While we are on the subject of women testing HIV positive and pregnancy, not many years ago, HIV positive women contemplating and planning pregnancy, childbirth and giving birth to healthy and HIV-free babies was un-thinkable. This was because the danger of passing on HIV to the unborn child during pregnancy was extremely high in mothers suffering from HIV.
However, in the light of novel HIV and AIDS medicines and advanced treatment options, a woman who is affected by HIV or AIDS can get pregnant and sustain her baby to full term, without transferring the disease on to her unborn child.
Despite the fact that women who are living through this disease can now look forward to giving birth to a healthy plus HIV and AIDS free child and a conventional family life, it is essential for them to realize that they still run the risk of having HIV and AIDS during pregnancy complications.
For that reason, before getting ready to deliver a new born baby, HIV positive women should understand how sharing their blood supply with their un-born baby will endanger the baby’s life and pre-dispose the baby towards certain illnesses and infections at childbirth.
To start with, ladies who are pregnant or are planning a pregnancy should get tested for HIV as early as possible. Secondly, women who have confirmed that they are HIV positive must start consuming medicines called antiretroviral therapy or ART in a suitable manner daily to treat their HIV infection.
Thereafter, ladies or would-be-mothers can talk to their health care provider or doctor with reference to getting tested for HIV and AIDS treatment during pregnancy and other ways to keep them and their child from getting HIV and AIDS.
They can discuss how during pregnancy, HIV is passed on from mother to child, HIV and pregnancy symptoms and examine ways and means of thwarting their HIV and AIDS infections from coming into contact with their babies.
To play safe, would-be-mothers in their third trimester should be tested again if they take part in conduct, which puts them at risk for HIV or AIDS.
If would-be-moms are HIV negative but have an HIV positive partner, then they should seek advice from their doctors about taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to help keep them from getting HIV. Additionally, they should urge their partner to take medicines to treat HIV (ART), which greatly lowers the chance that he could transmit HIV to them.
If the viral load of mothers who have tested HIV positive is exposed, then it is probable that their doctor will discuss different routes and alternatives for delivering their baby that reduces transmission risk.
As soon as babies are born to a mother with HIV, they are given ART immediately for four to six weeks.
If mothers with HIV receive treatments for their HIV, in advance of their pregnancy, then the risk of transmitting HIV to their baby can be reduced to one percent or less.
Furthermore, it is possible for breast milk to have HIV in it. So, after delivery, mothers with HIV can save their babies from HIV by saying no to breastfeeding.