OK, so like everyone else on this board, I've been doing everything in my power to protect this pregnancy, having spent years and tears and significant costs as well to get to this point...eating what I should, avoiding what I should, no lifting, blah blah blah. And last night when I got into my car, I noticed about 5 mouse turds and some chewed-up power bar wrapper on the passenger seat. The wrapper from the bar that had been sitting in the car as backup/MS emergency for a couple of days and WHICH I ATE 12 hours earlier (in the dark, in my defense) on the way to work. I threw the wrapper in the trash as I walked into the building yesterday morning...so there's no getting around it. I shared my breakfast with a mouse.
I've spent hours googleing, and talked to the triage nurse, who talked to my OB, and basically, the bottom line is that the risk I'll actually get sick is low, with the highest risk being salmonella (can be treated with antibiotics), or one of two viruses -- hanta, which caries a 50% fatality rate but is very rare in my area, and LCMV, which occurs in only 5% of field mice, is only very rarely fatal but causes birth defects in fetuses who are exposed. Fabulous.
The only thing I can do is watch and wait, and if I get sick, be sure to let the staff know I was exposed to mouse droppings.
I masked-and-gloved up and disinfected the entire car, and never found any more evidence of mice, but I'm just sick with worry. It looks like the incubation period on the various illnesses that mice carry is 12 hours to 1 month, so I'm not going to know if I'm out of the woods for awhile...and I'm just SO squicked out and terrified and horrified. My logical mind says I'm going to be fine but my emotional mind is losing it's sh*t here...
Worst part is, I can't tell DH because he is verifiably phobic of mice and will freak out/be no help at all.
Ugh