By Beth Conover, APRN, CGC MotherToBaby Nebraska, UNMC “I am 20 weeks pregnant…when is it safe to get my flu shot?” The texted question came in to the MotherToBaby texting helpline, and the answer that I texted back was simple – “As soon as possible…it’s safe at any time in pregnancy and really important for you and your baby!” Once we are into influenza (flu) season (November to March), pregnant women are strongly recommended to get immunized (vaccinated), regardless of how far along they are …
The Baby Blog: Infections & Vaccines
“Spread Prevention, Not the Infection” during Pregnancy
By MotherToBaby’s Kirstie Perrotta, MPH, Lorrie Harris-Sagaribay, MPH, Robert Felix and Susan Sherman of the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) Zika Task Force “It’s 2018! I didn’t even know you could get syphilis nowadays!” Yes, I mentioned the stats about syphilis and other infections that can affect pregnancy to the caller who had contacted me through our free MotherToBaby helpline. I thought, this is a great time to educate her as well as others about a variety of …
Special Birth Defects Prevention Month Blog! The Flu: Why Prevention is Key during Pregnancy
By MotherToBaby, a service of the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) Why should pregnant women care about influenza? Isn’t Zika a bigger deal? The second you get pregnant, the advice starts coming in from everyone. No eating unpasteurized cheese (Listeria!), don’t change the cat litter (Toxoplasmosis!), and definitely don’t travel to South America (Zika!). While these are all valid concerns, influenza tends to get forgotten, and dismissed as “just the flu.” The Influenza …
Guest Blog: CMV. The Most Common Viral Infection Affecting Newborns That You’ve Never Heard About
By Kristen Hutchinson Spytek, National CMV Foundation President C-M-V. Three letters that keep me up at night and shake me to the core. Three letters that have managed to routinely shatter my expectations, body slam my optimism, expose my vulnerability, alter my perspective and even now, force me to recalibrate daily. My daughter, Evelyn Grace, was born on March 12, 2013 at 36 weeks with congenital cytomegalovirus. Or CMV. Evelyn was my first pregnancy; I was thirty-one years old. My husband …
The Cat Can Stay: Debunking Pregnancy Myths about Toxoplasmosis
By Robert Felix, MotherToBaby Past President I’ll never forget the panic in her voice. “The web said, ‘stay away from cats when you’re pregnant because your baby can be mentally retarded!” It was the first thing this soon-to-be mom could get out the second I picked up the phone. “It is true? I got rid of my cat immediately because I was so worried and I feel terrible about it,” she breathlessly explained. As a teratogen information specialist (someone trained to answer questions about exposures …
