It is certainly your prerogative to be concerned to the level to avoid contact. But let me share this statistic with you that may help. 40 to 100 (ONE HUNDRED) percent of the population has been exposed to and has CMV. Up to 20 percent of children in the US have CMV by the age of puberty. 50 to 85% of adults have the virus in the US. 1 in every 200 births are babies born with congenital CMV.
I am not minimizing your concern at all. I am a parent and I worry. And when pregnant, I had heightened worry. All the 'what if's' and thoughts of what could go wrong or bad. And the fear of being completely responsible for the little life I created. It's a lot.
Your baby will be exposed to CMV by anyone they come in contact with as infants. And as children. And as adults. We all can't live in a bubble. And the ramifications of acquiring CMV are relatively low. Most don't even know they have it for their entire life.
I again don't minimize how you feel. But just want your kids to enjoy an engaged, affectionate parent. Education for you would be excellent. Talk to your doctor putting your anxiety aide to get facts for how to live with CMV and still be a normal person in terms of life with your partner and kids and family and friends. Do *I* want CMV? No. Do *I* want my kids to have it? No. I'm not saying that and not trying to say it's nothing. But you have to do your best to celebrate and live life too or all lose out. That's just my opinion any way.
This is your first child. I am sure you are very excited. Focusing on that. This is exciting news and I hope the pregnancy goes really terrific for your wife. Now IS the best time to minimize your risk of passing it to your wife. Normal precautions. But she should talk to her own doctor and you should make sure both of you are comfortable with the level of intimacy between the two of you. good luck with everything and I hope you come back here for any other concerns you have an dare not put off by my voicing my thoughts on this particular topic. I'm only sharing an opinion based on my knowledge which doesn't mean it has to be right for you. :>) All the best.
Thank you, and she's going to the doctors next week. I'm just in a bad place right now because i will be infecting my wife and child with CMV. I have read that there are vaccines in trial and maybe in the future it can help people in similar situations. I'm praying the baby is ok and lives a long healthy and happy life. Im going to try and limit any method of possible infection to my wife, wont let ant fluids (salive etc) touch her, and one the baby is born i will be doing the same, i will hug it and kiss it only on the forehead or not at all. Hopefully by then the vaccine can be made so my children can get it. Thanks for your help regardless
Hi, my wife took a pregnancy test and it came back positive so she is pregnant. Shes been tested for cmv and its negative so far but apparently it wont show in her blood untill 3-4 weeks. If she tests positive later, it will almost certainly mean the baby will be disabled. I wanted to ask if you have any knowledge on this or if anyone does, i lf we have another child in the future say couple years later, would that child also be disabled and get CMV
And just another question but i understand if no one knows the answer here, if the child doesnt have congenital CMV but gets CMV after shes born, what are the risks there?
Hi. So, your wife is not pregnant yet but you are worried because you have CMV and you are attempting to have a baby, correct? Or IS she already pregnant? If she is not pregnant, I would have her talk to her doctor about this (her obstretrition). She can talk about your having the virus and what she needs to do to protect herself and ultimately the baby. I did find a great article by the March of Dimes on this subject. Pretty explicit statistics to help you not worry. CMV is very common and the most common virus passed from mothers to babies. Of all pregnant moms, 1 to 4 percent have CMV and they have a 1 and 3 chance of passing it to the baby. And most babies that are born with CMV do not have health issues from it. But the possibility is still there. The good news? Your wife doesn't have it that you know of? A new infection during pregnancy is really more the worry so I do understand your concern. But knowing that most of the time, babies do not have serious consequences from this very common virus should be reassuring. They can check the baby during the pregnancy with an amniocentesis if you wish to know if your baby has gotten the virus from your wife if SHE gets it. https://www.marchofdimes.org/complications/cytomegalovirus-and-pregnancy.aspx
I think that I honestly do understand your concern but if you want to have a child, the benefits outweigh the risks. Just my opinion. Have her talk to her doctor about this.