{"id":11030,"date":"2023-11-01T09:00:59","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T09:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/?page_id=11030"},"modified":"2024-11-22T15:38:14","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T15:38:14","slug":"quotes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/pregnancy\/quotes","title":{"rendered":"Quotes – pregnancy"},"content":{"rendered":"

All quotes were used in as part of the i-Base Introduction to ART.<\/strong><\/p>\n

i-Base would like to thank everyone for permission to include these.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I was diagnosed via antenatal testing when I was three months pregnant. What a time to receive bad news! I had a lot to think about and at the same time start treatment straight away.<\/p>\n

The support I got from my group was invaluable in helping me appreciate the treatment and take it as prescribed. The thought of having a healthy baby made me determined to follow everything in detail.<\/p>\n

I had a bouncing HIV negative baby boy thanks to ART.”<\/p>\n

\u2013 Jo, London<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“I\u2019ve often said that having an HIV diagnosis does not change who you are. Like many young women I had always wanted to be a mother. In some way, having a positive diagnosis made me think about it even more.<\/p>\n

I had my baby five years after I was diagnosed. That was way back in 1998. I guess I was lucky in a lot of ways because by the time I made the decision to have a baby I\u2019d had a lot of peer support, information and met a lot of other HIV positive women, who also had either been diagnosed antenatally, or had children after their diagnosis.<\/p>\n

One of the most difficult things during and after my pregnancy was the uncertainty about whether – even taking up all the interventions that were available to me \u2013 my baby would be born HIV negative.<\/p>\n

I cannot describe my feelings when I finally got the all clear for my beautiful baby. All the worry, fear and uncertainty were definitely worth the wait!”<\/p>\n

\u2013 Angelina, London<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“When most of everything felt right, my health and relationship, having a baby, after more than 20 years since my last child, was the best feeling. After discussions with my partner and my doctor, I decided to have a baby. We did this while continuing with my current meds and of course not breastfeeding.<\/p>\n

I was determined to do everything in my power to have an HIV negative baby. Combination therapy has fulfilled my dreams of becoming a mother again.”<\/p>\n

\u2013 Jenny, London<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“I am HIV positive. My partner is HIV negative.<\/p>\n

We have two beautiful daughters. Both conceived naturally. Both, like their mum, are HIV negative<\/p>\n

We initially considered sperm washing, but we would have needed to use artificial insemination. This was extremely expensive and involved travelling and giving my partner hormone injections.<\/p>\n

This was not the way we wanted to have a baby.<\/p>\n

We decided that the risk of transmission with someone who was undetectable for many years, extremely adherent and had no STIs was very low.<\/p>\n

So we bought a cheap ovulation test and did it naturally… and it worked… twice!”<\/p>\n

\u2013 Mauro, Italy<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“I have lived with HIV for so long that I don\u2019t remember what it\u2019s like to live without it. I found it difficult to be HIV positive in the beginning. But once I learned to live with it, I decided to start living my life again.<\/p>\n

I then realised I could do all the things that I thought HIV made impossible. I though I could not live over 25 years, or ever have a successful relationship or have children!<\/p>\n

So last year I told my partner, who is HIV-negative, that I would love to have a child and he agreed.<\/p>\n

We talked about how to achieve this and the possible options. We settled on the least complicated option \u2013 unprotected sex during my ovulation period. In a couple of months, I conceived!<\/p>\n

My pregnancy was relatively easy. My obstetrician strongly advised that I go for a vaginal delivery as my CD4 was very good and my viral load undetectable.<\/p>\n

My baby was tested for HIV a day after he was born. He has now had several negative results. He is now 6 months old and growing beautifully.<\/p>\n

My partner remains HIV negative.”<\/p>\n

\u2013 Millie, Bristol<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“How does the cost of formula milk for a year compare to the cost of HIV treatment for life?<\/p>\n

As an HIV positive mother, I would never put my baby at even the slightest risk of contracting HIV through my breast milk as I live in the UK where I can access clean water and formula milk.”<\/p>\n

– Mem, London<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All quotes were used in as part of the i-Base Introduction to ART. i-Base would like to thank everyone for permission to include these. “I was diagnosed via antenatal testing when I was three months pregnant. What a time to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":16,"menu_order":63,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-guides.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11030","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11030"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17649,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11030\/revisions\/17649"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}