Group b strep

[Overandabove1]

Hi everyone I will of course be asking about this at my maternity appointments but just wondering what other people’s experiences were. I’ve been told I have group b strep from a swab from a few years ago. Where I’m from they don’t recheck you they just plan for antibiotics during labour. So my question is how soon once labour starts do you go to the hospital is it at the first sign of labour or when contractions ramp up? Are the antibiotics given on ante natal ward or does it have to be labour ward? Thanks!

Well given that GBS is transient I'm not quite sure why they are going of the results from a year's old swab.
Once in labour you will receive iv abx 4 hourly until baby is born. This is for the baby's benefit. After the birth in our unit the baby will be examined and observations will be checked every 2 hours for first 12 hours post birth if all normal and baby is feeding well and showing no signs of infection then normal routine obs can be commenced.
Good luck 👍

Sorry re your question yes call the hospital when contractions are regular and strong ideally you would like to commence iv abx prior to membranes rupturing. Don't panic tho if this is not possible as once baby is born they will be observing closely for signs of infection.

Group b b strep comes and goes, there's no reason to think you would be positive now. I would insist on retesting if I were you! Antibiotics in labour isn't ideal and you'll need to be in the labour ward so you'll be better off if you can avoid them.

Thanks for both your replies really informative and definitely something to think about ! Would you believe the swab is from 2015 I had my daughter in 2019 and it wasn’t noticed no mention of it at all and no antibiotics. I went to my 12 week appointment and it was on my notes midwife said you’ll know about the group b strep I take it but it was the first I’d heard of it! I’m in Ireland where it’s not routinely checked for. My next maternity appointment is with my gp so I’ll ask her what she thinks

I was told at the first sign of labour as first labour was quick. I ended up being induced anyway, they started me on the antibiotics before my waters were broken and then another lot during labour, as I'd had two lots they sent me home a few hours after birth, which was a relief.

@annlee3817 thanks for sharing your experience my first labour was an induction went from 2cm to 10cm in 30 mins once my waters broke I’ll mention that at my next appointments!

@Overandabove1 yes definitely mention it, as my first labour I went from 5-10 in 90 minutes. With the induction on my second I went from 3-10 in 5 minutes, so you could be quicker

There is a charity called GBSS (group b strep support) who have a great helpline you can call. My daughter nearly died from GBS sepsis as i did not know i was GBS positive - my waters broke before contractions started but obviously as I didnt know, i didnt have any antibiotics.

If you have quick labours, you might not be able to have the full course of antiobiotics so you'll likely be kept in hospital for a day extra or so, so that baby can be monitored for signs of infection. The GBSS website has the signs you can look out for (early onset and late onset) at home as well.

Where i gave birth (London), you could still be in the birth centre when having the antiobiotics so you didn't have to go to labour ward. But i ended up there anyway due to having continuous monitoring.

My waters broke and I called triage. They told me to make sure I had everything packed, have a shower and some breakfast then come in and start the antibiotics. So it needed to be soon but not emergency if that makes sense.

I was given a bed on the ante natal ward, but only needed to be there at the dose times, so DH and I went for walks around the hospital and to Costa between doses.

Because my waters had gone they wanted to induce me straight away to get labour properly going, but I wanted to avoid an induction. I discussed with the doctor and we compromised on waiting 6 hours to see if walking etc could bring it on. When it didn’t I had the pessary induction.