[WhimsicalDragonf...]

I'm 27 weeks pregnant and have been sick with a sore throat and coughing for the past four days. Not a lot of fun, but I was just thinking, it would be a lot worse if I was close to my due date and went into labour still sick. This got me thinking, it must happen, and how do people cope with this?!!! I know there are other serious illnesses that people have to contend with that must be horribly difficult, but just thought I'd ask more about the cold/flu/upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) in case this happens to me!

[ubermum]

I have become ill at 38/39 weeks the last two times. Maybe that's why I went so far overdue with both of those pregnancies. I never had to labour with a bad urti. The last time, I did get antibiotics at 41 weeks, didn't deliver until 42 weeks. I blame the antis for the shocking nipple thrush I developed in the first day or two after birth.

[tamjk]

I had a severe URTI just before giving birth to my third, I literally recovered just enough to tackle some laundry and had my first contraction within six hours of pushing the start button on the washing machine.
I was bedridden with that bug, I barely had enough strength to walk to the bathroom and DH ended up taking time off work because I couldn't even lift our daughter to the change table.

Given how sick I was just prior to that birth I bounced back amazingly quickly. He was my easiest birth (DD was quicker) I felt on top of the world and compared to the other two's births I regained my energy a lot sooner.

[Maple Leaf]

A woman in my Due In group gave birth while having swine flu. Poor thing. I don't know how she did it.

[SeaPrincess]

I got a bad URTI at 40 weeks with DS1. My OB was ready to induce due to high BP, but prescribed antibiotics and told me not to go into labour. I still wasn't 100% when I was finally induced at 41+1, but not as bad as at 40w. I do think being ill and then labouring through the night and delivering at 3am made my recovery harder in comparison with the next 2.

[tenar]

I was very sick with a horrible cold virus at 40 weeks with DD2. I dreamed that I got pneumonia and had twins and they wouldn't let me hold the babies... - nightmare!

But I didn't go into labour until I was recovered enough to cope with it. I think that many times your body will wait until you are ready.

Hope you feel better soon, OP.

[Soccer Mum]

I think what the other posters have said might be true. My DD1 came at 38 weeks and I was expecting DD2 to be early as well, but I had really bad chest infection at around my due date and she was overdue.
A friend had her planned c-sec for medical reasons rescheduled for a few days later as she had a bad chest infection at the time - I gather more of a risk if she did end up needing a general.

[Kemismum]

I was quite sick when the Ob wanted to induce dd at 38wks. He delayed it when I was in significant pain with each cough and referred me to a respiratory specialist for the next day.

But dd had other plans and came that night.

The hospital were quite concerned that I had whooping cough and ran several tests. Xrays showed that I had actually broken a rib from all the coughing, and had severe bronchial asthma.

The midwife on when I had dd was lovely and sourced me plenty of cough medicine etc through labour to try to help me breathe.

[WhimsicalDragonf...]

Such strong women managing labour & illness. Thanks for the stories - I'm hoping I won't have one to add!