~ copy n paste from baby center.com ~

Is it risky to be exposed to chicken pox during pregnancy?
It depends. If you’ve had chicken pox before, you’re probably immune, so there’s no need to worry. Up to 95 percent of adults in the United States are immune, including many people who had chicken pox and never even knew it. If you got the chicken pox vaccine (available in the United States since 1995), you’re probably immune — it works for more than 80 percent of those who get it.

If you’re not sure whether you’re immune, a simple blood test can give you the answer. If you’re not immune and you do happen to catch chicken pox while you’re pregnant, there’s a chance that it will affect your baby and that you could get quite sick.

What can happen to my baby if I get chicken pox while I’m pregnant?
Chances are good that no harm will come to your baby, but timing is a factor.

If you get chicken pox during the first half of pregnancy, there’s a slight risk that your baby will get something called congenital varicella syndrome. This condition is characterized by birth defects, including skin scarring, malformed limbs, an abnormally small head, vision or hearing problems, and motor or mental developmental disabilities. A baby with congenital varicella syndrome may also suffer poor growth in utero.

If you do contract chicken pox, you’ll have a detailed ultrasound at 18 to 20 weeks to look for signs of defects or other problems and at least one follow-up sonogram later to see how your baby is doing. You may also choose to meet with a genetic counselor to discuss the risks in your particular case and decide how you want to proceed.

If you get chicken pox in the second half of pregnancy but more than five days before giving birth, your baby will probably be fine. Here’s why: About five days after coming down with chicken pox, your body develops antibodies to the virus and passes them to your baby through the placenta, offering protection that his own immature immune system can’t provide.

If you develop chicken pox five to 21 days before your baby is born, he might develop chicken pox days after birth, but because of the antibodies he received from you, it’s much less likely to be serious. (Some babies exposed to chicken pox in utero, particularly those exposed five to 21 days before birth, develop a case of shingles during infancy or early childhood without having had chicken pox after birth, but it’s usually not serious.)

The most risky time to come down with chicken pox is between five days before giving birth and two days after delivery, because then your baby is exposed to the virus but doesn’t have had time to receive antibodies from you before birth. In this case, he has a 30 to 40 percent chance of developing what’s called neonatal varicella, or newborn chicken pox, which can be serious and even life threatening, especially if left untreated.

My story: I discovered that I had chicken pox during my 5th week of pregnancy.I thought it was a weird rash at first.When i knew it was chicken pox i got really scared because i heard it was dangerous for pregnant woman to have them.Called my mum, n my mum asked to do an abortion if the doctor said the baby might have complication if be born.I cried some more while waiting for my husband to pick me up from home to go to obgyn.She did a quick scan and said that if the baby was infected i will probably have a natural miscarriage in about a week.It is rare for babies to be infected,but if happens it could lead to very serious complications,including mental retardation.However it was our decision to have the baby or not.I was so torn.So i asked her opinion.She said that she would recommend us to continue the pregnancy,and said that if it was not meant to be,i know it would happen.She gave the anti virus n scheduled for another appointment the next week,n she scheduled a detailed scan on our 16 weeks.After i was recovered,my husband got the chicken pox and despite all that,our baby grew healthily in the womb.