CMV

... just looking to find anyone who may have contracted this during or before a pregnancy?

CMV often goes undiagnosed as the signs andd symptoms are almost identical to a cold or the flu. In fact a large percentage of people are immune as they have come in contact with CMV in the past. I am one of the small percentage of people who haven't had CMV but thankfully I didn't pick it up during either of my pregnancies, so sorry no advice there.

i have CMV immunity from contracting it some time ago - it was basically like a cold or flu that developed into glandular fever type symptoms (i was very run down at the time!) - as mentioned, it's unusual for people to have not been exposed at some point in their lives

i guess if you're exposed early in pregnancy, like any major virus, it might have some potential impact on your baby, so if you know someone that has it and are thinking of getting pg, i'd go and get your immunity tested now just to make sure

Most people are exposed to this prior to pregnancy which gives you immunity. It is extremely common and immune status is usually tested for in first trimester bloods.

If you are exposed for the first time during pregnancy it can lead to miscarriage, or deafness/hearing loss in the baby (risk is relatively low).

My DH had this when I was 5 months pregnant with our son. It was a massive freak out until I could get hold of my first trimester blood test results to see if I was immune...which I was.

Hope you're ok.

Thanks guys..

I actually know ALOT about this, i was actually trying to find someone else who has been through what i went through with DS's pregnancy. Maybe i was too vague in my OP.

When i was 6 weeks with DS i became ill, it was at first thought to be due to morning sickness etc, but it was extreme fatigue, i could not move from the couch and felt like i had a sever flu. I had bloods done at 7 weeks and the gp i saw said he saw nothing except my liver levels were slightly high but he didnt trigger.

I came good around 11 weeks...

At my 15 week midwife appt, i was talking to her about what happened and how i didnt believe what the GP thought about what i experience was right, she listened and then she looked over those results from the blood test at 7 weeks. She scared me as she went white and said hmmm.. ok i am going to do a blood test, i wont tell you what im testing for right now as i am hoping i am wrong... I went with it..

I got the test results when i was 20 weeks, she rang me.. she asked me to sit down.. and she went onto tell me that i had contracted the virus CMV with the first few weeks of pregnancy, and that due to the nature of the virus and what it can do to a fetus, if the mother contracts it in the first time during her pregnancy (especially in the first trimester), my care had to be transfered to Monash Medical centre. She went on to say she has made an appt for the following week, and i need to prepare that they may want to end the pregnancy.

As you can imagine, i was a COMPLETE mess. The timing couldnt have been worse either, as i got this phone call, 2 days after my fiance was crushed by a 150 tonne press machine at work. I was sitting outside the ICU unit at Royal Melbourne Hospital when i took her call.... :(

So i went off to the appointment with the Monash specialist, they took me for a scan so they could make the decision of whether i should end the pregnancy or not.

Luckily, there were no calcification spots anywhere in his body, that they could see... the calcification spots is what they look for as it would tell them where the infection has gone in his body and that gives them an idea of the problems he would face. They also checked the size of his head and brain. Thankfully that too was ok.

If the mother contracts the virus during a pregnancy, for the first time and iin the 1st trimester, they generally (stats are) recommend you terminate the pregnancy. In america the rate is so high of how many pregnancies are terminated due to CMV.

If the above happens, the risk's are quite high that the baby would be born Blind, Deaf and mentally retarded.

We had to have scans (ultrasound) every 3 weeks for the remainder of the pregnancy, constantly checking the growth of his head and watching for calcification spots. He never showed any signs that he had congential CMV... but they wernt convinced.

I had to fight to birth at my orginal hospital, but because he hadnt showen any signs during all his scans i won, and was allowed to birth at my hospital. However, under strict conditions and the team there had to be trained how to deal with "infectious births" :( ( i hated that term)

So, anyway... we got through his birth and i got to hold him for a bit. Then he had to go to start all the testing, to test him for the CMV. He had the works, and it broke my heart and wa such a hard time. I had to have to stay in the room i laboured in, which are huge double size rooms, so i felt so bad... but facts were no one could share a room with me :(

All his tests came back negative... would you believe, with a 10-15% chance, WE were in that small margin. NEGATIVE.. all were negative!!!! My body took the full brunt of the infection, and passed by him...

It was explained to me that yes, when you have had CMV, you have it for life. It is a virus that stays dormant, and can flare up at any time. IF you have a flare up during a subsequent pregnancy, that baby too will need to be monitored throught the pregnancy, however, thier chance's are much better than those of a baby who's mother gets it in the first trimester, for the first time.

Guess i was looking to find if anyone had experienced this... sorry for being so vague!

Sorry to hijack here! I'm trying to get some information and advice on my situation. I too have been in contact with someone who had cmv and she lost her baby. I wasn't in regular contact from when she found out she was pregnant until she lost the baby at 18 wks. They think she was infected somewhere around the end of her first trimester. I am currently 12wks pregnant and for the last few wks I've been exhausted and had a sore throat on and off. It is flu season so maybe it's just that? I know tiredness is a symptom of early pregnancy, but this was more extreme than my first pregnancy. The tiredness is also a symptom of cmv and I'm terrified I've been infected. I told my ob and she is reluctant to test as she believes the results are often misleading and not always a true indication. I can't stop worrying about it - I'm scared my daughter may have picked it up from her or her son and passed it on to me. I know the odds are low and I may have been previously infected, but what if I'm one of the unlucky few?? Please help!! Do you know how long cmv is contagious for? Because I wasn't around her very much when she contested it does that lessen the chances for me?

I should also add I gave up coffee at this time so that actually might go some way to explaining the tiredness, but I'm still really worried!!