Flu Shot

I spoke with my ob about this a week ago and he said I should definitley have it. He thought it was more important for me than for my husband. I also have a friend who got flu whilst pregnant and she had a v hard time and was extremley ill they had to hospitalise her. I will be getting mine soon
 
My ob recommends it, but also warned that there are definite side effects, and suggested I give it a think. I am still debating...
 
I got flu when I was at 31 weeks and it was awful! I had to be hospitalised because they were worried that the flu might trigger premature labour which was rather scary. Fortunetly everything was ok but being pregnant it took me a lot longer to get better than it otherwise would. Next time I would def get flu shot.
 
My doc also strongly recommended it - he said flu can be v. nasty if you're pregnant - esp the high fever which is not at all good for babies.

The problem here is that no one really knows what flu is - most doctors will diagnose a common cold/URTI as 'flu', so people tend to think that these things are the same. Flu kills something like 30,000+ people in the US alone, every year - it's a serious business. Of course the vaccine doesn't give complete protection, but I'll take any protection as better than none - I've had flu only a couple of times in my life and cannot imagine dealing with it while pregnant. I'll be having the shot.

(Oh, and the other problem is that there are far too many busybodies going around saying that pregnant women shouldn't have the shot - presumably the same people who get their entertainment from tormenting pregnant women about not eating ice cream or wearing flip flops...)
 
I've had the flu shot twice and the first time I was asked if I was pregnant (I always thought you were not supposed to have if you were preggers). I said no and then later found out I was with my first child (not sure if i was when I actually got the jab though - if not it was very soon after! Similar thing happened with baby no 2.

Don't think I will be getting it again - don't want three children :)
 
I think there are 3 main brands of flu vaccine, with only the Sanofi-Pasteur brand being completely thimerosal free. The other two sometimes say preservative-free but thimerosal is used in the manufacturing process. So if your are pregnant, try to go somewhere that has the S-P vaccine. Also go somewhere reliable as last year the govt. found a small batch of "fake" vaccine. Actually I think it was "gray market" rather than fake but not sure.

The side effects usually are soreness in the shot area, low grade fever, and aches. However, my wife had a really bad reaction virtually right away including a headache, dizziness, and nausea that lasted over a week. I would have thought it was an allergic reaction to the eggs except she loves eggs and eats them all the time. The doctor had never heard of it and we couldn't find anything like it on the internet but just thought I'd mention it as a possible side effect. She is definitely never taking one again.
 
The vaccine info I received with the shot agrees with those possible side effects, but says they are very rare. And it does say if you are going to have a severe reaction, you will have it right away.
 
Last year's fake/grey mkt vaccine mentioned above was the one my company kindly offered to all employees...
(I got mine privately, before they all found out about the c***-up)
 
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