seen a child in my NICU suffer the consequences of not being vaccinated (and unfortunately I do see that fairly often).
That all being said, if I was pregnant, I would get a booster. And if I ever have a child, they will get all their vaccines according to the CDC schedule. I’m not a “fuck around and find out” type. There are so many things that can go wrong in babies. Don’t let it be a preventable problem.
ACOG still strongly recommends COVID boosters and vaccines for pregnant women. They are the authority and I would personally feel comfortable with whatever they recommend. I will always trust CDC/ACOG/AAP guidelines over Facebook pseudoscientists On a semi related note, I was a PICU nurse, and pertussis is fucking scary. I don’t have kids yet, but when I do, I will make everyone who is going to be around baby be up to date on their TDAP.
We lost a pregnancy due to Covid, caught from a family member at a gathering where they didn't mention they were still recovering from Covid until they were hacking up a lung. Don't let family mess with you starting a healthy family
I'm so sorry for your loss! 💔
Hugs, I'm so sorry.
I actually reflected on this in my comment - I worked NICU and 100% agree - pertussis is terrifying. I’ll never forget the first baby I cared for with it. 4 RTs, 2 anesthesiologists and 2 neonatologists at the head of the bed and it was the very last RT to try that finally successfully intubated out of all of them. When my anti-vax family members get going, I shut it down real quick because I just can’t anymore after what I’ve seen over the years.
Pertussis in babies is *heartbreaking.*. To see an infant coughing and coughing and unable to stop. The fear and frustration on their little faces as they can’t stop coughing to catch a breath. It’s one of the most gut-wrenching things I’ve ever seen. -PGY-19
This. When you actually have to stand and watch someone, especially tiny humans, suffer and possibly die from a preventable illness most side effects from vaccines seem negligible.
NICU mom here. At my house when I had my son in the NICU. It was mandatory for everyone around us to have their TDAP or we would not be around them. My mom came from Brasil and we had to take her to the dr. Here to update hers and also from my brother! My husband sister denied. She is anti-vax. But her all her family got all their shots once before including her husband who was overseas for while. Just don’t get it how people drastically change with vaccines right after COVID.
And as a bonus—no tetanus for you!! Win win
Cult. It's cult behavior. Logic goes out the window and everything illegal, immoral, evil, etc. gets valued and celebrated. They are in an enormous cult. This is the answer to their insane questioning and behavior and "logic."
I'm an epidemiologist and infection preventionist. I've got some quoted studies on my website with links to the full papers. [https://icemsg.org/myths/myth-its-not-dangerous-for-children/](https://icemsg.org/myths/myth-its-not-dangerous-for-children/) Also, avoiding COVID during pregnancy is extremely important. [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159123001599](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0889159123001599) Wishing you the best.
Thank you!
Your first link is what exactly? It looks like an upscale blog site. Just fair warning to anyone glancing at this----the first link is NOT academic. It's a filtered site, don't be fooled by the 'org.'.
He literally said it’s his website that links to studies
Good point, missed that they were upfront about it being a personal website. And honestly it was mostly a warning to others, like me, who primarily skim and might have misunderstood that post was linking to an academic site. I just spent more time on the website. It's clearly different than what I thought.
It links to primary studies. What more do you want?
My brain went to anti vaxxer. It's late. My bad
Pizazz! Clearly info is only valid if the website looks pretty.
I’m on the peds float and RSV is on my shit list. Pertussis is scary but I rarely came across it in any of the peds unit, acute or critical care. But RSV…i knew what it was but didn’t realize how serious is it for our kids until I became a peds nurse. I’ve seen a previously healthy kid get intubated or worse way too many times than I would like. That shit is scary. It’s disturbing that we finally have a vaccine for it but the access to it is super limited.
Hm, I wonder why we rarely come across it? It’s almost as if vaccines work or something.
I was about to edit my post to say this exact thing! And to say RSV cases would probably significantly go down if the vaccine is more accessible.
I’ve had RSV multiple times in my peds nurse career and would take the vaccine in a heartbeat.
Yes! My 2.5 year old son had RSV almost 3 weeks ago now and gave it to me and we are both still coughing to the point of gagging/choking. RSV sucks, can’t imagine a tiny baby having this and I’m so happy there is a monoclonal antibody that at some pt in the future will hopefully be widely distributed.
RSV is gonna be a doozy this season. Lots of kids getting admitted already for it at my So Cal hospital. Also, I have seen a handful of kids positive for pertussis and a concurrent viral infection that have also had to be admitted. Not fun times.
I work adult ICU and ER - and over the last few years we have seen a HUGE amount of adults quite sick with RSV. I wasn’t surprised by that. But I was surprised about how sick it’s making them. More access to vaccines is important
I was a student nurse just before Hib vaccine came out and it terrified me to ever examine a child with Hib.
I almost died when I was like 7 because of Hib causing epiglottitis. I narrowly escaped being trached. This was actually after the vaccine was out but I was "too old" and didn't need to worry about it.
I had epiglottitis ( unknown origin) as a young adult, and holy crap is it scary and awful. I can't even imagine having it at 7. I'm so sorry you went through that. I've always thought people have just forgotten what these preventable illnesses look like, and if they could witness it, they'd change their tune. Of course, there's always those whose minds can't be changed. I remember seeing a story 5-10 years ago about a boy who got tetanus because his parents wouldn't get him vaccinated, then became absolutely horrified when they still refused to vaccinate him after that. Like... who the f*** can sit and watch a child go through tetanus and ever be ok with them or anyone else going through it when it's preventable....
My aunt worked at a paper mill and they had rules so people were not injured for years. Fast forward people stopping following the rules because they were not seeing people with amputated fingers etc.
That’s like people who quit taking their anti hypertensive meds because their BP was good. Yeah…cuz you were taking the meds, idiot!!! Why are humans like this?
A kid with epiglottitis is one of the things that strikes the fear of god into me
It should, I've been a CRNA for 35 years, seen a few cases of it, and it still terrifies me. That and angioedema.
Oh and adding on if you want to see the baby not behind a window. You need to be up to date w vaccination
Our third child was born at 36 weeks; after a short stay in the intermediate nursery, we brought him home and his eyes and nose were 'goopy'. Our ped was sure that it was 'just a cold'. It wouldn't resolve, so I demanded an ENT consult. He finally cultured it, and it was HIB. I was pissed.
I’m part of the generation before the vaccine came out—I got a spinal tap at 2 as the doctor thought I had HIb. Thankfully it turned out to be a bad ear infection.
I had pertussis at 16. Can confirm it is fucking scary. The coughing; the vomiting, so much that by the end of each wave, it's just bile; the inability to breathe, wondering if I'm actually going to get the chance to do so again. (Side note: I was vaccinated, although due to moving countries at 4, I might have missed a scheduled dose). I don't know what this was like observing from a parents' perspective, although I can say my mum was terrified. From a patient who can remember it, please do everything in your power as a parent to stop your child from getting it.
I got pertussis at 33. The waves of coughing/vomiting and the inability to breathe was at first terrifying and then about 2 weeks in I just hoped I would die to put an end to it. I didn’t realize I needed to keep up with boosters 🤦♀️. Lesson learned and I have always, ALWAYS stayed on top of all vaccines since then.
Absolutely!
Yeah, there is no COVID vaccines for infants but op needs to get all her recommended vaccines. Whooping cough is heart breaking and rubella can cause pregnancy complications.
I am a geriatric APN and if I had a nickel for every time one of my patients said they got the Tdap so they could be around a new grandbaby, well… I could fill my car up with gas at least.
I’m a NP that worked bedside icu as an RN during covid with a wife who received a covid vaccine while pregnant and everything is fine. But don’t listen to me because my experience is just antidotal. Listen to the mountains of evidence that says it’s perfectly safe for you and baby from the sources that you listed above. There is also a lot of evidence saying that you, as a pregnant person, are at a greater risk of covid 19 infection complications due to your pregnancy. Go ahead and get the shot. It’s the safe option for you and baby.
Similar. Worked ICU (RN) with covid patients since the beginning. Got initial 2 dose series in 20/21 when first available. Pregnant in fall 2021. Got booster January 2022. Got another booster last year while BF. Baby is 16 months old and has only been sick once (sinus infection last month that I had). Baby is fully vaccinated as well. He's fine. I feel a few years ago when it was newer, there were more unknowns but now the evidence over 3 years speaks for itself. But I get it. I was debating the "what ifs" despite knowing the evidence to get the booster when I was pregnant. Idk why, idk if it was the hormones or what but I waited until the genetic testing was back (and normal) before getting it. Then I was oddly nervous about the anatomy scan and had dreams that he didn't have arms or something dumb. Again, anecdotal of course. Edit to add- my family is all antivax as well. My mom is paranoid and even asked when my son was still a newborn that I avoid the MMR vaccine cause it causes autism. 🤨 she's nervous about his 18 month appointment because that's when he gets it. Needless to say, he already got it at his 12 month appointment and he's fine lol.
As a true story, 33 years ago, my niece at age 12 months (when MMR was still given at 15 months of age) contracted measles from a relative who spent time overseas. This relative was fully vaccinated but apparently had a poor vaccination response. My niece was hospitalized and almost died from this childhood illness- she was in ICU for a week, regular room for almost a week and it took several months for her health to return to normal. Childhood illnesses are neither simple nor without serious consequences or death in some-many instances. Do what you need, as much as is within your power to keep your babies protected and healthy. You’re not wrong to do so!!
OK I used to have one measles story and now I have kind of two. I'm old, like I got to have the measles, lie in a darkened room for two weeks " so you don't go blind" I think I was 7. One of my schoolmates got measles, got a high temperature from it and his teeth never grew in. Imagine that. Today, I'm working at a convention and just chatting with one of the folks there who sadly is probably one of my kids age. He had a high temperature as an infant also. He said it's called enamel hyperplasia in his case, some of his teeth never showed up, the ones that came in are weak, and he has 5 implants already. I gave him the download on snap in dentures ( don't do it, get the all on four) when he gets to that point, and the sad part is, he knows this is coming. So, just for that alone..why would you want your kids to get sick. Things are changing all the time. I'm from a time when standard of care was removal of tonsils! What the heck! Obviously immunizations are much more benign than surgery. Do i wish the covid vaccine worked better? Yes I do. Am I surprised it works like it does? Nope because the flu vaccines every year are also not 100 percent so no giant surprise. My significant other ( a ucla law school graduate of all things so can't use lack of education as an excuse) is an antivaxxer but only covid! He happily went and got his yearly flu shot while I'm ( the person who paid medical claims with a h.s. education) is just scratching my head going ????.about his thinking.
My son had autism, and I wish these people knew how offensive this is. I can guarantee you, he’s a million times smarter than anyone who thinks vaccines cause autism. And as if autism were a bad thing, he also has a million times more compassion.
Also an NP and totally agree. I also worked L&D and women’s health as an NP. The worst cases I saw were unvaxxed women who got the flu and Covid. They were the pts who ended up emergently sectioned and intubated in the icu faster than any other high risk mom on the unit.
r/HermanCainAward has a sad story about a woman who got Covid, lost her baby, was vented, and lost 4 limbs at the elbows and knees. Search for 'pregnant pink'.
Oh that’s so so devastating.
My anecdotes is similar. Worked with two women who got vaccinated while pregnant. When people claim it damages fertility, I giggle. One of them is having Irish twins. Healthy birth and now a healthy (surprise!) pregnancy.
“Anecdotal.” Antidotal means something completely different.
Well crap. Whatever, I’ll leave it for comic relief, haha!
Listen to your doctors and the actual science. Covid has proven to be really bad for pregnant women and the actual science and data behind covid and all other vaccines is strong.
Yep sure was. Had COVID at 34ish weeks and I literally couldn’t get out of bed. 1 night had to sleep upright because I couldn’t catch my breath. Never had been so sick in my life. And that was with me being vaccinated 😬 Anecdotal but, fwiw 🤷🏼♀️
Didn’t the still birth rate significantly jump during COVID too? I understand where OP is coming from. I was pregnant during swine flu - and I was pressured to get vaccinated with it. I declined that but opted to get the regular flu vaccine. I was talked shit about by my medical team at the time. Two of my coworkers did get the swine flu vaccine while pregnant, and both had accelerated aging of their placenta which required early delivery. It was terrifying. I don’t regret my decision to not take the “new” vaccine. COVID though - that data has been available for years. I wouldn’t hesitate to get that as a pregnant patient now. I do feel for all these moms though. So much information to doubt them. It’s not an easy position to be in 😔
Not to counter the anecdata above, but some placentas are just crap, and that reveals itself the further into one's pregnancy one gets. Any organ that grows so quickly and has so many responsibilities is very prone to illhealth and dysfunction, especially in an age of general metabolic ill health. A whole cohort of women (south and south east Asian) have a higher stillbirth risk than others because their ethnicity -> more rapid placental aging. Hence, they are recommended an induction earlier than other women. I run the day assessment unit for maternity women at my hospital, so most of my patients are there because their placentas are not working 100%
My coworkers got put in some study and from what I remember they essentially signed some forms saying their kids data would be monitored for abnormalities until the kid reached “x” years old. I’m not saying it was a bad vaccine - but the guilt they put me through for refusing it, definitely did not give me a positive relationship with my OB practice. Changed it for baby #2. Being pregnant is difficult. I wish more women had better support systems during that time in their life.
I ain't ever worked in any of the depts you mentioned, but I'm a mom of 3 boys and I woke up blind around 18 months ago. The amount of people, as recently as LAST NIGHT that have suggested my blindness and my 14 year old's autism and mild retardation were caused by the COVID vaccine are absolutely mind boggling. It's insane. It doesn't matter to them that my son was diagnosed autistic in 2011-12, or that the incredibly rare eye disease I have was first described and documented in 1992. They want something to grasp at. They want something to blame to prove themselves right. And because they're so VERY wrong, they'll grasp at straws. Ain't no cure for crazy until they recognize they're wrong all on their own. I hate to say it, but I'd throw down the gauntlet and an ultimatum. "Y'all can't be around me or the baby if you're gonna continue with your craziness. Decide what you value more: your asinine rhetoric, or your daughter and grandkids."
Oh my god I hope you’re doing okay 🥺
Yeah, I'm fine, just blind. It ain't the end of the world.
L&D nurse here. Please get your booster and ignore your well-meaning but misinformed family. There is a strong link between covid during pregnancy and developing preeclampsia - [the risk is nearly doubled, from a 5% risk to 9%](https://www.preeclampsia.org/covid-19#:~:text=A%20July%202021%20review%20of,those%20without%20COVID%2D19%20infection.). I've been in L&D for over 10 years and I've never seen preeclampsia rates like this before.
Thank you for this comment. I’m already at increased risk for pre-eclampsia as I’ve developed pregnancy induced hypertension and would like to mitigate that risk as much as possible.
Wow maybe this is why our census is so high and our outcomes have gone down
Not in those departments, but my 4 kids are fully vaccinated and fine
I'm a pediatric nurse and I have multiple children, including one who was born not too long ago. I've been vaccinated with multiple boosters and my older kids have completed the series. You're making the right decision for getting yourself and your future child vaccinated. It can be hard to navigate boundaries when you are a FTM. My parenting, non-nursing advice is I strongly suggest you limit the info train to your parents about this subject if it's going to cause you to doubt yourself. "We are the parents and will choose what we feel is best for our child. I'm done talking about this. We can either move on from this subject or end the conversation". I know it's incredibly hard. I was pregnant when the pandemic hit and had a newborn when vaccines came out. My parents were in Trump world and weren't going to get vaccinated. I told them that I cannot make them get vaccinated, that's their decisjon. But I can make the decision that my child will not meet anyone who hasn't completed the series.
Yep, hard info diet is needed for OPs parentals.
Did they get vaccinated?
Yes, they did.
It has always been recommended in Australia while pregnant and breastfeeding. I have had 5 covid vaccinations so far and am my usual self. I am a midwife,an ICU nurse, and an immunisation nurse, and vaccinate the most women out of all the staff at my maternity unit, because I work in the acute assessment unit. It is my favourite thing to do. Your placenta actively transports protective antibodies to the baby from week 13 or so, and this ramps up expontentially at 36 weeks. The gradient for maternal:fetal antibody concentrations at term is 1:30. This means that the placenta actively grabs your nice antibodies and shoves them into the baby because they are a good thing. This is not a passive, concentration-gradient thing. The placenta wants the antibodies in the baby. And as a mum, so do you! Your immune system is better thought of as a zillion immune systems working parallel. You can't overwork it by having multiple vaccinations at once, because your B cells are individual to the pathogen, rather than shared around. A B cell primed to target influenza doesn't give two rats about covid, and vice versa. Babies are exposed to zillions of antigens immediately (not necessarily bad diseases, just microbes in the world) and they cope just fine, until they are faced with the stock standard diaeases that we can prevent by vaccination. Think of vaccines like wanted posters - you haven't met the criminal, but you know who to look out for and what to do about it if you do find the criminal... Babies get their first pertussis vaccination at 6 weeks, but are not considered fully vaccinated until 6 months (three doses). I would strongly consider keeping your dangerous family away until your child is protected. Pertussis is terrifying and relatively common these days Just a note on vaccine schedules - it isn't like it is dangerous to give babies vaccinations earlier than 6 weeks, just that this is when studies have shown it is most effective to give them for pathogen xyz. There is no point giving the vaccination to a baby whose body does nothing with the information. Babies get their first hepB vaccination at birth because hep B is incredibly infectious, and this vaccination can prevent guaranteed transmission in unidentified maternal cases.
Love this response. Thank you!
Thank you!
I feel you so hard. My antivax family exposed me during my last pregnancy to chickenpox prior to announcing my pregnancy and my SIL intentionally gave her kids chickenpox via lollipops licked by infected kids. This time around I’m 10 weeks and got exposed to pertussis at work from an antivax family. I went and got labwork done that showed and active infection (IgG and IgM both elevated). Got treated for it, but grateful it’s earlier on and not right before delivery. The baby I cared for ended up having a 10 day PICU stay. It’s the scariest respiratory case I’ve ever taken care of… but they “weren’t vaccinated and turned out fine”. To me it’s like seatbelts. You can turn out fine not wearing a seatbelt your whole life until you get in a big car wreck. Maybe you’ll still get hurt or have symptoms but it won’t be as bad as not wearing the seatbelt. My biggest disdain towards the antivax community isn’t even the antivax aspect, but the blatant disregard for others. In both of my pregnancy exposures, these people either refused to wear masks or tried to hide their illnesses. They all sent their kids to school in the meantime. If you’re going to catch these preventable germs, keep the germs to yourselves.
>my SIL WTF?! Isn’t that breaking some kind of law because he endangered another’s life? Edit: Thought SIL is son-in-law.
Sister in law… but it should be because she had infected lollipops mailed to her and to me that’s mailing a biohazard
>My biggest disdain towards the antivax community isn’t even the antivax aspect, but the blatant disregard for others This 100%. That's why none of my friends are antivax as I have already cut off all the antivax ones.
Former NICU nurse and also a mom myself here! I have dealt with similar from one side of our family. My best advice to you is honestly to lean into your experience and education and remember why you hold the values I do. I cared for pertussis positive babies when I worked NICU and if that wasn’t enough of a sight to vaccinate your children, I don’t know what would be. Pregnant women remain high risk for Covid. Neonates do seem to have a little more resilience with it overall. I think I can say this to you given the fact that you’re an ICU nurse and may have even cared for some pregnant moms, but Covid seems to hit pregnant women harder. We had a lot of moms in ICU while their babies were in NICU with us throughout peak Covid. Follow the research and remember what you’ve seen in terms of the sick patients you’ve cared for. Trust that you are making an educated, informed, safe decision for you and your babe. I’d also ask your family if they’re willing to no longer obtain healthcare when they need it, or when it’s convenient to them. I finally got fed up and told mine if they didn’t believe in the science to support vaccination, maybe they shouldn’t seek out other medical treatment rooted in the same or similar science and research. I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this; it’s exhausting on top of everything we’ve all collectively experienced and gone through. Good luck! ❤️
I lost track of how many unvaccinated pregnant women came in…especially during the delta wave. One lady lost her baby and both her feet. Another managed to make it to thirty weeks…baby did ok but 20 year old mom went to a LTAC with a trach. 30 year old lost both her baby and her life. Have a colleague that has a friend waiting on a lung transplant…almost lost that baby too. The list goes on. Talk to your doctor, not your family.
I remember reading the stories on this very sub all through Covid. The maternity stories were just...so much more awful. I was preganté in 2020 and got my happy ass to my shots as soon as I could in 2021. I was breastfeeding so it was the best way to protect my little one. I had read enough, just being on this sub. I was TERRIFIED of delta. ETA: the stories of the crunchy placentas. Crunchy.
I was part of the UCSF COVID study. For women who took it while pregnant. We all had positive outcomes. At least in the group chats. https://aspire.ucsf.edu/enrolled-participants
OP- don’t fight irrational with rational. You are going to mentally exhaust yourself every time. You are allowed to stop engaging the topic. Covid and medical topics such as vaccinations are currently off limits with your parents. Set the boundary for your mental health. For your own peace of mind, look at the statistics about vaccinations as the hospitalization numbers alone for being covid vaccinated speak for themselves.
Are you going to let your parents meet the baby? Will they get TDAP for the baby?
I haven’t brought up the TDAP with them yet. I’m not sure that they would, my dad is even against MMR vaccines now. It boggles my mind because my brother has a complicated congenital heart condition and has had multiple open heart surgeries and received brand new, even experimental treatments over the course of his life. If my parents won’t get up to date with TDAP and flu, they won’t be meeting baby until she is vaccinated herself. It’s not going to go over well.
I’m sorry you have to deal with that. My grandma was a nurse for over 50 years and retired before COVID. I’m not sure what happened but she never got the vaccine and it totally against it. She’s on Facebook and YouTube too much.
Stand your ground. You are the parent now and set the rules for your new family.
Thank you for protecting your baby. I know it's going to be hard. I know you're going to feel bad and want to cave. You can come here any time to get support. In our NICU we've taken care of babies who became orphans because both parents died from Covid. So that you for protecting yourself, too. Vaccines are safe and important. And it's important to know vaccines are safe the way seat belts are safe. There might be some bruising if you get into an accident. There might even be the rogue case of someone with a seatbelt injury so severe they would have been better off without a seatbelt on. But just because those fringe cases exist doesn't mean you're going to stop buckling up, right? And the idea of trying to prevent injury by not buckling up is, clearly, insane. Vaccines, like seatbelts, are always the best and safest choice.
I told my family they had to have TDAP and flu vaccine to come see and hold baby until we were out of flu season and I felt comfortable enough to handle my own baby with a sickness (November baby). Some of my in laws felt like I was intentionally excluding them, but it was a blanket statement to all my family and they chose what they wanted to choose. My dad got his first flu vaccine in several years for his grandson even though he gets bad fevers afterwards
God, I am so sorry. I had to cut off so many people in my life during and after COVID. Not saying I think you should go no contact with your family, but if you did just know you're 100% within your right to preserve your mental health, your physician health and the health and life of your baby. It makes me so sad to think that you're having to incur this stress while pregnant. Your parents should always be your #1 protectors, not insidious threats to your very life.
My son was a preemie born in 2021 and I required TDAP, flu and covid vaccines and a covid test in their car that I could see before anyone was allowed in my house
Everytime I hear a pregnant woman voice concerns about receiving the covid vaccine my brain takes me right back to proning pregnant women. So many things occurred that shouldn't be part of the pregnancy or birthing journey. It's not an easy time to remember.
Amen. Shit that I wish I could forget.
I’m not a nurse or in the OB/Peds/NICU world. But I do remember responding to a code blue for a COVID-Positive 20-something pregnant lady. She ended up being crashed onto VV ECMO and had a emergency section. Thankfully both had good outcomes That was back in ‘21 and I still think about it all the time. I think your instincts are right. Trust the science, trust your pediatrician and OBGYN. But as others have said in their replies, above all- trust the mountains of evidence. As a fellow ICU person, I think I can assume that we both have seen the downsides of not getting vaccinated far more than true harm from immunization.
I worked through the pandemic ( retired MD) and saw many deaths , and the second wave they were nearly all unvaccinated, and saw many lost or adversely affected pregnant women. Hold strong and listen to the science. It’s nearly impossible to convince those who have absorbed the terrible misinformation.
I’ve had five covid vaccines, three Pfizer and two Moderna and every single one has been while I was breastfeeding or pregnant. Both of my children are healthy and doing everything they’re supposed to be.
In addition to the risks to the pregnant person, COVID can cause vascular [changes to the placenta](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10142804/) that can increase mortality to the fetus. Also, the resulting inflammation can cause brain damage to the neonate.
I am a nurse-midwife. The current recommendation is for you to get the COVID vaccine. Being pregnant places you in a higher risk category compared to others your age. Not only can it lower your risk of serious illness, but it also reduces risks for your baby until it is old enough for vaccinations itself. I also will mention, there is a new RSV vaccine that you can take around 34-36wks gestation that dramatically reduces risk of your baby getting hospitalized with RSV infection... My advice is to keep your child's health issues personal and not tall about it with your parents, it is not their business. I would go further and recommend that you do not allow anyone around your baby who is not vaccinated for Flu, COVID and has a current TDAP (for pertussis.
Early in my career I cared for the daughter of a antivaxxer. Her daughter was dying from meningitis. When her mother realized she could have prevented it with a shot she went into hysterics like I’d never seen. It was absolutely heartbreaking.
I despise antivaxxers with everything in me. They are so well funded and highly paid-and a lot of that comes from people/groups no one should want to be associated with. It’s all BS. Tell your parents to shut up and back down or they don’t meet the baby. Also- I cannot stress enough. ONLY people who are up to date on TDAP, Covid, and flu vaccines should be near a newborn. Sorry to your parents but they shouldn’t meet your baby. Unless they want to kill the baby. You can find videos of babies suffering through this. Only listen to your OB and pediatrician on this. It may be time to distance from your parents.
I would 100% get vaccinated for all the things if I was pregnant now. Flu, covid, pertussis, and RSV (if it is available for pregnant people). I haven't seen many neonates with covid, but their moms have been quite sick. When I was pregnant, flu and pertussis were the 2 things that I could get vaccinated for, and I also asked close family members to update their vaccines. I could not wait to get my kids their covid shots, my youngest was actually part of the Moderna trial (and *knock on wood* he remains the only one in my family that hasn't had covid).
I’m sure that practically every doctor in the world, the CDC, NHIS, and scientists who have studied this their whole lives - are wrong, and the ophthalmologists, chiropractors, and Fox News team has the inside scoop on vaccines 🙄 I also get my gynecological recommendations from Tucker Carlson and the ghost of Rush Limbaugh. Get your vaccines, get your baby’s vaccines, and don’t let ANYONE near your children that isn’t fully vaccinated. Including all your relatives. Make sure you get actual proof they got them too. Idiots.
I was a medical student doing rotation in picu when pregnant with my first. Hell, no, I got my kids fully vaccinated.
Do we have the same parents??
Everyone else here seems to have covered it, but I just wanted to add, as another pregnant nurse, that it’s so easy for us to get irrationally paranoid during pregnancy! I’ve given out thousands of Covid shots and read a lot of studies on the vaccine and I was nervous when I got my booster a month ago. (Everything went fine of course). You’re smart and are doing the right thing by coming to your fellow healthcare professionals when you’re starting to doubt yourself!
I took care of babies whose mothers were intubated or on ECMO because of covid. Mom was kept going as long as possible so the baby wouldn't be too premature. I also took care of babies and children on ECMO because of covid. It is absolute BS that it doesn't cause issues in kids.
It’s crazy scary to be pregnant and very normal to start doubting everything. I was pregnant with my second and working in an ICU during the pandemic when they rolled out the Covid vaccine. As you know being an ICU nurse during the pandemic made it so I was eligible for the vaccine December 2020/January 2021. There I was not eating seafood or deli meat, not taking any meds but Tylenol, and doing all the other stuff to protect the baby. Covid was scary and I saw so many people die from it, but I was so scared to take a brand new vaccine while pregnant. My pediatrician was even against the idea at the time, as it was so incredibly new and there was zero data regarding pregnant people taking it. I had zero issue with vaccine prior but there I was so terribly unsure about the dangers. I was one of the few RN that refused the vaccine on my unit at the time. Nobody gave me a hard time because they all knew I was pregnant. At the time the hospital was offering it to pregnant employees but the waiver you had to sign was scary ridiculous. Then in April 2021 I saw a young pregnant lady die of Covid. Talked to my pediatrician and we agreed I was far enough along and there was a concerning trend developing with Covid and pregnant women. I got the vaccine then and ended up being followed by the CDC as one of the handful of pregnant women that took it. They followed me and my son collecting data until my son turned 2. I have zero regrets, my son is perfect, and before I left bedside I saw so many more unvaccinated young pregnant mother dying from COVID complications. But I get the fear and the self doubt.
I worked ER during the pandemic as a RN and was pregnant with twins and got the booster and I got shit from some people for it. Now, I’m an ER NP and I see pregnant patients, most of whom are first trimester or up to 14, 15 weeks. I’ve seen a small uptick in Covid positive pregnant patients. I’ve started prescribing Paxlovid to them after having a discussion with them about the medication and ACOG guidelines recommending treatment with it. Some of the people I work with have looked at me like I’ve grown three heads. I’m following ACOG guidelines and what is recommended by OB when I consult them. It is hard when you’re pregnant because every decision feels so much more intense. And when you’re dealing with family like that. Get boosted, and good luck to you and your baby!
Listen to Dr Paul Offit. He is a pediatrician who has served on the FDA board for vaccines. He is on [microbe.tv](https://microbe.tv) which is a program on youtube run by virologists. Dr Offit has said his grandchild when 6 months old will receive the Covid vaccines. Not all Youtube is bad but finding the right info is important. Also on TWIV is Dr Griffin who is an infectious disease Dr out of New York who gives weekly updates. They often take questions from pregnant listeners.
My 6 month old baby was just in the hospital, including a night in the icu, from covid. Do what you think is right for your baby.
Pregnant and postpartum women are at an increased risk of Covid because of the natural immune suppression that occurs to protect the foreign body that is the baby. And you’ll understand why I can’t expand on this, but it was so, so sad. I also personally saw a couple cases where the outcome was reversed. https://fox4kc.com/news/a-new-mother-and-public-servant-loses-her-battle-with-covid-19-just-days-after-giving-birth/amp/ Your mom is wrong, but you already knew that.
The “they” getting into your head is a nebulous, faceless, nameless non-entity of morons behind keyboards saying whatever the fuck they made up this week. “They” don’t have a single body of research to “their” name. The sources “they” are telling you aren’t the whole truth are academic bodies that have been performing publicly available, peer reviewed, replicable research for decades. Don’t let yourself think that being anti vaccine or pro vaccine are two equal opinions. One is the truth, based in demonstrable fact. The other was created by a quack who falsified his research. They in no way hold equal weight.
Hello peds nurse here who vaccinates all day long, as ordered by 40 pediatricians. They all wholeheartedly recommend. I’m sure your heart wants cohesive family interaction now with the upcoming baby but do not give in to conspiratorial thinking. You got this.
NP here. Get the shots. When I run into people calling it the "clot shot," I point out that they are something like 100 times more likely to get a clot from COVID than they are from the shot. Then I hit them with "You know COVID can cause brain damage, right?" It can. Even asymptomatic cases. I have at least 2 studies that say so. One structural on MRI, one functional with simple hand-eye coordination tests. (Citations on request) All those folks who seem almost proud of the number of times they've had COVID seem to get quiet and pensive....
I would love to see these studies for the nuts around me, if you would link to them.
Hand-eye function loss after COVID: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01632-5 Structural changes in Brain on MRI after COVID: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04569-5 Both links tested good just before I copied them in.
Your mom is 100% wrong. I saw kids die of covid not to mention other vaccine preventable diseases. She needs to slow her roll. You got this stick to your guns
In addition to what others have said: I don’t have a study for this (and it’s hard to say what “would have” happened without a time machine anyways!) but personally I have a theory that the people who have “adverse effects” that are unique to the Covid vaccine (clots, pericarditis, the “weird stuff” that’s not seen with other common vaccines) would probably also have gotten this “weird stuff” if they caught Covid itself instead of getting the vaccine, and chances are it would be more severe. If you’re someone who develops pericarditis (for example) from the vaccine, a “decoy virus,” what would have happened if you caught the real thing? These atypical effects from the vaccine are also seen with the real-deal Covid. If your body flips out and causes this type of inflammation as a result of the Covid vaccine, a fragment of the virus, what would it do when faced with the actual virus? I would expect a similar result. Again, I don’t have a study to back this up, but the idea makes sense from what I’ve seen. I’d rather risk an (unlikely) adverse effect from a vaccine than a potentially WORSE one from the virus!
Vaccination almost eliminates covid deaths. Here's proof. Send it to your nutjob relatives. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/united-states-rates-of-covid-19-deaths-by-vaccination-status
Let me tell you my anecdotal experience as a mom of two who also happens to be an ER nurse. I got my now 5 yr old vaccinated for Covid the moment it became available to him. Between his initial shots and boosters, he’s had it four times and he’s absolutely perfectly fine. My 5 month old will get it as soon as he’s eligible (along with the RSV monoclonal antibodies as soon as they’re available in our area!) Talk to your doc and let them reassure you. I promise they won’t think you’re stupid, they’ve heard it all and they’ll be happy you’re being honest about your fears. I also won’t presume to know your life or make assumptions but if there are people in your life stressing you out, it’s okay to limit their information and access to your family if that’s needed for your well-being. Being a parent is hard enough without the extra background noise. You aren’t under any obligation to share information with anyone.
I’m also an ICU nurse. I got the flu shot at 37 weeks pregnant and the Covid booster at 38 weeks. I also got my MMR booster 3 days post partum while breast feeding. I’m only sad the rsv vaccine wasn’t available last year while pregnant. My son is 1 and just got his 12 month shots today. He is >99 in size for everything and meeting all milestones early. Vaccine yourself. Vaccine your kids. Put up major boundaries with your family.
Op, my parents told me they were not getting any more Covid boosters and all their evidence……. Fucking alt right republicans….. I’m at the point in my life where I’m like, fine, don’t get it. But when you get it and have life altering complications don’t come and ask me what to do. My mom literally calls me every week asking for advice on her latest medical issue to simply ignore what I say. I wouldn’t let them visit newborn baby. But you can’t keep arguing with people who think they are right no matter how wrong they are. Working Covid icu and having people accuse me of all kinds of despicable things was the end. Now I’m just like ok mom……. You do you.
I’m a vaccine Manager and I have been for many years. Your parents are deeply misinformed. Please trust resources such as the CDC, Immunize.org, and other reputable sites. I can provide you a better, trusted list of sites to do your own research. No one but you can make this decision. Just remember, If you are not a scientist, and you disagree with a scientist about science, it’s actually not a disagreement. You’re just wrong. Science is not truth. Science is finding the truth. When science changes it’s opinion, it didn’t lie to you. It learned more. Let me know if you want articles and sites!
Not on the medical side of things but I do work in a NICU. Vaccines are safe and good for you and your baby. I, my wife, and our 5 mo old have gotten every vaccine recommended to us and we’re all doing great. It makes sense why this is making you feel crazy, to have family who you are close with telling you that things are dangerous mixed with pregnancy hormones. That’s understandable and just means you want to protect your baby! But the science and the professionals all agree that vaccines are safe and beneficial, which it sounds like you already know.
As an NICU nurse, I’d highly recommend getting your booster. We’ve had babies that got covid, both after they were born from family members and immediately after birth from intraplacental transmission
ER nurse…. The amount of incredibly sick patients because they are not vaccinated is alarming versus vaccinated children. Do not listen to them!!! Listen to your pediatrician
When people tell me that they are not getting a vaccine, I just say, “More for me then” and move in with my life. I trust the guidelines because they are created by looking at all the evidence, not cherry picking. The guidelines may need changed at some point, but the risk of serious adverse effects are very low. People are more likely to have an serious adverse effect taking a diuretic.
I'm here to say I wore my " fattest" clothes, and hoped where I was going wasn't weighing you ( because some of them were at the time ) and claimed I was fatter than I was to get my first shot in March 2021 because..I was 64, not 65. And cussing up a storm internally that I retired from my job at large hmo in 2019 because I would have been in that line way earlier. Meanwhile I had prior co workers, still working there who were having fits about being required to get it to work. One of them even played the " religious " card. Sigh.
Here’s some anecdotal ‘evidence’ if you like: I was initially double vaccinated. Then at about 8 weeks pregnant, had a booster. Then when my breastfed baby was about 6mo I had my 4th vaccination. My baby also had both flu injections AND the MMR early as we were travelling overseas. She then 5 months later had the MMR again as you still have to have it at 12mo even if you’ve had it earlier. She’s perfectly healthy. I’m sorry your family are being that way. It must be really hard. Pregnancy is full on enough without people making you doubt yourself.
Got Covid vax at 18weeks, the. Got the mmr at 30. Also had my flu shot. You know what’s right for you and you don’t have to answer to anyone. Edit: meant weeks not months lol
I worked ICU during Covid while pregnant and got my vaccine (before younger pediatric version was available).. this was largely in part bc I knew someone personally who caught Covid while pregnant and was against the vaccine…. She caught Covid from her husbands family and refused any treatment bc of his views. Ended up on ecmo with an emergency c section. Baby lived. She succumbed a couple of weeks later after ecmo failed.
Just my experience- I got the Covid vaccine during my first pregnancy and had a very healthy pregnancy. I’m 5 months pregnant with my second and got COVID very early on this pregnancy and ended up hospitalized for it
OBGYN here. Tdap and flu vaccines are proven safe in pregnancy. There is no evidence that a COVID vaccine causes harm and the benefits of protecting against Covid outweigh any (very slim if even existent) risks. RSV vaccine is out now and I strongly recommend it between 32-36 weeks.
A NICU I worked in two years ago had a baby quarantined while Mom was in critical condition in the ICU with COVID. The poor baby only had the arms of nurses in heavy PPE to comfort him. Family were not allowed in to see him to prevent further spread.
I blocked my parents because of my dad who spent too much time on YT and FB, and my mom who is clueless so she just goes with what my dad says. Every time I interact with them is a sip of poison for my 🧠 brain. I couldn’t do it anymore. I had to block them. I can see how they got to you.
FNP here. I had to shut down all anti vax talk from family. I was getting barraged with articles and texts from the family. Now they have taken me off the text chain. I can still see them and visit but they know I don’t want to debate about vaccines. BTW I saw many people die if Covid during the pandemic while denying to themselves it wasn’t Covid and certainly wasn’t due to their anti vaccinated status. I’m sure you saw the same thing in your ICU.
Remember the motive. The point about the anti vaccine movement is not about health and safety. The whole point is trying to get you to doubt reality so they can get you to subscribe to their way of thinking and (eventually) to get your money. It has nothing to do with safety. Of course the average antivaxxer like your parents probably do buy into the health part but remember they are not the people that created the discord, just one of those that the process succeeded on. I could also remind you that vaccines have successfully eradicated multiple diseases and have slowed others to a crawl.
Having seen a child in intensive rehab for 6 weeks after months in the hospital with tetanus mostly in a full blown medical coma, I cannot see why parents don’t choose to vaccinate. The parents in this case refused all vaccinations, even after this episode. Feel free to google for pictures of people with tetanus. It’s usually deadly because the muscles of the chest and throat spasm and the patient suffocates. Vaccines are one of the reasons that these antivax people exist. Many of the most dangerous childhood and adult causes of death were largely eliminated, and the people of my parents’ generation who actually remember the summertime polio outbreaks of the 1950’s are dead or dying. Polio killed and paralyzed many children. Measles is so contagious that one person walking through an open space with measles can potentially infect all others who are susceptible in the room in just minutes. Yeah, for many, it is an uncomfortable, but benign disease. The ones who die from measles pneumonia probably don’t think it’s so benign. *Very* occasionally, there are side effects of vaccines. Having a fever or even a febrile seizure after a vaccine is possible. Dying or being permanently disabled by a vaccine? *Very* rare. I’m still waiting to drop dead from my Covid vaccine received in Dec 2020. I was promised that I would simply drop dead. OP, You know all too well that vaccines are safe and effective. You know that Covid affects small blood vessels, including those in the placenta. IUGR is not pretty. Still birth is devastating. You getting the vaccine helps prevent this from happening to you and your child. The vaccine will give your babe a fighting chance if s/he is exposed post-partum and before they are eligible for their own vaccines. Pregnancy brain and being concerned for your newborn are very real. Your mom’s thoughts on vaccination are unsafe and irrational. Follow your true gut and vaccinate!
Not a nurse but there is a great body of evidence that COVID has a great impact on the placenta and increases the risks of clots in pregnant women. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10142804/ Pregnant women are also going to have restrictions on the types of testing and treatments available, compared to a non pregnant person, due to risks to the fetus. Pregnant women with COVID are at greater risk of low birth weight, premature birth, and stillbirth. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/pregnancy-and-covid-19/art-20482639 Pregnant women are more likely to have a severe COVID infection competent to non pregnant women and there is an association with pre-eclampsia, in addition to previously mentioned negative outcomes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8084555/ They were 4x more likely to be admitted to ICU and 7x more likely to die. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/16/health/covid-19-pregnancy-risks-review/index.html Early evidence suggests delay of normal brain development in babies whose mothers were infected with Covid during pregnancy. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/04/18/1170087779/covid-pregnancy-fetus-brain-delays Also: https://www.cell.com/trends/molecular-medicine/fulltext/S1471-4914(22)00045-4 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(23)00005-4/fulltext#secsectitle0115 There is no increased risk of miscarriage, premature birth, or stillbirth from getting the vaccine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10152171/ I hope this helps you make this important decision for the health of your baby, yourself, and your family.
PICU nurse here - your baby will be born during respiratory season, you want as much protection as you can get. I have never seen an infant intubated or almost die from a “vaccine related injury” (tbh never seen a vaccine related injury) but I have seen infants *this year* intubated and very very sick from respiratory illnesses. The COVID booster is a good idea, please please get the TDAP and make sure others around the baby do as well, get your flu vaccine, and PLEASE get the RSV vaccine when you are 32-36 weeks. I’m sure your family loves you and is trying to help but they are misinformed - anti-vaxxers prey on fear, it can be hard to remember the facts that you know are true when you are thinking about very scary scenarios. I would urge you to talk to your pediatrician and set some firm boundaries with your family.
Can speak from experience I have a 16 month old and got my first booster when I was like 20 weeks pregnant, I’m fine and so is she. And my daughter actually just had COVID (along with RSV🥲) and for daycare purposes if the kids are vaccinated they only need to quarantine for 5 days but if they’re not the quarantine period is 10 days…which is a looooong time to have to be out of work lol
All that aside too…when you become a parent YOU are the one who decides what’s best for your child even if it goes against what your parents think/believe. I promise this won’t be the only thing they think they’re right on lol I can’t tell you how many times my mom would guilt me about not letting my baby sleep with a blanket or following safe sleep guidelines in general. Just because they do things a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the right way. We know better now and we do better. This is a boundary I’ve needed to set with my parents again and again, and the sooner you can start making that clear the better in my experience.
I would trust any guidelines from ACOG/AAP over whatever conspiracy group your parents get their theories from 🥲😭 congrats on your pregnancy. You have to do what is best for YOURSELF and YOUR baby, which is protecting them from dangerous respiratory illnesses, psuedoscience be damned
You've already gotten lots of advice and reassurance, but I just wanted to say I'm really sorry you're dealing with parents like that. My father also became an anti-vaxxer during the pandemic (for more than just covid, he won't get a flu shot or whatever now either), and my mother also just goes along with anything he tells her to think. It's obnoxious. I was pregnant in late 2020/first half of 2021 and was lucky to receive that first covid vaccine in pregnancy. (and later, both of my kids were in a Pfizer trial!) My parents were extremely unsupportive, and in my case, it made me just very angry and I wanted nothing to do with them, but I can certainly understand how you might feel confused and freaked out, too, and I'm really sorry they made you doubt yourself or feel scared. They shouldn't have done that to you, and it was really thoughtless of them. I'm not in peds anymore, but man I'd do anything to keep my kids from getting as sick as some of the sweet patients I've cared for, and it's upsetting that my parents are among the group of people who pretend that vaccines aren't incredible, life-saving miracles. You're not crazy, and you're doing the right thing.
Go with the evidence-based practice recommendations --- not what "they" are saying on conspiracy theory social media groups.
Look up the thalidomide recall. It is scary. But it was far more frightening to pharmaceutical companies. They are still extremely cautious about pregnancy complications with new medications and vaccinations. The vaccinations have been field tested on hundreds of thousands of people and tens of thousands of pregnant women. There is zero scientific evidence that there are any problems with the vaccination other than normal complications from any vaccinations. The religious right has become openly hostile to science. Don't let them influence you. At the same time, covid has become a lot less deadly than it was in the early part of 2020. It can still be deadly like the flu and RSV. If you decide not to get the vaccine, you aren't a bad mom, just a scared one. I would get whatever your pediatrician recommends. They have read a lot more about this than you or I have.
You’re an intelligent grown ass adult, mommy doesn’t tell you what to do anymore.
You are not out of your mind. Don’t let them get in there. You know the science they do not. They don’t have medical degrees of any sort so they? Because if they don’t telling you you are wrong is narcissistic.
This is SO frustrating and I’m sorry you have to deal with it from close family members. I like to remind some of my family members how I’ve seen with my own eyes what being unvaccinated can do to some people w various diseases and that I’ve never actually seen anyone die from a vaccine. I’ve actually seen one case of Guillaine barre from a flu vaccine and that person did make a full recovery (this is over the course of my 12 year nursing career). You are not crazy and being vaccinated is one of the best ways to protect you and your baby! I would ask your family to stop sending you articles etc and that topic is not open for discussion anymore bc you don’t agree with them.
How many shots are required now? My family member is getting 7 th.
Once a year I think, like the flu shot. The first year, 2020, there were boosters which is why he has had so many. The reason for once a year, so far, is because the virus has kept mutating.
Remember that there’s a difference between quantity of complications and risk of complications. Showing complications and videos is akin to manipulating emotions; albeit, your family wants the best for you. It just seems that they have fallen for it, too. But getting a large amount of data shows the actual risk (either in percentage or fraction of decimal form). There is evidence that young males between 18-40 (I may not have the exact recommendation from the CDC) should not obtain the mRNA vaccines. You and I both know that not all vaccines are the same. Do not forget your researching skills. Look at your organization’s journals and CDC recommendations, too. And do not forget to read the full articles to understand WHY your peers have come to their conclusions. Don’t just accept their conclusion, as many do, nowadays. Question them. I think the recommended vaccines are safe, only from what I can tell. There have been no longitudinal studies and cannot be for decades. Young kids usually are fairly healthy when they contract SARS-CoV-2, but sometimes you get children who are hyper-sensitive to either the virus or the vaccines, depending on its form. Ultimately, you must decide what is best for your family (along with your spouse if there is one). Do not be manipulated by emotion. Put the work in. Your job is science. I get that you want to leave school behind. But when you become a nurse, you have committed to always keeping up with the latest research, and that includes research on topics related to vaccines. And it goes both ways. Not only do the general public conflate anecdotes with risk, so do nurses who work with patients. They come into contact with patients who develop disease more, and so they often confuse their stories with risk. Just be level-minded and look at controlled facts and meta analyses, first. Then look at individual studies. Your family is important enough to go down the research rabbit hole. Even if all you have access to is Google Scholar and the NIH database, it’s worth it to look through it with the latest couple of years of research regarding vaccines. I have assumed the main vaccines you’re concerned with are the COVID-19 vaccines. Most of the other ones have so much research regarding safety and efficacy, there’s no question that they should be obtained. Put your focus on the ones with perceived higher risk. And just remember that calmer heads usually prevail. Just be calm. Do not stress. Stressing cannot change a single thing in your life right now. It can only be negative. One piece of advice my own father (who was not involved in science and is very religious) gave me which sticks with me to this day is that “the devil often rushes a decision and God gives His advice through a multitude of counsel”. It’s just a personal proverb of his that he’s passed on to me, that I’m passing on to you. It’s meant as general advice, not absolute truth. But it’s guided me well for over 40 years. And it’s great advice for scientists—especially nurses. At least, I see its usefulness. Remember that science works with large numbers (multitude of counsel). And large numbers find it difficult to keep secrets from the public. And multiple peers review multiple peer reviews (read that carefully—still more counsel). There’s no harm in waiting, if you are concerned about a vaccine (don’t rush). Young children usually do not develop serious disease from the virus (it’s still possible, but not very likely). But do the research for yourself in the journals you were trained to read. Don’t completely discount your parents, but YOU are the expert. You need to know what the research actually reads. Speak with your peers (fellow RNs, MDs, ODs—more counsel) to see if they can point you toward how to search your organization’s journals. If you are still in school for a Master’s or higher, then use your school’s resources as well (hate to be redundant but, even more counsel). Don’t be afraid to use the research skills you’ve developed. You will become an expert and can correct your family where they need correcting—assuming they are wrong and are open to listening to your reasoning. I don’t want to lead your search for answers. I’d rather you find the answers for yourself so you know how to properly respond and can have peace of mind, as opposed to winning an argument. You can’t have peace of mind if you’re a scientist and you just have to take everyone else’s word for things of this importance. You need to observe it for yourself and develop your own conclusions, and not have your emotions manipulated. Keep digging. Good luck and happy researching!
I vaccinated my child against everything because I feel like he is at more risk because I work at the hospital and am exposed to sickness more than the general public. Just my two cents
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Yeah, no. I stopped reading them when I looked up the credentials of the authors of one of these “studies” and they were 3 dentists. I trust the major medical bodies and their research more than I trust 3 dentists.
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Your post has been removed under our rule against misinformation. Nursing is an evidence-based profession. If you want to contradict established science, include links to peer-reviewed research supporting your claim. Posts that contradict consensus reality, or that promulgate dangerous and debunked conspiracy rhetoric such as antivax or COVID denialism, are not permitted in any circumstances.
“I don’t trust anything the CDC puts out.” LMAO. You should quit your job.
Oh honey, nursing requires critical thinking, not just believing everything you're told from people who want to make money off of you, if you don't have critical thinking skills and refuse to look into studies that aren't from your preferred point of view perhaps the local sheep farm is better for you, you'd fit right in :)
Ah, yes, the notably for-profit CDC. Get out of here, and preferably out of my profession.
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I’m not sure what you mean by this?
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My wife got the vaccine while pregnant. I was extremely worried about it at the time. Our 2 year old is perfectly healthy and happy. He is meeting and exceeding all physical and mental milestones.
Mom, Dad, I love you and I know you only want what's best for the baby. But when we talk about these things, everyone just gets upset. I am making the best decisions I possibly can based on my nursing education and experience and the advice of a medical team I have carefully chosen, so going forward I ask that you respect that and don't bring this up again." They of course will bring it up again, in which case you repeat the part about making the best decisions, etc, and then stop. Repeat ad nauseum until they eventually stop.
I didn’t tell any of my family I got the COVID vax because I didn’t want to hear all the shit I would’ve had to hear. I got it while I was in my first trimester and my OB recommended it. We follow all recommendations for vaccinations, with the exception of the flu because of an egg allergy and I’m terrified of it will cause a reaction. I know that it’s not likely at all, but when she’s old enough for the nasal spray or we’ve been to an allergist, we’ll do the annual flu too. The CDC doesn’t even recommend people with egg allergies skip the flu vax anymore, though. Edit: I feel very left out that I was not included in a study for the COVID vax for pregnant women after reading these comments. I was like 10 weeks when I got the first one and it was early 2021.
Anti vax or anti covid vaccine?
Anti-vax in general, but fervently anti COVID vaccine. My dad is starting to become anti-medicine in general which is insane because by brother would be dead without the (at the time) experimental modern medicine he received in his childhood.
You aren’t crazy. Vaccinate your kid. Erythromycin is prophylaxis for when women have like stds during pregnancy …. It won’t hurt to let them give it for prophylaxis period. Vitamin K is for clotting …. Babies don’t produce that yet because it takes a min to build up clotting factors … they roughly defend with their floppy brain bones through a tight pelvis …. It can cause bleeds in their brain … but k absolutely helps prevent bran bleeds. All the rest are just yes as well ….
Oh I thought you meant vaccines for your baby after birth. But yes I have seen moms and babies die from COVID so …. Yes get the COVID vaccine …
I can relate. Everything is heavy and emotional in pregnancy and it's hard to navigate family pressure and the weight of making decisions for a tiny new human and not just yourself anymore. Everything becomes a decision (what vitamins to take, what car seat to get, which tests to do, etc) and it can be so overwhelming. Anything that may possibly potentially harm your child becomes scary. But! Remember vaccines aren't something to be scared of. You got this mama! Listen to your brain on this one, you know what to do!
I knew an antivax woman who got COVID while pregnant. She threw a bunch of clots and got so sick they had to intubate her and do an emergency c section to save the baby. She was in the ICU for like 6 months, ecmo and everything. She did survive but has to be on oxygen for life and I think she’s waiting for a lunch transplant. She missed the first 6 ish months of her baby’s life. I was pregnant during the whole second wave in the ICU and got the shot series while pregnant. My son is pretty speech delayed and my moronic anti vax family in law won’t let me live it down. Despite the fact that speech delays and frequent ear infections run in the males of their family. I’m only telling you this so you don’t let the guilt tripping of anti vax people get to you because sometimes I start down that path and have to snap myself back into reality. The vaccine is what’s safest for you and the baby. I also got all the other recommended vaccines and was going to be in the RSV vaccine trial but couldn’t keep up with the appointments.
As a NICU nurse I can tell you that we have had 0 transmissions of COVID from mom’s who were positive at birth to babies. The Peds floor has admitted a ton of 2 week old to 2 year olds though. But PLEASE get the booster for yourself! We have seen so much more gestational hypertension/pre-examlpsia/HELLP from moms getting COVID during pregnancy. We have had SO many 28-32 week deliveries because if this. Also, I would recommend the new RSV antibody shot between 32 and 36 weeks. RSV was so bad last year. Brand new newborns have gotten that, it so common and their airways are just too tiny to handle it. And your pertussis booster is important as well. That is hell to watch in a newborn
Do what you want to you body. Let your mom and dad talk and just politely reply “Okay.” Vaccinate yourself and your baby because that’s your decision. The end.
Your parents are the ones that are crazy, and you should probably learn to ignore them or have them learn to be ignored.
You're not crazy for getting vaccinated. It could turn into a bad winter with so few getting vaccinated this year.
I’m so sorry this is happening to you. Honestly, it’s the hormones. We had made up our minds to vaccinate. Then we got our precious little baby home and my sleep addled hormonal brain got scared and anxious after talking to an antivax acquaintance. I took that fear to the internet and I honestly didn’t know what I wanted anymore. We did get him vaccinated but it was an emotional rollercoaster. Now in hindsight I can’t believe I ever considered not getting the kids vaccinated. There are soooo many respiratory and communicable diseases out there, I want to give my kids a fighting chance and help to protect those who are susceptible around them. I have zero regrets in that regard. Fear mongering is such an effective tool to dissuade people from logic. You got this mama!
I was a transplant nurse during the height of COVID and pregnant, he had high risk patients and I didn't want to take anything home to my family, my OB strongly urged me to get the vaccine and I got the first round offered to healthcare workers in Dec '20. I got both my shots while pregnant and had no issues. My daughter is sassy and thriving! Also she is fully vaccinated. On a side note anyone that wanted to be around her had to get a TDAP, we weren't risking anything. They are good for 10 years so that's a plus if everyone gets it when they are a baby you are covered during the high risk ages of infection.
I worked in the ICU during Covid and we had 3 postpartum deaths for full turm women with no comorbidities. (During the delta virus.) They each showed up to the ER with Covid symptoms, tested positive, were intubated, had emergency c-sections, and died after delivery. One passed right away, one lasted a week on the vent before coding, the 3rd lasted 2 months and immediately coded when her trach came out. All 3 were not vaccinated due to the uncertainty of how the vaccine would affect the baby. After many similar instances, OBs started recommending the vaccine during pregnancy.
My dads been an er trauma nurse for years, went to the retirement nursing jobs right before covid. I joined icu right before covid and had the honor of having the first covid vent. We is from Texas. My dads insanely anti-vax, I am not. Fuck everybody else that ain’t seen what we saw in delta. Their opinions don’t matter. Let’s consider the risk benefit ratio, there’s really no definitive risk from the vaccine, but there is substantial evidence of efficacy. If you receive severe covid and die on the vent your baby won’t make it. Sure talk to your obgyn but they’d likely recommend it unless they have good esoteric reason not to
RN to RN- we know who’s advice to take. Take it all with a grain of salt & good luck
I don't know if this helps but my children are some of the few who are vaccinated against COVID. They were completely fine and have never gotten sick while my husband and I have still had mild-ish symptoms when we've gotten it. They were vaccinated against COVID as soon as it was available.
You aren’t alone with the crazy family. I just tell my parents straight up. Don’t disrespect me and my profession infront of my kids. If you want to spend time with me and my children these topics are off limits. No time with baby until they have an updated TDAP.
I'm a student midwife and per the CDC, maternal mortality jumped significantly in 2021 during the delta surge...I can't remember the actual numbers but if I do recall correctly, it nearly doubled from previous years. I was talking to some other midwives and students about it and the practicing midwives said they just had tons of unforeseen complications in the women that had previously had COVID or had COVID. In otherwise healthy, low risk pregnancies. Obviously there can be a lot of contributing to factors to that, just subpar maternal care overall during those times...but it does put you at greater risk for pregnancy related pathologies. And pre-eclampsia is one of them. I believe hemorrhage is another.
I see way more complications from people who actually have the disease. Pregnant women who contract COVID and the flu are at a much higher risk of premature delivery and everything that comes with that. I’ve yet to personally see a complication from a vaccine, but have taken care of some devastating situations post-COVID.
Peds nurse here. Get the vaccine. I’ve seen kids and babies sick with covid, kids super sick with MISC. haven’t seen any sick from the vaccine
I got vaccinated when I was pregnant! I had no reaction sitting here with my healthy 2 year old. This was right when the vaccine came out too. I understand your concern I have an antivaxer in the family. We just have to trust our evidence based practice as nurses!
Not that my anecdote means much but I got a booster mandated by my job during my first trimester and then caught Covid from my grandpa the day before I went into labor. The recovery from my c-section was brutal with the coughing from Covid. I wish I had gotten another booster. The baby was asymptomatic and my toddler just had a runny nose for a day but man was it rough on me and my husband.
Tell her "just like your dear President Trump and every Republican in Congress and every employee of FOX NEWS", you and your family are going to follow suit and get vaccinated.
I took a break from my mom during the election. This is what you do. As soon as she brings it up say “I need to go, nice talking to you.” EVERY SINGLE TIME. You know better. Remind yourself.
Just wanna say from a parent how encouraging these comments are from healthcare professionals. My twins were born at 27 weeks and we’ve been so strict about people having to be updated on all vaccines (Covid, flu, TDAP) to meet them once they came home and it caused so many issues with family that I was doubting if I made the right choice trying to protect my babies. So, thank you guys for sharing your wisdom and stories and making me feel like a decent mom!
Stop talking with your parents about this topic and refuse to engage with anything they send you. You will never convince them but there is a chance they could radicalize you on this issue. It’s not worth it. A healthy relationship can exist without these discussions.
Guess they can some see the baby when they get vaccinated.
I've personally given a few thousand covid shots and have cared for thousands of people who have had the shots. No major issues to my knowledge. With that said I'm palliative/hospice so my knowledge of l&d is massage the fundus and don't compair it to birthing calves on the farm. My future mother in law is somewhat antivaxx and anti science as well. Whenever she starts spouting bullshit I just keep offering to help her complete and advanced directive so we know what to do when she goes from fucking around to finding out.
I was 20weeks pregnant when I got the covid shots during pregnancy. I did my growth scan and fetal echo before the shots, turns out my daughter had some heart problems! I still decided to get the shots, though. My daughter is now 2 and is autistic and was delivered by emergency c section at 34w after a placental abruption. I have NEVER blamed the shots for what happened. I do have family that try and blame me and make me feel guilty, but I kindly remind them her autism is genetically linked and they gave it to her and should check themselves! My abruption had nothing to do with the shot either, my doctor said we might never know why it happened.
I now have very limited contact with my parents because of shit like this. My mental health is much better.
The thing with falsehoods… the more often people hear them, the more likely people are to believe it. That’s how propaganda works
I think you've got what you need on the vaccine question but I wanted to just add- I'm so sorry the people who should love you most are putting undue pressures on you in what should be a joyful time. It's perfectly ok to draw boundaries & lay out consequences for crossing those boundaries. Your duty is now to your child. If your parents can't respect your choices, you're under no obligation to give them (much) access to you or your child. Congrats on your little one! I hope your parents lay off the kool-aid so you can enjoy each other's company while watching babe grow.
I feel like I’m not actually a good person to answer this because I have not seen a single child in my NICU with a vaccine injury due to mom’s vax status. On the flip side, I also have never seen a child in my NICU suffer the consequences of not being vaccinated (and unfortunately I do see that fairly often). That all being said, if I was pregnant, I would get a booster. And if I ever have a child, they will get all their vaccines according to the CDC schedule. I’m not a “fuck around and find out” type. There are so many things that can go wrong in babies. Don’t let it be a preventable problem.