Flu Season is almost upon us again, and although we’ve come a long way from the years when these types of illnesses could wipe out whole cities, the flu is still deadly serious. The CDC has estimated that between the 1976 and 2007 flu seasons, deaths attributed to flu ranged from a low of about 3,000 to a high of about 49,000 people in the US. For most people in the first world, the flu is just a difficult week or two; for many, it’s literally deadly. Worldwide, according to CDC estimates, flu affects approximately one billion people per year: three to five million will be severely affected and between 250,000 to 500,000 will die.
While many of the moms I know have preferred a chilly winter pregnancy to the discomfort of expecting in the hot summer months, I’ve learned firsthand that being pregnant in the winter comes with its fair share of obstacles–specifically, staying healthy during a winter pregnancy despite sick kids, cabin fever, and fewer opportunities to remain active.