For Erin McGowan, who expects her sixth child around New Year’s, volunteering for a trial of the H1N1 flu vaccine was a no-brainer.

Not only did she volunteer, but she enrolled all but her youngest child, who’s 1 and ineligible, in a pediatric trial of the swine flu vaccine.

In the H1N1 flu pandemic, she says, a pregnant mother and five “itty-bitty kids” — her oldest is 6 —is “a recipe for disaster.”

McGowan, 33, a stay-at-home mom in St. Louis who holds a doctorate in psychology, has read about how pregnant women are among the high-risk groups for complications from H1N1.

As of Sept. 3, 6% of confirmed deaths from the H1N1 flu have been pregnant women, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. And among people infected with H1N1, pregnant women are more likely to be hospitalized than the general population, says the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

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