Can I Have a Vaginal Birth with Genital Warts?
QUESTION
My husband and I have decided that we would like to try to have a baby with in the next year and a half of so. We've decided in December we will start trying, but we aren't expecting to get pregnant right away. I have two health concerns that I need some help with before we move forward.
I have depression and anxiety. I take 1mg of Clonazapam daily, 150mg of Wellbutrin, and 7.5mg of Deplin (it's a methal-folate vitamin). I know that the medications are dangerous for a baby, but I don't think it would be possible to not take any medication because of my high stress job. Are there any medications that are safer or any recommendations of what I can do during pregnancy to keep me sane if I would have to stop taking medication?
I contracted genital warts a few years before I met my husband. We now currently both have them. I only get one or two at a time, but I've read that pregnancy can make them worse.
Can I still have a vaginal delivery? What are the risks if I do have a vaginal delivery? I really want to be able to have a natural birthing experience, and it would break my heart to not be able to have one do to my former stupidity, but I want what is best for our future baby.
ANSWER
Genital warts are not a contraindication to having a vaginal birth, they do not hurt the baby, but you are right, the physical stress of a pregnancy can make them worse.
As for your medications, the Wellbutrin is not the greatest, being a pregnancy category C, but if it were the only medication you were on and it was working, I'd say not to change it. Clonazapam is a different story, being pregnancy category D, so not really a choice.
I notice that you say you need to take these medications because your job is so stressful. Having a stressful job and a newborn is not a good combination for anyone, so my question to you would be, if you had to choose between having a baby and having your job, which would it be?
It may be in your case that it can't be both, never mind the medication issue. If so, I'm sorry it is that way, but if indeed that's reality, it's best to accept reality and then figure out what you are going to do next.
If you need to keep your job, maybe this isn't the right time to have a baby. If you can give up your job, maybe it's worth trying that and seeing if you can then manage on more "baby-friendly" medications before becoming pregnant.
Just some ideas to think about. Good luck with your decisions!
~Cynthia
Cynthia Flynn
Cynthia Flynn, CNM. PhD, is the General Director of the Family Health and Birth Center which provides prenatal, birth, postnatal, gynecological and primary health care to underserved women and their families in Washington, D.C. Recently Cynthia served as Associate Professor of Nursing at Seattle University. There she not only taught, but remained in full scope clinical midwifery practice at Valley Medical Center where she cared for pregnant and birthing women, and practices well-woman gynecology, family planning, and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.
Cynthia founded Columbia Women's Clinic and Birth Center, where she took care of pregnant women and infants up to two weeks of age and attended both birth center and hospital births. Before Cynthia earned her CNM, she worked as a registered nurse in labor and delivery and postpartum and is a certified Doula and Doula trainer.
