Stay Healthy throughout Your Pregnancy

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a yearly flu vaccine for everyone age 6 months and older as the most important step in protecting against flu. The flu vaccine protects against the three flu viruses that research will be most prevalent each year. The 2012-13 vaccine will protect against influenza A (H1N1, also known as swine flu), an influenza A virus (H3N2) and an influenza B virus.

Pregnant women have had four times the rate of hospitalizations for H1N1 as the rest of the population in previous years, so it's important to get the combined flu vaccine this year if you are pregnant or think you may become pregnant during the flu season.

Double Protection Will Go a Long Way

Like most viral diseases, the flu is highly contagious. Unlike the common cold, however, there's a relatively simple, easy, safe way to protect against the flu: a vaccine.

Maybe you think you don't need a vaccine because you're young and healthy and don't work in a day-care center or nursing home. Or maybe you think you shouldn't get a vaccine because you're pregnant.

Unless you're allergic to eggs, had a severe reaction to the flu vaccine in the past or currently have a fever, you should get vaccinated. Even if you're young and healthy, flu vaccination is important. According to the CDC, in years when the seasonal flu vaccine is a close match to the circulating viruses, the vaccine can be expected to reduce influenza rates by 70 percent to 90 percent in healthy adults under 65. One study found that healthy working adults receiving the seasonal flu vaccine had 43 percent fewer sick days from work. Since many companies are cutting back on sick days, that's a good benefit!

If you're pregnant (or plan to be) during flu season, you should get vaccinated. Here's a fact you might not have learned from your pregnancy planning books: If you get the flu during pregnancy, you are more likely to be sicker and to develop flu-related complications like pneumonia than if you weren't pregnant. Your risk of dying is higher if you have the flu while you're pregnant. Blame pregnancy-related changes in your respiratory and immune systems for these risks.