Herpes and pregnancy fears

[Isabel1001]

I am 32 weeks pregnant and cannot stop worrying about the possibility of passing on HSV II to my baby. I was diagnosed four years ago and have not had many problems with it. I get roughly two breakouts a year, which, without treatment, last 7-10 days. In the first 12 weeks of my pregnancy I had two back to back breakouts, which I think were due to the bad morning sickness I was suffering. I then got quite positive that I had managed to escape anything else for the duration of the pregnancy however this was not to be. Last week, despite feeling very healthy throughout my pregnancy, I had an incredibly mild breakout, so mild I hardly noticed it. It was a cut so small I couldn’t see it but only noticed it when I padded the area with a tissue and a speck of blood was noticed. That and the very mild nerve pain I was feeling was gone after two days.
Since then I have become like a woman possessed and fear this means I have more chance of passing it on to my baby.
I intend to take an anti viral from about 37 weeks but I am becoming super paranoid that this won’t be preventative enough. I have been focusing too much on negative things I have read online, including a study which showed women had still passed it on to their babies despite being on anti viral therapy and that the majority of transmission case studies were when women were asymptomatic.
I also read something which raised the issue of anti virals suppressing the protective anti-bodies passed on to babies with recurrent infections. Is this a problem? How protective are the anti-boides?
I realise by being super paranoid I am not helping myself but seem to have convinced myself that the odds are stacked against me.

[Isabel1001]

Thank you, I will try!

[Life360_Dave]

Its not really clear what causes outbreaks but taking antivirals really helps prevent them. Just work close with your doctors when the due date comes close and dont stress yourself out over this as 1 in 5500 is not very often. OK?
dave

[Isabel1001]

Thanks for your response. I seem to be driving myself crazy actively searching out case studies where babies have been infected. I also worry that if my labor is traumatic, i.e. drawn out and difficult that this could trigger an outbreak?

[Life360_Dave]

Hi and dont be overly fearful the likehood of a newborn contracting herpes with a mom with established genital herpes is quite small and the risk of neonatal herpes is about 1 in 5500 deliveries.

Even if antibodies to the herpes virus are transferred from mother to baby during pregnacy, the antibodies are not adequate to completely protect as they dont have immune systems that is capable of preventing it.