The Business of Being Born Message Board

Q:  Can a woman have a safe home birth with a midwife if she has herpes?

A:  Very simply the treatment for herpes is as follows and is the same whether a woman is giving birth at home or in a hospital. Some practitioners choose to have women take prophylactic anti herpes medications such as valtrex or acyclovir starting at 36 weeks when a baby could possibly be born. Other practitioners, such as myself, provide the woman with a prescription for the antiviral and await the prodrome before treating. This means that if a woman, experienced in herpes lesions feels that she is about to break out,  she takes the antiviral as prescribed so that she won’t have a herpes lesion at the time of her labor and/or birth. It’s actually quite straightforward and does not designate the place of birth. ~Cara