I was inspired to write this post in light of the significant spring cold season we are now finishing. It is common knowledge on the medical hill that this spring's common cold was a bad one. For most people, the cough lasted several weeks, even though the illness itself was over. It was not pertussis, it was not flu. It was just a garden variety virus that hit hard.

So I am going to take a moment and talk about prevention. Prevention takes three forms:

1. Vaccinate for what you can: Pertussis, and Influenza

2. Hand washing and avoiding the sick.

3. Keeping up on self care with exercise, sleep and nutrition.

They really are immensely effective.

Outside of pregnancy, when we get a cold or stomach flu, we doctor it ourselves. But in pregnancy it is different. In pregnancy, it is a good idea to touch base with your doctor about your symptoms if they are anything more than slight. She can give you a few guidelines and recommendations, even if no antibiotics are prescribed. On that note, just as a reminder, most of these common infections are viral, and as such, do not respond to antibiotics. That said, some viral infections can be followed by a bacterial infection. This may be the case if one gets better, and then worse again. Additionally, some viral upper respiratory infections can set off asthma and we can help with this too.

I set up a page for common illnesses in pregnancy HERE and I couldn't help but notice that in all cases, treatment included, lots of liquids, like tea, soup, and water. Self care included tylenol, since ibuprofen is not recommended in pregnancy, rest and lots of baths and steamy showers.

Perhaps we shouldn't wait for an illness to take good care of ourselves.