080: #AskAlexndra Is it safe to have a baby if you have herpes ?

Life With Herpes

Welcome to today’s episode on Life With Herpes, I am always grateful for your to be here, thank you. I love this section on Life With Herpes because I get to connect with you and hear what is going on with your life and your journey with herpes. Today’s question comes from Rosa from Albuquerque, she asks, “is it safe to have a baby when you have herpes”.  The short answer is yes, women have been having babies for as long as we know and the herpes virus has been with us the same amount of time. However, there are some things to keep into consideration.  

One of the things to keep into consideration is where are you with your diagnosis, are you just finding out you have herpes and you are pregnant or have you had herpes for a while and you are pregnant. According to the CDC there are some health risks if you are diagnosed with herpes while you are pregnant. When you are diagnosed with herpes during your pregnancy your body is in OMG Freaking out mode. It is like WTF...I am pregnant, I have this virus and WTF. In fact, it can be quite dangerous if you are diagnosed during your third trimester basically your body does not know how to fight it. The risk of infecting your baby if you are diagnosed late in pregnancy is 30-50%.

On the contrary, if have had herpes before you were pregnant then typically your body is capable of protecting your baby. Your body has had time to adjust and acclimate to this new virus that is with you. Needless to say, your body is not like WTF? In this situation, your doctor would most likely prescribe the antiviral for you a couple of weeks prior to your due date. If you don’t have an outbreak during delivery then it will be up to you and your doctor to determine if you want to deliver vaginally. However, if you do have an outbreak then you will have a c-section or a cesarean section. This will prevent your baby coming into contact with the active virus.

Thank’s Rosa for asking this great question. I have a lot of potential mommy’s asking this so thanks for submitting your question.

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