Seans fight with Fifth Disease

SeansMomJen - 05:00pm Mar 14, 2012 EST

I was 15 weeks pregnant with my second child when my two year old son contracted Fifiths Disease from his daycare. I had never heard of Fifths Disease before but was told that it was a virus and that by the time they show symptoms, they are no longer contagious. Hearing this I did not worry much especially since he was acting fine, only showing very red cheeks. However, after about 5 days I decided to look into it in those books they give you when you are pregnant. It was right then and there sitting on the floor in my sons room that my world changed, it said this can be very dangerous for pregnant women.

Two days later at my normal dr appt, they did a blood test to see if I was immune to Fifths Disease. The blood work came back that I was immune but that I also had been exposed to it so they were not sure when I became immune. Next step was to have weekly ultrasounds to check on the baby since the virus takes several weeks before it can show the effects on the fetus. Those next few weeks I got to see my baby boy moving around, growing perfectly.

Then when I was 20 weeks things changed. My baby boy showed fluid in his abdomen and heart areas. We immediately drove out to a larger hospital and had a blood infusion to my baby boy. They told me he was down to only about 1/3 of the blood he should have. He was so active for being so low on blood. After the transfusion they told me we would wait 10 days to see if it worked, if not then we would probably need a second transfusion.

Ten days later I saw the saddest thing ever that will haunt me. We went to the ultrasound room and there was no heartbeat for my little guy. It took 31 hours to deliver him and of course the epidural did not work on my body. My little Angel was born on December 18th.

I have never heard of this disease. I had no symptoms myself that I had the disease. I really wish they could find a better solution to this since you might not show any symptoms, it's hard to know when someone is contagious with it.