group b streptococcus

[Merlin]

Hope I've spelt it correctly. My sister is pregnant with her first baby and has been told she has this condition. She is very worried about the dangers to the baby and herself. Has anyone had first hand experience of this? Any comments would be greatly received. Thanks.

Hi Merlin, If you go to the health thread you will find all kinds of information along with many women who have had exp with this. Including myself.

I you can't find the thread Merlin have a look at this a very helpful website.

I found out that I had this condition during my 3rd trimester with my second ds. It was worrying me the amount of discharge I was experiencing. I mentioned this to my midwife and she took a swab and the results came back as having group strep b at no point did she mention to me the dangers of having this condition. I was given antibiotics and it cleared up within a week, but it reoccurred at 37 weeks I had another swab and the results again showed up as group strep b had another course of antibiotics and it cleared up.
When I went into labour I mentioned the group b strep and I was given an injection as a precautionary measure. Labour went well and ds arrived without any problems. Because I had group b strep ds had to be monitored for 24 hours as he could be at a high risk of contacting meningitis. Luckily he was fine and we were sent home. After reading on the other thread how other babies have lost their lives with this condition I feel very angry at the lack of information available to pregnant women to seek advice in the early stages of this potentially life threatening illness.

Do you know if this can cause Septanimea (SP??) My daughter was born at 31 weeks weighing 3lb 12oz, we found out at 13 months old she had CP and she had had septanimea at birth, we recently had a child developement check done and on the report it said that she had a group B strep infection, I had another baby last year who was also born early (33 weeks) but had no infections, but if I am carrying this infection, that was why they were born early. I wasn't given any swapes or antibiotics after the birth of my first daughter so have they risked my second daughter????

Mioew,you need to get in touch with gbs support and if you look a few posts down Demented has done a link to their site.They really are fantastic,I have been in touch with them a few times and have had a wealth of helpful advice.They really have a nice personal touch and seem to care.Click on the contact us link on the site and e mail any q's to Jane Plumb who with her husband set up this life line.Good luck and I think you should have been a lot better informed on the posibilities of an infection again after your first baby.

We were not even told that she had septanimiea when she was in Special care, we found out at 13 months old. And then to find out last week that she had a Group B Strep infection, it was a shock. My DD is now 2 1/2 years old!!!!!!!! Am so annoyed with the hospital...... am going to tell her consultant that I WANT to see her notes, not to sue but to see exactly what happened in the SCBU.