GBS and giving birth

[Hope54321]

Hi guys,

I wanted to know about your experience with GBS and giving birth.

Were you able to have a water birth?

Were you required to go straight to the hospital as soon as your waters broke in order to receive antibiotics?

Were you induced to make labour progress after your waters broke?

Hello, what is GBS?

Hope you're well

You should be allowed a water birth with GBS. some hospitals will induce, you ideally need the antibiotics at least 4 hours before birth so getting in ASAP is a good plan. If you are induced, the type of induction determines water birth or no water birth, pitocin drip requires constant monitoring so no water.

I couldn't have a water birth because I was induced with the drip after my waters broke and contractions didn't start. If this happens to you ask for an epidural! And yes, they wanted to induce straight away to avoid infection.

Despite also wanting a water birth, I'd like to reassure you that I had a really good experience and don't mind that it wasn't how I thought it would be.

I hope you still get your water birth, but please don't worry as you can still have a good experience.

GBS is group b strep, bacteria which lives in the vagina/rectum. It can be passed onto baby, especially once waters break, therefore antibiotics need to be taken once waters break to ensure it doesn’t pass onto baby.