TTC and COVID19
March 13, 2020 3:30 PM   Subscribe

Should we pause trying to conceive in light of the COVID19 pandemic?

We want to try to conceive our first baby. Our preference is to get pregnant as soon as possible. Assume no fertility interventions will be required to get pregnant right now (so no need to leave the house!).

We live in a non-USA country with universal health care. We have no underlying health conditions and we both have the luxury of working from home and self-distancing for the foreseeable future.

According to biology, if we tried next month, the earliest we would see a positive test result is third-ish week of April (I know for sure we’re not currently pregnant). So, the earliest we would potentially have to interact with medical systems is around the end of April/early May.

Things I’m most worried about:

- Requiring medical care during a pandemic (it seems prudent to avoid going into medical settings if I can help it for fear of catching the virus, and I don’t want to draw medical resources away from the sick during peak times)
- Potentially catching the virus and getting a fever in the first trimester

What would you do?
posted by rodneyaug to Health & Fitness (19 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I would wait. Your concerns about medical settings and resources are valid.
posted by sevensnowflakes at 3:46 PM on March 13, 2020 [3 favorites]


Emily Oster recently wrote a post responding to this question in her newsletter.

As a currently pregnant person (due in August), I empathize and share your concerns about the uncertainty of all of this, particularly the impact on medical resources. Unhelpfully, I'm not sure I have an answer to the question of "What would you do?" (I'm glad we conceived and I don't regret the timeline. But if I'd had a crystal ball, the prospect of this scenario would've given me pause.)

Sending good vibes as you weigh the knowns and unknowns, and make the decision that feels right for you.
posted by nuannarpoq at 4:38 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]


I would wait a month or two. I am currently pregnant and conceived the first cycle trying, so assuming you do get pregnant right away, and got sick (with coronavirus/the flu/anything transmissible that would cause a fever), you would definitely have cause for concern with a fever. I would instead spend this time educating yourself about conception and tracking you BBT and ovulation, highly recommend reading Taking Charge of Your Fertility. Then when you do start trying, you'll be armed and hopefully conceive quicker than if you were "trying without trying" - alternately, if you start tracking and notice something amiss with your cycle, you'll be prepared with the data to help your doctor's figure out what's up and get the proper interventions sooner.

Also, if you're not already, start taking a prenatal vitamin.
posted by DoubleLune at 5:08 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]


Speaking as a Toronto resident for whom TTC means "Toronto Transit Commission", my initial reaction to your opening two sentences was some of the finest mental whiplash I have had in quite some time. Respectfully, my advice is that this is not a great time to start trying to conceive a child on the subway. Streetcars and buses are also, I think, out of the question.

That said, we really don't really have great information here - our best information so far is that this isn't Zika, but it's called "novel" for a reason - so maybe waiting three or four months means that you'll be able to make better-informed decisions, at at the very least means that in six months or nine months or twelve months the health care system wherever you are will be less burdened and better equipped to help you than it will be in the near term.

I second the idea of taking prenatal vitamins preemptively, that's a good idea.
posted by mhoye at 5:35 PM on March 13, 2020 [16 favorites]


Response by poster: Thanks all for the thoughtful answers so far.

This is not our first month trying to conceive.
Assume that I’m equipped with all the info and data I need to for this undertaking, and that I have made the appropriate recommended physical interventions, including taking prenatal vitamins. In other words, I’m READY ready. Thanks!
posted by rodneyaug at 5:53 PM on March 13, 2020


We conceived towards the end of last year- not our ideal timing as we would have started trying earlier, but we waited out a potential Zika exposure. The big difference there, of course, is that Zika has a nasty effect on in-utero infants. (Something we don't know fully yet with COVID-19 - although current data is hopeful. It's not swineflu, which was bad for pregnant people. Although the above mentioned fever in the first trimester is something to think about)

Are you in the southern or northern hemisphere? Heading into winter or summer would change my thinking on this, I think.

Medically at the start of a pregnancy there isn't a lot of medical contact (that ramps up towards the end).

Remember too that starting to try doesn't always mean getting pregnant right away (I know you know this, in your head, but I didn't know in my heart, if that makes sense.) So your timelines might be off. I had planned on a January baby! Actually a July one.

It's a great question for your doctor, as mentioned above.

If we still weren't pregnant at this point I think we would still be trying, corona virus or no, but with lots of research etc.
posted by freethefeet at 6:11 PM on March 13, 2020


If it plays out like the 1918 and also other epidemics, there's a good chance of another outbreak in the fall. (Most viruses become weaker over time, so if it does happen it will prob be a smaller event)
posted by sexyrobot at 6:39 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]


My first thought is don't wait. It took me three months to get pregnant when I first started TTC but three years to have a baby. There is honestly not a lot of medical contact required in the first trimester - you could conceivably wait to see a doctor until 12 weeks. The worst case is maybe if you have an ectopic pregnancy and need surgical intervention but you will not be taking obstetricians from the front lines of fighting COVID19.

My second thought is do what is best for your own mental health. If you will feel better to wait, then wait.
posted by muddgirl at 6:40 PM on March 13, 2020 [3 favorites]


Looking at the risk of an ectopic pregnancy, your chance of getting pregnant is about 25% each month, and the risk of an ectopic pregnancy is 1-2%. And most ectopic pregnancies can be treated with medication alone.
posted by muddgirl at 7:07 PM on March 13, 2020


I would wait. Even if we had a huge turnaround in new cases tomorrow (we won't), the economic impact of this is a second wave of crisis coming along behind the disease wave. Give this some time so you can assess your circumstances more accurately.
posted by latkes at 7:10 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]


Go for it! You’ll be part of a small baby boom from all the cooped up couples. Worst case, you have to delay your first prenatal appointments a bit.
posted by michaelh at 7:14 PM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]


I would probably wait unless you’re really worried about other tandem health concerns (like your lifetime fertility window is getting short or something). My friends who are currently pregnant are pretty stressed about all the unknowns.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 7:17 PM on March 13, 2020 [3 favorites]


It took us four years and many medical interventions to conceive. On paper, there was no reason we should have had trouble. Don't wait if this is important to you.
posted by johnnybeggs at 7:51 PM on March 13, 2020 [4 favorites]


I’m newly pregnant, overjoyed, and nonetheless this whole situation is enormously stressful. We tried for two years and fertility treatments were in our future but we weren’t ready to commit to the process yet. And of course - surprise! Pregnant! And we recently decided to move 1k miles away from all our family and finalized all the plans before we found out.

I don’t regret anything but I also don’t have control at this point (as if I ever had more than the semblance of it before!) and could not have foreseen these circumstances. That’s kind of how this whole thing is - you have no idea how it will go. So if your life is very stable, maybe you go for it. I hope you have no trouble at all but nobody thinks they will until they do (we sure didn’t). I would recommend imagining how you will manage the uncertainty I am currently navigating as a gut check. There’s a whole lot of “we don’t know” for pregnant people currently in their first or second trimesters right now in regards to how much risk we face. If you get pregnant right away, you’ll be in a similar situation.
posted by araisingirl at 10:37 PM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]


I'm currently pregnant, and an obstetrician. I would wait.
posted by i_am_a_fiesta at 3:50 AM on March 14, 2020 [9 favorites]




Response by poster: Thank you so much for the considerate and thoughtful answers. Funny that one poster above seemed to interpret the question as “should folks reconsider procreating if there is a risk they may become poor?”, but, anyway...

We still haven’t decided whether to postpone or not. I’m leaning towards trying. I’ll call my doctor this week for her opinion, and then when the window of opportunity arises next month, we might have a clearer picture about how our area is impacted. Or things might be even more uncertain. I don’t know.

I know that parenting is a long term exercise in accepting how little control we have over the things we care most about, so this situation is a good dress rehearsal for that future.

I so appreciate those of you who answered this question from a place of empathy and kindness. And I wish all of you who are pregnant peace and health during this time.
posted by rodneyaug at 11:16 AM on March 14, 2020 [3 favorites]


I would REALLY be concerned about deliberately doing something that would need me to need more medical care in my future when that will be extremely limited--at best--for at least what, 3, 6, 9 months here?

I get that you want a baby very badly and don't want to wait, but please please please don't put yourself in danger by conceiving if you have the option not to. You don't know if you're going to have complications or be able to get medical care if you have them, and that's even if you don't catch it.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:44 PM on March 14, 2020 [1 favorite]


"should folks reconsider procreating if there is a risk they may become poor"

Not sure if that was about my comment, but to be clear, I was a broke single mom myself - on food stamps and Medicaid when my kid was little. Being poor and a parent is hard, but that's not what I was trying to say.

The economic crash that is likely to come from uncountable numbers of people losing their jobs in the service industries, and, due to a domino effect, in other industries, will have a profoundly destabilizing impact on our society for years to come. My advice came from a place of knowing that if I were to choose myself now, I would choose not to become pregnant, because of the large number of unknowns and the highly unstable time we're living through.

Of course, it's your decision to make.
posted by latkes at 2:29 PM on March 15, 2020 [1 favorite]


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