Would anyone share their experiences of Group B Strep positive delivery?

[Haylstones]

I didn't know I was Strep B positive until after giving birth to dd but thankfully she wasn't affected. I've heard conflicting reports about how this affects subsequent births (am due in Feb)- the GBSS website suggests that a previous positive test with no other factors doesn't automatically mean antibiotics in labour but mw says I can't use the birth unit and must go straight into the delivery suite for extra monitoring and antibiotics.
If anybody would care to share their experiences, i.e. how different the monitoring is and how much longer you had to stay in after the birth I'd be soooo grateful. ( i have checked out the support website but am craving more info ) I will do whatever is best for both of us but forewarned is forearmed and i'd rather know 'real life' experiences before going in. It seems very difficult to get any information from my mw- have asked a few times and she just says 'you'll need to go into delivery suite for antibiotics but don;t worry about it'.

Thanks. I know someone very close who had a baby that was very poorly at birth due to GBS so would rather not take risks; I just want to be sure what I can/should/ wouldm't do!

I tested positive and had a canula (sp?) throughout labour. Would have meant I couldn't move around much but as I had an epidural it didn't really make much difference!

I have GBS and had IV antibiotics in my last labour (DD now 2.5).

They give you the abs via a venflon rather than a drip so you can still move around, although your use of that hand is rather impaired.

Unless you have other risk factors (see GBS website) the use of abs should be "considered". It is only specifically recommended if you have other risk factors.

As far as I can tell, there seems to be a policy of encouraging abs with a positive test result (based on the unreliable NHS test) even if there are any other risk factors. This goes against the national guidelines on GBS and abs.

Apparently there is recent research (don't have refs, sorry) that waterbirth reduces the chance of the baby becoming infected.

You need to get a copy of the hospital's protocol on GBS. They should have alert stickers (ours are bright green) that go all over your notes. DD and I stayed in for 48 hours post delivery, I think, to have her bp and temp monitored.

Our hospital also won't let you use the midwife-led unit - you have to be in the delivery suite. I'm pregnant again and I'm thinking about not having the abs unless I have an additional risk factor. I'll have the private test late on in pregnancy too. ALso, if I end up having the abs I'm going to try my best to be allowed to use the midwife-led unit and to have the venflon removed and re-sited if necessary. I found it hard to grip things, weight bear on my arm etc with the venflon in.

Sorry, rather disjointed but I'm wrestling with the children!

GBSS have a team of medical experts who know everything there is to know about gbs so I wouldn't search any other websites. As Rolf said, ask for a copy of the hospital's protocol on gbs. Out of all of the midwife's I saw up to ds' birth, not one of them was prepared to do the test privately for me and knew nothing about gbs. Yet they were attached to the hospital. They even asked me (a non-medical person) to come in and talk to the midwifes about it. So if you had a copy of their protocol in front of you, at each ante-natal appointment you could put this in front of them.

In terms of anaphylactic shock, I have done quite a lot of research on this (had to for the then minister of Health Dr Stephen Ladyman who seemed to think this was a valid argument for not routinely introducing accurate testing in the UK) - amongst others!!. The antibiotics you get are exactly the same one's you would get from the GP if you had a sore-throat so, surely, before going into labour, mum would know if she was allergic to it and therefore likely to go into anaphylactic shock. Obviously a tiny risk to the baby, but at least you are in hospital and they can immediately treat this risk (probably another factor in going for a consultant led birth rather than a midwife led one). The research that is available from the government on anaphylactic shock is that, each GP will see, once every 3 years, one person (not mum!) die from it. Whereas GBS kills up to 100 babies a year and seriously harms a lot more (I see first hand experiences of this all the time at gbss).

In terms of my accurate private test - there is a 15% risk that the result will change before labour - so 85% accuracy up to birth.

MrsRecycle - I was told recently by an (independent) midwife that the risk of anaphylactic shock is different with each dose of abs, and the more you have, the higher the risk. I had been thinking of using the argument that because I have had IV abs in labour in the past, and was fine, I could be confident that I would be fine again. She told me that medically this was a false assumption.

Do you think that a mother who has tested positive at any time should assume that she is positive during labour? 15% seems like quite a high risk to take doesn't it?

Don't think I've ever had antibiotics for a sore throat, do they work? Do doctors usually just give antiBs out if you go with a mere sore throat? Come to think of it, I've not had antibiotics for anything in about 35 years -- and that wasn't for sore throats, either.
Thorough review of issues to consider re GBS and childbirth -- sadly not on the GBSS website so presumably worthless, .

I had a very frightening experience with group B strep. I decided to have private screening for peace of mind and tested positive. So, I went into hospital and had my IV antibiotics just as my waters broke, and labour kicked off. Everything went smoothly for about 3 hours, when my temperature and pulse rate shot up. Because I was poorly, my baby became very distressed and so I had an emergency C section. DD was born with an apgar of 2 and needed quite a lot of resuscitation, then scbu. Meanwhile, because of the infection I'd developed - which turned out to be group B strep septicaemia - I developed a complication which meant my blood didn't clot properly - not good in a c section - so I had a massive pph of 7 litres. DD was fine once resuscitated - she had IV antibiotics for 48 hours but actually didn't develop an infection at all.
Now, all this happened with IV penicillin pre-delivery. I hate to think what would have happened without that - I think at the very least I would have been more poorly and my baby would have been infected too. I know what happened to me was incredibly rare and I was very unlucky - but it has changed my perspective on group B strep - it has the potential to be a very dangerous infection for mum and baby.