OK the title of the post said it all. 

Megan is due anyday now, my son has come down with a terrible chesty cough and i now have a stinking head cold.  Should we both stay away from Meg as much as possible (which will be impossible for me cause she is permanently on my lap or at my feet), will our germs be any risk to Megan or the pups? 

I spray my house room by room with dettol spray, making sure the dogs are out of the rooms till the spray has settled and dried.  I have trained my son to cover his mouth when he coughs and we have anti-bacterial tissues for sneezes and plenty of hand gel.

Am i worrying about nothing or is this a genuine concern?

Can't help with the staying away from the dogs but it sounds like you have it covered.  Maybe if said its an issue you could wear a hankie/cloth like a surgical mask when whelping.

My friend bans people with cold ect but that might just be a precaution.  My other friend had pups the other day with a stinky cold, she never said that she kept them apart and she's the only one that whelps them.

I can help for you cold.  Go to Holland and Barratt and get Echinacea capsules 400mg.  Take two straight away and two at night.  Then one a day unless very bad.  Also get Beachams flu+ capsules and make a steam bath.  got rid of mine in a few days, you need to shift the gunk building up, that's why your head feels bad.  If you can take fruit juice, drink a carton of it in one day if you can.

Hope you feel better in time.  {{hugs better}}

Could be wrong but I do not think that most human viruses will cross to another species, it can happen but it is very rare. I would do your best to alleviate symptoms simply because once she starts you will have your time taken up and the men in your life will have to fend for themselves.

i was told by my vet that our coughs and colds dont pass on to our pets :) its a good job has we have 5 dogs here and ive been so poorly with what started has a cold and now on my 2nd lot of abs and steroid treatment , like nova siad its the men of the house that not get anything done by you ,i really feel for you tho it takes so much out of you even having a head cold!! your girl will be fine with you, make sure you get planty of honey and lemon in hot water down you ,good luck xx

I'm sure you're feeling rotten! I think there are some really heavyweight viruses around at the moment. I've been laid up for the past week and am not really feeling better. We've had pups still here (8 weeks) and was counting down the days when each one was being picked up because I felt so awful. I was feeling dizzy every time I bent down, which I was doing probably 1000 times a day! Horrible!!!

Like others have said, I'd concentrate on getting yourself fit for the impending delivery, as you're going to really need to be as well as possible to put up with the stress/sleepless nights to cope.

I've also heard that viruses such as the cold can't be transferred to dogs. I guess that during actual delivery it would be sensible to take extra cautions just in case.

Good luck, I hope you're feeling better soon :).

Think it is wise to take normal hygiene practice like hand washing and the use and removal or burning of tissues but otherwise it will be you who will suffer not the dam and pups.

Your girl will be fine, just the human members that will be feeling terrible.  If illnesses were passed onto our dogs we'd never have them away from the vets.

Hope all goes well, my girls due in 5 weeks.

ah mines due in 5 weeks and 4 days good luck perrodeagua....

Hope yyour head cold clears up soon and you start to feel better so you get to enjoy the birth of pups and once they are here...Good luck Meg

Thanks everyone, i'll just dose myself up with cold and flu tablets, i'll be fine. I'll kick james out of the study and tell his dad to look after him.  I was just worried about the teeny tiny pupsters.

i'm sooo excited

Just recovered from a horrible viral thing myself.......ended up on the chest trying hard to infect me :(
So you all have my sympathy.
Could I just remind all about sneezing and coughing into your elbows rather than hands as a better way to prevent the spread of these things.
Along with lots of hand washing its great advise.
Good luck with whelping it will be great fun to puppies about.

Karen

Hey everyone, Megan had her first pup at 4.20 this morning and her second at 6.07am, two boys.  We cleaned up and put the washing on and then at 7.22 we had a surprise 3rd pup, a little girl.  They weighed in at 3oz, 4oz and 4.5oz.  Megan is settled and cleaning the pups as we speak.

Thank you for all the advice leading up to the birth, i'm sure i'll need loads more now.

Leanne
xxxxxx