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Author Topic: any ladies with info on pregnancy?  (Read 9556 times)

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Offline uk lady

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any ladies with info on pregnancy?
« on: December 17, 2008, 11:06:05 am »
hi ladies me & my negative partner have been trying for a baby for about 8 months. i am undetectable & cd4 is 500, have recently changed meds from kaletra truvada to keeping the truvada & reyataz & norvir. i took first dose yesterday so far so good! was wondering if anyone has any info on being pregnant or after the baby is born what meds it takes or how long? anything at all would be great. my doc said to me i wouldnt have to go onto azt anymore as i have been undetectable for so long now. thanks girls x

Offline srmn98

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Re: any ladies with info on pregnancy?
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2008, 12:42:00 pm »
Hi there,

I'm currently 30 weeks along in my pregnancy.

My experience has been: Combivir and Kaletra that I started in my second trimester to prevent transmission to the baby while I am pregnant. I didn't need it for myself but I did need it to make sure I don't transmit to the baby.

I'll have AZT intravenously during delivery. They encourage a vaginal birth here in the US if you are undetectable, I know the British guidelines for pregnancy are a little different. I'm planning a C-section even though my viral load has been undetectable. The baby will get AZT in liquid form 4 times a day for the first 6. I'm not going to breast feed, although it is a possibility if you stay on your medications and stay undetectable.

Personally, for me -- it has been a "normal" pregnancy so far. I haven't had to do anything different than I would if I were negative except take my HIV medication. I have felt well the whole time (luckily!) and am hopeful that the baby will be healthy. My partner is negative as well, so we had to conceive artificially at home. I started taking prenatal vitamins and folic acid ahead of time, I think that might have helped us get pregnant quickly. Plus eating a healthy diet, exercise, all of that stuff.

Here's a link to the British guidelines:

http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/1F5C9025-994B-4BFB-8BDD-2983DA933831.asp

There are some different things from the US guidelines -- looks like the UK does AZT monotherapy twice a day for the infants instead of 4x here in the US, but I am sure your doctor will go over all of that with you !

I don't know anything about the combo of drugs that you are on for pregnancy, but again, your doctor knows best for that sort of thing. Good luck !!!  I have 9 weeks of pregnancy left ... hoping for the best. :)

Sara





Offline Ann

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Re: any ladies with info on pregnancy?
« Reply #2 on: December 18, 2008, 09:49:16 am »
I'm not going to breast feed, although it is a possibility if you stay on your medications and stay undetectable.

NO! NONE of the hiv meds have been approved for use while breastfeeding. Women with hiv should NOT breastfeed, whether on meds or not.

Ann

Condoms are a girl's best friend

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"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline Ann

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Re: any ladies with info on pregnancy?
« Reply #3 on: December 18, 2008, 10:05:05 am »
lady,

The British website i-Base has a very good guide to pregnancy. It's just been updated for 2009.

http://www.i-base.info/guides/pregnancy/index.html

Good luck!

Ann
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline uk lady

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Re: any ladies with info on pregnancy?
« Reply #4 on: December 18, 2008, 01:28:18 pm »
Thanks Sara & Ann, i will have a look at those links, when does the baby get tested for hiv itself does anyone know? as far as i know theres a small chance isnt there of baby being positive if everything is done by the books & undetectable etc? thanks again x

Offline srmn98

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Re: any ladies with info on pregnancy?
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2008, 05:35:15 pm »
Hi UK Lady,

Oops, I stand corrected by Ann-- I guess it's not possibility to breast feed. Interesting, because my HIV doctor told me it was an option if I stayed on my medication. I just dismissed it right away because I knew I wasn't interested in any additional risk -- I wonder why he mentioned it ?

Anyway, the baby gets tested for the HIV itself several times. I believe the first test is within the first 2 weeks of birth, that test is a viral load test and hopefully the baby is undetectable. They will repeat the viral test over the first few months. The baby WILL test positive for HIV antibodies for the first several months until it sheds the mother's antibodies and starts making its own antibodies. This does not mean that the baby has HIV, it just takes some time for the baby to make its own antibodies. I think they say 12-18 months before they recommend the confirmatory antibody test where the baby will (hopefully) test negative for the antibodies, but I'm not sure exactly of the timing.

There is always a chance of the baby being positive even if you do everything by the book. The chances for transmission are small but nothing is ever 100%. I have read different statistics on this -- but generally they say the risk is somewhere under 1%.  Nothing is for certain, but the odds are very good for having a negative baby. It is scary to me still that I cannot know for sure -- but I am doing everything in my power to keep my baby negative. One key is having access to good medical care. Looks like Ann gave you a good web link for information as well.

Take care,

Sara


« Last Edit: December 18, 2008, 05:37:23 pm by srmn98 »

Offline Blessed1974

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Re: any ladies with info on pregnancy?
« Reply #6 on: December 27, 2008, 11:00:53 pm »
Hello Ladies :)

I have been MIA for awhile but I just wanted to add my 2 cents.  I just had my latest in Feb of this year and he had 3 tests.  The 1st at birth, then at 6 weeks and the last at about 3 months.  My son was negative from the beginning.

Blessed :)

Offline Ann

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Re: any ladies with info on pregnancy?
« Reply #7 on: December 28, 2008, 08:56:37 am »

Oops, I stand corrected by Ann-- I guess it's not possibility to breast feed. Interesting, because my HIV doctor told me it was an option if I stayed on my medication. I just dismissed it right away because I knew I wasn't interested in any additional risk -- I wonder why he mentioned it ?


Wow, Sara, your doctor  told you that? That really surprises me, especially coming from a doctor in the States, where women have actually been taken to court for defying medical advice and breastfeeding when hiv positive. I thought maybe you were just assuming it would be ok because of having an undetectable VL.

My hiv doc (in the UK) has quite a large number of women who are pregnant and/or have small babies/children and I'll try to remember to pick his brains on this when I see him in late January. Everything I've read to date has said ... well, what I said above.

The only  time I've seen different advice is when the mother and child are living in a resource poor area where not only do they not have access to hiv meds, but they also do not have access to clean water to make formula with. In this case they reckon it's better for the child to be exposed to hiv and maybe live until meds are available (or maybe be in the lucky, small percentage who do not get hiv from their mother without medical intervention) than to die at two or three weeks old due to diarrhea. (pretty grim, eh?)

UKLady,

The statistical figure for the baby being born with hiv despite everything being done correctly is less than 2%. When you compare that statistic with statistics of all the other things that can possibly go wrong, it puts it into perspective. Personally, I've never heard of a child being born positive to a positive mother when the mother is under medical care and undetectable.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Ann


edited to fix an annoying typo  ::)
« Last Edit: December 28, 2008, 09:05:31 am by Ann »
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline srmn98

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Re: any ladies with info on pregnancy?
« Reply #8 on: December 28, 2008, 11:01:32 pm »
Ann,

Yes, I am surprised also now that I have looked into it more. It was my primary HIV doctor that mentioned it in regards to stopping meds. I just passed it off quickly knowing I would not breast feed, so perhaps I misunderstood. I am also seeing a specialist in peri-natal HIV transmission on top of my normal HIV doctor -- the specialist of course said don't breast feed, period.

And UKLady -- my specialist told me that in my home state of Minnesota, over 500 babies have been born to HIV positive Moms over the past several years. Of the mothers that followed the protocol (took their medication, did not breast feed etc, etc ), there have been (to this point) zero transmissions to the babies. There is no guarantee of course, but those are pretty good numbers.

Take care,

Sara


Offline panda

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Re: any ladies with info on pregnancy?
« Reply #9 on: January 03, 2009, 06:04:38 am »
"My partner is negative as well, so we had to conceive artificially at home"

Hi girls - Ad SRMN98 Specialy .. can u please specify about the above ? hw exactly did you do it ? (sorry for getting into details).  The thig is I am beng treated with a private dr. and on last week while I was ovulated he had to go to the army (i am frm israel) and he could not treat me so I tried to do it at home but I am not sure if i diid it right.

Appreciate your qucik reply.

Offline srmn98

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Re: any ladies with info on pregnancy?
« Reply #10 on: January 03, 2009, 03:54:49 pm »
Hi Panda,

Well -- we used these directions :

http://www.fertilityplus.org/faq/homeinsem.html#syringe

I had already seen an HIV doctor as well as a peri-natal HIV specialist to make sure that my body was ready to get pregnant AND to make sure that I would be put on the appropriate HIV medication to prevent transmission to the baby.

So, it was nothing too high tech. I actually found a needless syringe (this is embarrassing) at the pet store -- it was a medicine dropper for a cat.

We were lucky, it worked on our first try !!

:)


 

Offline panda

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Re: any ladies with info on pregnancy?
« Reply #11 on: January 05, 2009, 02:29:01 am »
well thanks a lot. funney , cause this is more or less what we did,
You are lucky it successed ont he first time. Tell me, how do u know exactly when do u ovulate.. did you use these sticks ? cause I did, so on Thursday's eve. i treid the stick ans there were 2 stripes so "we did it" , on the day after there was only 1 stip but we did it anyway again.. are you getting any support of progresterone?

bleueyes

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Re: any ladies with info on pregnancy?
« Reply #12 on: January 05, 2009, 07:48:43 am »
I had my daughter naturally, I had no time before the delivery for the IV. I was given AZT in the form of a pill. Directly after her birth, I believed they used some cleaning solution to cleanse her free of the HIV.
I took Combivir and the other pill I  don't know the name to, as I was on a study and there is a possibility I took a placebo. 
I was treated very well as I was monitored so often I was always at the hospital or OB/GYN.
My OB/GYN had this idea of a c- section except I did not want to go that way. I had my daughter the regular way, most likely because the staff could not reach the doctor. And no one knew the protocol. After her birth she was put in an incubator.
My daughter will be eleven in five days. She is negative.
Sometimes I wonder what this placebo was, but I am happy with the results none the less. Ohh and during my pregancy I gained fourty pounds, so I was healthy  all the way through.
« Last Edit: January 05, 2009, 08:21:53 am by bleueyes »

Offline tinashura

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Re: any ladies with info on pregnancy?
« Reply #13 on: January 06, 2009, 03:20:52 am »
hello,
    i am pos and have been trying to be pregnant for the past 3yrs.MY HIV specialist changed my medications to Norvir,Truvada and Rayataz.He said they were grade A meds and will be good during pregnancy.He however was strongly against breastfeeding.

Ann,thanks alot on the article on self insemination.i am going to try that route.

  BABY DUST TO ALL THOSE TRYING

Tina


 


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