i give hep c to my baby,,sad

I gave hep c to my baby she is my only child,if i had a c section would my baby still have gotten sick? should i not have another baby? I don't want my daughter to grow up alone,but then i don't want to bring another sick baby in the world.what do i do? Im also scared of treatment i have heard alot of scary stories,like your always very sick,to the point were you feel like dieing,and treatment dos'ent help everyone. can't i just eat right not drink alcohal (alcohol),drink noni juice and take milk thistle and be ok? anna

[CoWriter]

Studies have not shown any benefit from having a C section over having a vaginal birth.  When the baby is born, he/she may have a positive antibody test but it does not mean that they have Hepatitis C.  Babies are usually tested when they're two years old to see if they truly have Hep C.

The risk of babies getting Hepatitis C from mom is very low....about 3 to 5%.

[dancegirl54]

The PUBLICIZED vertical transmission risk may be low but reality is that they are based on very small study groups.  There are a lot of us out here that have transmitted HCV to our kids. I have 2 which makes the %% in my case skyrocket - and I dont have any particular additional risk factors. Something to carefully consider.

[zazza]

I have had 3 babies, 1 trough C section, 2 through vaginal birth. None of them have hep C. Dancegirl, I know you have been very unfortunate. If I remember correctly, you have 4 children, and out of them 2 have hep C. This gives you 50%. In my case the percentage is 0%. And I think there is a lot more like me out there. We should not scare anyone from getting a baby. Even if the study groups are small, they are still probably big enough to meet the standards which are required to base statistics on.

[FlGuy]

But, your son has successly cleared it so there is good news too!  By the way, what are you doing these days?  Months ago I think you wrote that you were seeing NA for your situation?

[portann]

My vote is that you test your baby at two to see if she even has HCV or only tests positive for the antibodies, which means she doesn't have it.

And have another baby.

[monkeyfro]

I also had 3 children while I unknowingly had HCV and all (thank God) are neg.  The advice you have been given seems valid, try not to let this disease rule your future. So many variables come into play when deciding treatment, at least that is what I have learned.  What geno type, what stage, etc.... talk to your doctor about the treatment. I have just recently decided to go with the tx after many years of pondering. there are scary stories and there are happy endings, and everyone seems to experience the side effects differently.  that is why this and other forums are so important to all of us battling this insidious disease.  take care my thoughts and prayers are with you and your daughter.

[dancegirl54]

Thanks for asking, yes, it has been over a year since Eric finished his year of treatment!!! He was UND from 4 weeks on and he is STILL UND!!!  The good news is that we found out relatively late that we all had this thing and so the kids lived normal lives in blissful ignorance, never had any problems which could have been attributed to the HCV.  I do see NA, he keeps advising waiting even for a better trial, so still watching and waiting though I am thinking more and more about tx - I'm not getting any younger. My daughter is graduating from college this spring and has not tx.  The heartache remains - she has a new boyfriend, I agonize and am at times guilt ridden, because of me she has to deal with "telling" about something she had no part in.

Zazza I dont think I scared dezzy, I have messaged her privately. It's important to have all aspects to CONSIDER.  I wouldnt advise anyone to have or not to have a baby, it's none of my business. I can only share my experience. BTW you live very close to my homeland!!!!!!!

Lisa

[epiphiny]

This topic is so close to my heart.  I am one of the people that allowed this virus to rule her life since I found out that I had it at the age of 31.  I am now 47 and treating for the 2nd time.  I do not have any children and I have now gone through menopause (perhaps early due to the virus).

The major contributing factor to my choosing to be childless was having HCV and the fear of passing it on to my child, and for the better part of the past 16 years I have been terrified of passing the virus on to any partner.  I was in one major long term relationship that had the potential to have children during that time.

This gives me the greatest sadness and it breaks my heart to hear of others thinking about not having children due to the virus.  Now I am better educated and not living in fear but I truly regret not educating myself earlier.

I'm also happy to say I have overcome my fear of passing on this virus to my beloved and that I am now happily married to a wonderful man.  

Dezzy, please educate yourself and please don't live in fear.  I hope you will have many more beautiful children that you will cherish...

Epi :)

[zazza]

Dancegirl,
So where are you from? I am curious now!

Epiphany,
I don't know what to say. Your story touched my heart.

[portann]

Your story was straight from the heart. Thank you for sharing it.

[merryBe]

I just went through a wrenching year wondering if my son had gotten it at birth.

You are scared right now, but it could be the baby will clear the virus on her own. It could also be a false positive. Make sure they do a test for RNA and genotype.

my sons first 2 test were false positives. they could find no RNA or genotype...which is why I had him retested with Labcorps most sensitive tests. He does not have HCV.

I hope your daughter will also have this result, but even if not, the treatments are advancing rapidly.
You should read up on them, and particularly on the new protease inhibitors coming out.
The number successfully treating is going way up with newer treatments and your chances of having a much longer and much healthier life if you do defeat the virus are well worth considering.
my best to you and your child.

mb

[dezzy1024]

thanks to everyone for your comments and sharing your stories with me.

[zazza]

You got me going on statistical probability. It is not as simple as one would think. The more kids you have the greater the probability is that at least one of them will have hep C. So for me who had 3 kids there was between 85 and 91% chance of none of my kids being born with hep C. This means that out of every 10 women with hep C and 3 kids at least one will have a child with hep C. 1 out of 10 - not that small a number.

So if you have 4 kids, the probability that no kid will have hep C decreases to 81-88%.

The probability of having 2 kids with hep C and 2 kids without is somewhere between 0.5 and 1.3%. It does seem like a small number, but if you have 1000 mothers with hep C and 4 kids somewhere between 5 and 13 of them will be in the group with two infected kids. To these mothers this is their reality.

Hope I got it right now!