I had swine flu when I was about 32 weeks pg with DD2 and it is not fun. I don't have to worry about having the vaccine now because my doctor said if I've had it, I've had it and don't need a shot.

If you are pregnant and not going to have the shot, I would give the following advice - as soon as you have a temp of 38 degrees or higher and any flu like symptoms (the high temp is the biggest indicator though), see your doctor. They can put you on Tamiflu which did minimise the symptoms for me. If you wait a few days after the symptoms start, they can't put you on Tamiflu.

I went on Tamiflu while I had swine flu and it wasn't an easy choice because it's risks are unknown, but I was aware of the risk of leaving my swine flu untreated by the number of pregnant women in ICU in the Townsville hospital (my mum is a nurse there and also it was all over the news at the time). I gave birth to a healthy full term baby despite other complications in my pg unrelated to swine flu or tamiflu.

Townsville had more than half of Queensland's cases of swine flu and there were a number of women who lost babies or babies became brain damaged because they contracted it while pregnant. There were also a number of non-pregnant people who died in Townsville because of swine flu or complications following swine flu (such a pnuemonia). All of these cases were because they did not seek medical advice early on and waited until they were very very sick.

It is a serious illness and I do think you need to decide what you are comfortable with. I don't know that I would be comfortable with the vaccine while pregnant either, but be aware of the symptoms and if you show any signs, see a doctor immediately.

As a side note, my DH was also sick with the same symptoms as me, except much much worse couldn't get tamiflu (which is why I suspect it was worse) and couldn't get swabbed so didn't have official confirmation that he had swine flu, had his vaccine last week as a precautionary thing. He is normally healthy, with no allergies so there is very little risk factor of him having a reaction to it. He has had no side affects and despite the rest of us having a horrendous head cold this week, he remains completely well.

Having had swine flu, if I wasn't pregnant and couldn't access tamiflu, I would most likely have the vaccine because the illness is attrocious and having to fight it without taking anything was awful for both my DH and my two children (who also got it - most likely from us - and despite being babies, did not fall into a risk category and could not have tamiflu either).