Since you had chicken pox as a child, you should in theory be immune and therefore there should be no risk to your unborn baby. But to answer your questions, there is indeed a very small risk in non-immune pregnant women that should they come into contact with chicken pox during their pregnancy and develop the disease, that their unborn baby could be harmed. In theory chicken pox can cause brain damage, failure of limb development, cataracts, other eye problems, skin scarring and growth ******ation, or even miscarriage or stillbirth in the baby. The overall risk to the foetus is less than one per cent in the first 12 weeks, up to two per cent between weeks 13-20, and there is a greater risk if the chicken pox occurs in the last third of pregnancy, when neonatal chicken pox can be associated with a mortality rate as high as 30 per cent. Therefore if a pregnant mother comes into contact with chicken pox, if she's had it she can be reassured, but if she's unsure, blood can be taken to test the same day for chicken pox antibodies that, reassuringly, are present in two thirds of mothers who never realized they were already immune. If antibodies are absent however, immunoglobulin can be given to reduce the risks of embryonic infection. Incidentally you would be unable to pass on the virus, but your son could whilst his chicken pox is active and in the blistering stage. Let me just say that in 20 years of medical practice I have never seen a case of neonatal chicken pox, so hopefully this puts it into healthy perspective.
Hope lo gets better soon.
