Enjoying Your Pregnancy Guide to Understanding - Brigham and ...

Your Prenatal Guide 29
disorders may also be related to mothers who smoke. Second hand smoke is potentially harmful to your other children.
If you smoke, this is the perfect time to quit. More than one-fourth of all smoking women choose to give up their habit
during pregnancy. Smoking isn’t good for your health and it’s not good for your baby’s health. For information on how
to stop smoking, please call the Quit Smoking Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at (617) 732-8983.
X-RAY STUDIES
If necessary, dental and other limited diagnostic x-rays may be performed during your pregnancy. If your x-ray
studies are elective, postpone them until after your delivery. Be sure to tell the x-ray technician about your pregnancy
so they can shield your baby when x-rays are taken.
GENITAL HERPES
Genital herpes is a viral disease that affects the sexual organs in both men and women. It plays an extremely
important part in pregnancy since a newborn can experience serious permanent neurological damage and even death
if he or she is infected during birth. Approximately one-half of infants born to mothers experiencing their first
outbreak at the time of birth will be infected with the virus. Mothers with recurring infections (recurrent herpes) are
not nearly as likely to infect their newborn babies.
We absolutely must know if you or your partner has ever had herpes so that we can take proper precautions at the
time of delivery. You should tell us about every flare-up you have during your pregnancy so we can examine you and
take a culture if it’s necessary.
The recommended treatment of genital herpes has varied considerably over the past several years. We may perform
cultures wherever active herpes lesions are present. A cesarean delivery should be performed if you have active lesions
when you go into labor or rupture your membranes. If you have no history of recent flare-ups or visible lesions at the
time of your labor, a vaginal delivery is recommended.
GERMAN MEASLES
German Measles, a viral disease, can be especially dangerous if it occurs in the first three months of your pregnancy
when your baby’s organs are developing. It can cause many birth defects involving your baby’s eyes, ears, and heart.
Several skin rashes associated with fever mimic German Measles, but blood tests will tell us which is which.
If you suspect you’ve been exposed to German Measles, call us immediately. We may already have a blood test from
this or one of your previous pregnancies that tells us you shouldn’t be concerned about this disease. Remember, you
must actually contract the disease in order to put your developing baby at risk. Exposure alone will do no harm. Once
you’ve had the illness, you’re immune for life. If your blood test results show you’ve never had this infection, we’ll
probably recommend you get immunized after this pregnancy.
TOXOPLASMOSIS
Toxoplasmosis is an infection that you can get from eating raw or undercooked meat or from contact with soil/litter
contaminated with cat feces. Cats generally get the parasites from mice or rats, then excrete the organism in their stool.
Prevention is the key to avoiding this disease. Avoid eating raw or undercooked meat. Wash your hands carefully
after handling raw meat or fresh produce. Wear gloves if you garden or may come in contact with soil/sand/dirt
contaminated with cat feces. Allow someone else to empty your cat’s litter box. Strictly indoor cats are usually not a
problem.
HEPATITIS B IN PREGNANCY
Hepatitis is an infection of the liver caused by many different viruses. If you have ever been infected by the hepatitis
B virus and become pregnant, there may be problems for your newborn baby. A certain number of people who contract
hepatitis B develop chronic hepatitis –– a condition which can eventually destroy the liver. Also, it can allow the infected
person to give the virus to others without knowing it. This is the problem with the pregnant mother and her baby.
A very high number of mothers who test positive for hepatitis B surface antigen will unknowingly infect their newborn
babies during delivery through contact with maternal blood or secretions. One out of four of these infected babies will
die from their infection. By detecting this infection in the pregnant mother, the vast majority of these newborns can be
treated at birth. This prevents their infection and the baby's risk of dying from the disease. It also prevents the child from
unknowingly passing the infection on to others and to their own babies later in life. We will perform this relatively
simple and inexpensive test on you early in your pregnancy along with your other routine blood tests. Your baby's
doctor may now routinely immunize your newborn against this disease immediately following birth.