Does HIV Look Like Me? http://doeshivlooklikeme.org Just another WordPress weblog Fri, 04 May 2012 13:20:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 HIV and Pregnancy – Yes you Can! http://doeshivlooklikeme.org/hiv-and-pregnancy/ http://doeshivlooklikeme.org/hiv-and-pregnancy/#comments Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:24:51 +0000 admin http://doeshivlooklikeme.org/?p=368 Have a baby when you have HIV? Sure you can!

It used to be that when a woman was diagnosed with HIV, she was told she shouldn’t have kids. Thankfully, that has changed with the improvement of diagnosis, care and treatment. Learning about HIV and pregnancy, getting pregnant, and mother to child transmission can put your mind at rest.

So you want to be a mom …

Getting pregnant and becoming a parent is huge. If you have HIV, it’s good to consider:

  • How is your health overall? How high is your viral load? The lower the better if you want to get pregnant. Low viral load and high CD4s are what you want.
  • Are you on meds? Are you willing to go on them? They can decrease the risk of passing HIV to the baby.
  • How might you react if your baby has HIV? It’s not likely, but it’s possible.
  • Do you have help if you get sick and can’t parent full-time?

If you find out you have HIV during your pregnancy, it can be a real shock, but your pregnancy can be healthy. Getting good prenatal care is really important. Find the nearest doctor that specializes in HIV obstetrical care.

Going for it

If you are HIV-positive and your partner is not, you can safely get pregnant through self-insemination. Have your partner ejaculate into a small cup, then use an oral syringe (available at drug stores at the pharmacy counter) to squirt the semen as high up in your vagina as possible. The sperm will swim up through your cervix, and with luck, conception will occur! If you are both HIV-positive, getting pregnant is more risky, but not impossible and there are ways to lower the risks of exposure. Oak Tree Clinic is a good source of information, and always has up to date information.

Mother to Child Transmission

Mother to Child transmission (also know as vertical or pediatric HIV transmission), happens when a baby is infected during pregnancy or labour. HIV treatment during pregnancy is a combination of drugs designed to slow the replication of HIV and decrease the chances of it crossing over the placenta to the baby. If you choose to take treatment during pregnancy, the chance your baby will become infected is about 1% (1 in 100). If you don’t, the chance your baby could become infected is about 25% (25 in 100). We don’t know the life-long effects of these treatments on kids who were exposed during pregnancy, but Oak Tree Clinic can give you the most up-to-date research.

HIV can also be transmitted through breast milk, so breastfeeding is not recommended.

(Content taken from pwn.bc.ca)

For More information see the links at the bottom of this post.

We would like to welcome Lolisa as one of our newest additions to the Does HIV Look Like Me? US family, as well as congratulate her beautiful little boy.  Lolisa is an strong, beautiful women who we know will be a inspiration for young people and HIV positive mothers everywhere who are planning to start a family.  Please see below for more information about HIV and pregnancy.

In the words of Lolisa:
Being pregnant in the summer of 2009 was the best summer that I could have ever asked for. Just being in New York City with my partner and my family, I knew that my son would be born  to be loved way more then he would ever be able to imagine. One of the biggest Challenges of being HIV positive and pregnant was having to take medication everyday. During my pregnancy I was prescribed to take five different medications for my HIV. Im not sure if the baby just didn’t like the pills or if it was a mind thing for me but every time when I tried to take the medication I would throw them back up. It seemed like the more I tried to take the medication, the more it came back up. Swallowing the pills became such a struggle for me that my partner who is not HIV positive actually took the pills for me. Despite the fact that he took the pills to encourage me, I still had trouble taking them myself.  On Tuesday September 22 2009 at 12:18 pm I was more then happy when my son was born HIV negative.Everyday I look at my son and as he smiles, so do I as I think of how much light he has brought to my life.”

You can also see Lisa in the Greater than HIV campaign.

http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/hivaids.html

http://www.avert.org/pregnancy.htm

http://pwn.bc.ca/hiv-body/pregnancy-and-hiv/

]]> http://doeshivlooklikeme.org/hiv-and-pregnancy/feed/ 0 Baseline Magazine UK made us their cover stars! http://doeshivlooklikeme.org/baseline-magazine-uk-made-us-their-cover-stars/ http://doeshivlooklikeme.org/baseline-magazine-uk-made-us-their-cover-stars/#comments Mon, 17 May 2010 04:39:50 +0000 admin http://doeshivlooklikeme.org/?p=280 Our Board Chair, Todd Murray and our Executive Director, Brandy Svendson were invited by Baseline Magazine in the UK to speak on issues facing young people living with HIV.  They wrote an amazing article and featured our campaign images throughout the issue.

Please check out the article here:

http://issuu.com/janephillips/docs/baseline3

Be sure to subscribe to receive future publications, it is an excellent and relevant publication.

We are proud and honored, thank-you Robert, and thank-you Baseline Magazine.

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