Pregnant with a cold, when to go to the doctor?

Why have you not yet
established a rapport with the nurses or P.A. at your Ob/gyn’s office? They are available for all questions relating to your pregnancy and can triage for the doctor.

You should be able to and feel comfortable about calling the office and speaking to someone who knows you, knows your medical history and knows what’s what.

With pneumonia you’re not necessarily coughing all the time, but I don’t think you’d mistake it for a cold.

The big fear for the fetus is fever.

Coughs generally take 3 weeks to clear up. If your stuffy head congestion lasts more than a week you might have a bacterial infection that needs an antibiotic. A typical week long cold with a lagging cough I wouldn’t worry.

Your cough should be getting better in the second week if all your other symptoms have subsided. Meaning throughout the day very little coughing, with bad coughing jags only happening in the middle of the night or when you first wake up, becoming less and less often. If you are not progressing this way, are coughing badky all day after 10 days+, or if you are not coughing up anything, you should see a doctor pregnant or not.

Keep yourself warm, turn up the heat at night, don’t breath in cold air. Use a humidifier if you have one. Also, for your shower go to your smallest bathroom, close all the doors run the water super hot so the room steams for 5 minutes and breath in the steam to loosen the phlegm. Then turn down to normal shower temp and take your shower while the bathroom is still steamed.

Of course if you want to take any medicine for any reason you should ask your doctor. You can ask about cold medicine with a quick phone call to his office.

Sleep with a humidifier, and stay away from dairy products. You will only produce more mucus. You probably cough like crazy in the morning because the mucus is getting into your throat and lungs while you sleep. Try sleeping sitting up, or if you are laying down than put a small pillow under your neck so your sinuses are slightly lower than your throat and your mucus doesn’t drain down your throat. I believe pneumonia usually presents with a fever and chest pains, unless its walking pneumonia.
If the mucus is clear that you probably don’t have an infection but I would check with my doctor to be sure my lungs are clear. Always better to be safe than sorry.

When you’re pregnant, everything is more so. A simple cold can last much longer and be a trial, but after all is said and done, it’s probably still just a simple cold. Take @gailcalled “s advice and talk to the people at your OBs office, they can tell you which symptom alleviators are OK to take, and what the signs are that you should be worried. I had two colds when I was preggers, and they seemed to go on forever, but it was just inconvenient, not dangerous. I did the chicken soup, hot tea with lemon, orange juice thing and was fine. Rather gross at times with all the snuffling and mucus and stuff, but fine.

hey guys, yeah all wise advise thanks, I do have a rapport with my OBYN I just don’t necessarily trust her 100% especially when it comes to things like flu injection etc as they of course will tell you to take everything and I wanted to hear from people that had been pregnant before – so to me this is more helpful, yep I don’t trust the medical profession, but I do people that have been there and can speak from experience especially something like a cold.
@JilltheTooth and @JLeslie did you guys take the flu injection?
Thanks everyone – makes me feel less sick more over paranoid ;) which I am.

You can call your doctor’s office if it would give you peace of mind, but I’d suggest eating some soup, watching movies or reading, relaxing and letting it run its course. You should be fine, unless you develop a fever. Maybe some extra Vitamin C would help. Until you know you’re over it, do not eat dairy products, as they will only make the mucous worse. You should be better next week. =0)

@tan235 I never take the flu shot, so I am a bad person to ask maybe about that. I have only been a few weeks pregnant several times. I lost all of my pregnancies, so I don’t have much first hand experience. Flu does cause high fever and fever is dangerous for a fetus. I think it is recommended to take the flu shot when pregnant, but you might want to look up the recommendations on the CDC website and not just rely on your doctor.

oh I’m sorry to hear that @JLeslie….yeah doctor with flu shot – varies enormously to peoples personal experience, and they are not all good either – I’ve heard from horror stories from the flu shot – If I’d been taking it already I would continue to it’s just that I never have.
Thanks xo

@tan235 : I didn’t do the flu shot thing, but then I don’t, as a rule do the flu shot thing, and I’ve never had the flu. Do some research on reputable sites about that whole thing, as well as talking to your OB and the support staff there…

Yeah will do – my research so far as made me not want to take it, but will keep looking.

There are not a lot of meds that you can take when you’re pregnant. Do you have a nettie pot? That just runs saline through your sinuses and loosens up the mucus.

Hey @Judi I had a bad experience with the nettie pot – it gave me an ear infection as I blew to hard and the water stayed in my ear – it was horrible! So have been careful not to use it again ha ha

Don’t get a flu shot. But if you’re still considering it, read up on it before you decide if you really want that crap in your baby’s bloodstream.

yeah… it’s a hard thing to decide, as the websites where it’s encouraged tell you how bad getting the flu is and scare you….. whilst other sites tell you to just use common sense.
Damn pharmaceutical companies… who do you trust in these instances?

You don’t trust the drug companies; they’re only in it for the money. Why do you think they push so hard for everyone to use their products, even if said products are known to cause problems? Trust your gut. My husband refused to listen to me about vaccinations when I was pregnant with our first daughter… until I printed out a bunch of research and pages taken straight from medical cases, with a lot of text highlighted. He converted quickly.

@tan235 OK then, Peppermint and eucalyptus oil in a humidifier. Unless you have that pregnancy affliction of oversensitivity to smell.

yeah I“m reading on a lot of sites where pregnant woman refuse to take the flu vaccine, I think that is me, I’ve never taken a vaccine in my life – my mother never vaccinated me when I was little either – she forgot… ha…
I think the human body is more than capable of looking after itself if the person in the body is capable of eating and exercising it properly!
I just wish somethings were more out in the open, imagine if pharmaceutical companies were like ’ hey this isn’t good for you, but there is small chance it will stop you from getting the flu – so take it if you want, but we understand if you don’t.’ Those at high risk might go – sure… either way you’d thank them for being so honest.

If you don’t take the flu shot, and I am not saying you should or shouldn’t, you should still do everything possible to not get sick. Cold and flu are passed mostly by touching an infected service and then touching your eyes, nose or mouth, which allow the virus to enter your system. If course if someone coughs or sneezes on you that is obviously bad, but people are most contagious, shed the most virus 24 hours before they feel sick into the first couls of days of illness.

So, aside from the flu shot (which does not protect you at all from colds anyway) don’t touch your face. Wash your hands before you do touch your face. If someone is sick steer clear of them. If your husband gets sick move to the guest room or move him to the couch since you are pregnant.

yeah good advice…. I think I may just do that, I’m off now to the herbal dispensary to get some safe healing herbs… the guy there is amazing! Exciting times….. Thanks so much for your help everyone x

@tan235 I would not take anything, including herbs without researching it and asking your doctor. Most drugs are based on natural medicines. Just because it is natural does not make it dangerous. Aspirin from tree bark, pain killers from poppy’s.

The flu injection cannot give you the flu if that’s what you’re worried about; it contains dead viruses. The nasal spray vaccine contains live viruses so it’s theoretically possible to get the flu from it especially if you have immune problems, but still unlikely.

You seem to not like the idea of getting the flu vaccine, but here is an article about some of the most recent data on flu shots for pregnant women.

I research my herbs just as much as everything else… so don’t take them willy nilly – my unty in NZ is a naturopath so I’ve had it drummed into me how potent herbs can be!
xo

You must get that checked! My mother had that when she was pregnant of me at 6 months. She had a cold and coughed and had what you described. And while that was happening, she was pushing me out.

woah! really! I don’t think I’m pushing my baby out…. I do appreciate it thought, I remember my mother saying the same thing about my brother, I do worry though that all the pushing of my tummy due to coughing and blowing my nose is upsetting the little being.

hey @wundayatta I“m confused by this, if the mother were to get the flu – she would create her own antibodies to get rid of the flu therefore her child should also be getting the same antibodies, therefore creating immunity?
My main concern about the flu injection and all things pharmaceutical is the propaganda and the guilt they place upon you; as if you are not capable of looking after yourself and you’re a bad person for not getting the shot due to these factors, etc etc… It places unnecessary fear in the minds of people and it really does not sit well with me at all, that and… yes the flu shot has mercury in it! I mean really?
You can tell me that safe?

The link above was also written by…. one of the companies that create the flu shot.
It just confuses me unnecessarily.
Makes me really frustrated actually.
Surely the flu can be beneficial sometimes as well – for our own immunity, a womans immunity during pregnancy isn’t that low.
sorry now I’m on a rant.

Hey @tan235, here’s a good article on the flu shot.

@tan235 I despise giving out horror stories to pregnant women..However here is one I know:

My sister-in-law never gets the flu shot. She and all of her many children regularly get the flu every year. She was pregnant with one of her children, when she and several of her kids contracted the flu. She gave birth to a son, while vomitting from the flu the entire birthing process. She needed to be given fluids. After a week, she and her newest babe left the hospital.

A week later, her infant and one toddler were put into the ICU. The infant contracted RSV. It took both children weeks to get better. Mom had to sit up nightly (meaning little to no sleep) to hold both children upright as they slept.

IMO, the flu shot is a fairly simple way to avoid all of the above.

That’s a good article @Mariah – thanks.

@SpatzieLover the flu is a respiratory illness, it shouldn’t cause vomiting… gastroenteritis, commonly referred to as the ‘stomach flu,’ won’t be prevented by the flu shot, because it isn’t really the flu.

@ANef_is_Enuf It caused her to vomit because she was filled with mucus.

EDIT: Also, as far as I know…she had a high fever…that was the reason for the fluids being administered.

@tan235 There is no reason for the pharmaceutical industry to market the flu shot as they don’t make money on it. In fact, several years ago, the government had to find a way to encourage them to make more vaccine, as there was a shortage. I really don’t think there is a marketing ploy.

Rather, I believe this is driven by the medical establishment which is seeking to protect patients, especially the most vulnerable, those in utero.

Are they trying to make you feel guilty? Perhaps. I don’t know what their marketing strategy is. I don’t think you should feel guilty. I think you should make the decision based on the most recent scientific data available. This means scientific data, not anecdotal data. No individual story should be the basis for a decision. Studies of many people should help you decide.

It sounds like you are confused about something, but I didn’t understand what you were confused about.

Here’s an anecdotal story—your question reminded me to get a flu shot, and I just got it an hour ago. I’ve gotten it every year for a decade or so now. Yes, it had a little mercury in it. I remember investigating that in past years and deciding it was a decent risk.

I can’t tell you with 100% surety what will best protect your baby. No one can. Neither pro nor con. I can tell you that the flu vaccine increases your chances of health for both of you, compared to not having it. How much it increases, I don’t know. I don’t know what your chances of getting the flu are normally, nor how much with the vaccine, nor how much of an improvement that is.

I never got a flu before I got the vaccine. I never got one after. I hope it stays that way.

If I recall correctly, the pharmaceutical industry loses money on most vaccines because they make more treating people who get sick than they make from the vaccines.