Comments on: The Most Bizarre Case of Almost-Undiagnosed HSV and My Cesarean Birth Story

By: Mommy-Led Child-Accepted Weaning « The Mommypotamus

Mommy-Led Child-Accepted Weaning « The Mommypotamus — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:44:38 +0000

[...] She’s passionate, kind and she believes in her friends. Second, she’s tranparent. She tells it like it is, even at the risk of being judged. Third, she has integrity. When blogging began to take a toll on [...]

By: Jess

Jess — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 18:03:13 +0000

Thank you for sharing your story. I have HSV and I’m expecting my first child. I want so much to have a natural delivery but I’m scared of what can happen should the virus pass to my baby. I have a little sister who has severe brain damage as a result of HSV infection at birth. You’re very strong for sharing this. The end of your story was most helpful to me to know that there are healthy babies born naturally despite HSV.

By: New Mother

New Mother — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 21:21:59 +0000

When I was pregnant with my daughter (now 16 months old) I really wanted a natural delivery, but that did not happen. Three days or so before she was born I felt as if I had the flu and I had terrible sores on the roof of my mouth and very swollen gums. I went to the hospital and told them about the sores, severe headaches, a slight fever, and swollen glands. They told me this was nothing. Just my body’s response to the early phases of labor as I was 1 cm dilated and sent me home. I was convinced the symptoms were a byproduct of pregnancy and child birth. Anyway, three days later I went into labor but was very disappointed that my doctor was still out of town. I refused all medication and labored happily for 12 hours making it to 6 cm (secretly hoping I would make it to shift change because I found the doctor very impatient and pushy). Then all of a sudden he brought in another doctor who said it was the hospital’s policy to begin petocin after 12 hrs, to speed up the labor. I reluctantly agreed. As soon as the petocin kicked in the monitor indicated that the baby’s heart rate stalled with every contraction and I was whisked into the OR for a C-section with no further discussion. The spinal left me shaking and unable to hold the baby for 6 hour after delivery. If all this was not bad enough, I still could not eat because of the sores in my mouth. By the time my doctor returned two days after she was born I had not eaten in 5 or 6 days and was really feeling faint because I was breastfeeding. I relayed the whole story to my doctor who looked concerned, said I may have been suffering from some kind of virus but as it seemed to be clearing up it may have been due to the delivery. When the baby was only five days old and we had only been home for two I noticed she felt warm and the the next morning she had a spot on her chest. It looked like a chicken pock to me. She had a slight fever so I took her to the pediatrician who immediately said “It’s HSV. Take her straight to the hospital. Three days later when the tests came back he was right and she was put on IV Acyclovir. She recovered with no apparent ill effects but was kept on the medication until she was 1. I went through the opposite form of guilt. If I had not held or kissed or cuddled with my daughter she would not have contracted a permanent and potentially fatal disease. I was dealing with the emotions of my diagnosis (turns out I had a primary HSV-1 infection when she was born) but also her diagnosis and post-pardom depression at the same time. It was difficult. As to the autism thing, you should look up the link between autism and exposure to non-symptomatic HSV. The research is tentative but all autism research is at this point. Turns out in children latent HSV can take up residence in the nerves of the brain. I doubt not holding your child had much to do with it. I know plenty of parents who sent their children to the nursery, then daycare, then put them in front of the TV and their kids are “fine”. Luckily my daughter is now 16 months old and shows no signs of any developmental problems but that is thanks to an early diagnosis and treatment. Her infection, if left untreated could have easily cause severe brain damage. I also postponed her MMR and chicken pox vaccines until she’s two in light of her HSV diagnosis. I hope this story can help other mothers recognize the symptoms of a primary HSV infection during pregnancy and keep a close eye on the health of their newborns. Time and treatment are of the utmost importance.

By: The Things I Didn’t Expect When I Was Expecting | Breastfeeding Moms Unite

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 05:28:30 +0000

[...] the end, I ended up having an emergency cesarean. I was crushed. I had refused to read up on them because I was so certain I would get my home birth [...]

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:03:45 +0000

Thank you so much for sharing!! You have no idea how long I searched the internet for a story like this, well actually, I have been searching for about a month, because that is how long I’ve been diagnosed. I was diagnosed with HSV Type 1 when I was about 36 weeks pregnant, having never even had a cold sore. I have been with my husband for 6 years and he has never had a cold sore either or anything “down there” either (neither me). I desperately wanted to have a natural childbirth, I was obsessed with it. I actually wanted the pain!! Who can say that? I wanted the experience. I told everyone I knew, and everyone knew that I wanted a natural childbirth, so when at about 37 weeks they scheduled the c-section on december 15th related to a primary HSV Type 1 outbreak, everyone REALLY wanted to know why. It was hard to find good reasoning to tell everyone. It came to “It’s just a personal decision between the doctor, my husband, and I”. Most people accepted this answer and others pryed, wanting to know “yeah, but why?” This fear and depression that was caused by constant questioning made me stay indoors as much as possible and really ignore phone calls, etc. I just didn’t want to have to think about it. I am 38 weeks now, yesterday made 38 weeks, and am scheduled for a c-section next tuesday, dec.15th. I really can’t wait, because I live in constant fear that my water will break, exposing my innocent little baby to this virus. You know, and it doesn’t matter how much you trust your spouse, when something like this comes up all of a sudden, you start to wonder about fidelity, especially as the pregnant spouse, because you feel very unsexy, unwanted, etc. We were going to test him, but decided that it didn’t matter, we were husband and wife and that was all there was about it, so we did not end up testing him and I’m glad we didn’t. This has been a very hard thing to swallow and I had many pity parties and “it’s not fair” parties, wallowing in my sadness and despair. I’m still not totally accepting of this, but as I lean on God and just know that this is His plan, everyday seems a little brighter. For “Faith is not believing God can–it is knowing that He will”. And He will bring me through this. Once again, thank you for this post.

By: You Don’t Have to Grin and Bear It | Breastfeeding Moms Unite

You Don’t Have to Grin and Bear It | Breastfeeding Moms Unite — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:27:33 +0000

[...] just leave well enough alone. I was bound and determined to breastfeed. After being forced out of medical necessity to have a c-section instead of my planned homebirth, I knew I could suffer through anything to [...]

By: StorkStories

StorkStories — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:22:38 +0000

Mel- This was truly an incredible birth story. I applaud your bravery for opening up and telling such a heartfelt personal story. I also had an atypical presentation of HSV II newly diagnosed at 37 weeks with my 3rd baby. Never had a suspicious outbreak during a pregnancy before this baby. I did not have many options in 1988. I had a C/S.. and lots of problems afterwards. I will tell the story sometime. Thank you for giving me the courage! .-= StorkStories´s last blog ..VBAC Report so far this Year =-.