I try not to mix work and play (ok, that’s kind of a lie) when it comes to serious things.  But, when I met my friend, Lindsay, for coffee on Monday, I knew we had to tell her story.  It was quite clear my normally calm, cool and collected friend was struggling.  She’s nine months pregnant and her 5-year-old came down with H1N1 on Saturday night.

Ugh.

Now, I’ve never had a baby.  But I know enough moms to know it’s one thing to want to burst.  It’s another to do it with two kids running around.  It’s a third when one of those kids could give you a virus that could really hurt you.  I felt badly talking with Lindsay because there really wasn’t anything I could do.  Except offer my errand-running and baby-sitting services -- for the daughter without the flu, of course.

Lindsay and her husband are quite smart, so they’d already consulted tons of doctors and friends.   They decided to follow her OB’s advice and take Tamiflu, even though she wasn’t totally comfortable with taking medication while she’s pregnant.  She actually wasn’t even comfortable with taking the vaccine, but went ahead and did it anyway.  Everyone she’d turned to told her the risk of complications from the flu is much worse than any complications from the medications or vaccine.

It’s a tough time to be pregnant.  You not only have to think of you and your baby, now you have to be concerned for your husband, your caregivers and your other kids.  In fact, one of my friends has already told me she’s putting off trying for her second child until the threat of the H1N1 flu is over.  I didn’t know this, but Dr. Jan Strathy over at Park Nicollet told me pregnant women are more likely to get the flu because their immune systems are down.  She also said if pregnant women get the virus, it has the potential to be pretty bad because the growing baby inside of them makes it harder to clear out their lungs.  According to one study, Dr. Strathy said pregnant women who end up in the ICU with H1N1 are four times more likely to die.



I know it’s easy to get tired of H1N1 stories.  I do.  My managers do.  Even the experts we interview wish it would go away.  But I still think they are important to tell.  I really hate to ask my friends to do interviews because I’m afraid they’ll never tell me anything out of fear I can’t keep it to myself.  But this one was too important to pass up.  And Lindsay is very cool.  I knew she’d understand.  Thanks my friend!  Good luck over these next few days.  Call me anytime... even if it’s in the middle of the night.  I’ll pick up hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes for you guys anytime.