Strep B

[MaggieW]

I carry strep b and am pregnant. Dr's are all saying I'll need to be on a intravenous drip for antibiotics as soon as I go into labour. While I don't want to jeopardise or risk my baby, has anyone had any experience where they've worked around it another way please? I also want ot know if an intrav will slow down labour as had very quick one last time and would like a repeat performance! Thanks.

My DS will be one this week and I am feeling clucky again. I still think of DS birth - which ended up as an emergency c-sect because my fantastic midwife realised that he was ill and suspected it to be Strep B so had the relevant Paediatric people in theatre to see to him straight away. Unfortunately I did not have time to have enough IV antibiotics myself so it had time to cross the placenta but DS was put on them straight away for seven days and we were very lucky that it all worked out well. I have read all the information from the support group about labour and c-sections but know once you have had a c-sect you stand a higher chance of having one next time. Has anyone else had a c-section for suspected Strep and gone onto have a VBAC or had an elective c-sect next time around?

Hi louli,

Sorry I can't be of help as I have had no experience of C-section. Hopefully some of the other Strep B mums out there will be able to help you though and share there experience.

Thanks for sharing such a positive story (well done to your midwife) and 'Happy Birthday' to your little one.

Best wishes.

butterfly

I'm another newbie who has just come across this site. I've been reading through all the GBS links I can find and I can't believe how common it is and how little information there is out there. I also can't believe how similar all the stories are. My heart goes out to anyone who has lost a little one, that could so easily have been me!

My DS Owen was born on 2 Jan this year. My waters broke (trickled really!!) very early on New Years Eve and they were a little pink so I telephoned the hospital and asked what I should do. They told me to come in and get checked out. When I got there I was hooked up to a monitor but wasn't actually examined. They sent me home and told me to come back the next morning. I went back as told and waited. And waited ... and waited! Finally, at 10pm that night I was induced and I went into labour at about 2am. As far as I knew everything was going well until suddenly my temperature rocketed. All of a sudden everything seemed to go frantic, I was hooked up to a monitor and drip and it was decided that baby needed to be out QUICK. When he was born I noticed that he was making a strange grunting noise, he was rushed to the resucitation table (or whatever it's called!) and I found out later they did actually have to resucitate him. They rushed him off to SCBU and I didn't see him until I was wheeled up there 5 hours later ... I suppose I was naive, but nobody prepared me for what I saw. His poor little head was completely mishapen from the ventouse, the sides of his head had been shaved where they had apparently tried to get a line in, he was hooked up to every machine going, still covered in blood. Apparently he had also had to have a blood transfusion because "someone" had knocked the line out of his tummy button and he lost approx 1/3 of his blood. The most shocking thing was that all through this not one person would committ to what was wrong. One of the Dr's mentioned in passing that it could be GBS as had been approx 60 hours between my waters breaking and Owen being born and that I may have it and to mention it to my GP if I have another baby. I'd never heard of it and when I asked for more info he said there wasn't any. Owen was put on antibiotics and eventually we went home a week and a half later.

There is so much more to my story but I've gone on for quite enough now but it's a subject very close to my heart, I still cry when I think about it now even though my beautiful (big) boy is nearly 9 mnths and crawling.

I'm joining the charity right after I post this message but please, please, please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help!

Char

Char

Thank you for sharing your dreadful experience with everyone - yet again, it saddens me greatly that people have to have such a thing happen to them before they even here mention of 'Strep B'.

I trust both you and your little one are well over this dreadful event and that he is now going from strength to strength.

Your desire to help others is to be applauded and I am sure if you speak with Jane at the support group she will find some way for you to do this.

For those interested in reading articles about Strep B, the support group have recently notified members of the following:

"there's a piece in the September edition of Practical Parenting, there'll also be pieces in the Best magazine available on 9th September and in the edition of Bella available on 7 October 2003".

It is still important to keep this campaign on the move - and hopefully help alert new parents to be, about the condition.

butterfly

Hi Butterfly, you're doing a great job here, well done. I havent really contributed much to this thread but I do always read it and keep up-to-date with the news.

Here's a question, if I had GBS in my previous pg, can I insist on i/v antibiotics this time (I'm 10 wks pg and planning ahead)? Most of the information I have read suggests these will be given routinely because of my history but then I read some posts here abou the general ignorance surrounding this condition and I wonder if I will be fobbed off. Does anyone know, can I get some sort of written guarantee that antibiotics will be given?

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dinosaur, the GBSS support group site gives the following list for early onset GBS (a further list is available for late onset - after 2 days old):
grunting;poor feeding;lethargy;low blood pressure, irritability; high/low temperature; high/low heart rates; and/or high low breathing rates

Prolonged rupture of membranes (24 hrs in your case) increases the risk factor.

Was it blood and/or urine cultures that were done? The support group would be able to advise you further on whether or not these alone would give an absolutely clear outcome, as they have a medical advisory panel. The essential tests they refer to are a 'full work up' ie, full blood count; C Reactive protein (twice, 12-24 hours apart); blood culture and swabs. Do give them a call if you want to obtain further information.

Hope this is of some help - if you are planning a further pregnancy, you may want to pursue GBS testing.

bunny2, you really should discuss this with your midwife and consultant as part of your care plan. How a mum-to-be with previous Strep B is dealt with, does seem to vary around the UK. That is why the campaign is so important. I have outlined my own experience further back in this thread. To my knowledge I did not receive the IV antibiotics in my last pregnancy despite repeteadly mentioning my Strep B status throughout my ante-natal care! Unfortunately, my dad died about 5 weeks before the delivery and the upset of this meant I probably did not push the situation as much in the latter weeks and at delivery, although I still did refer to it. As podmog says, keep raising the issue, even to the point of annoyinyg them! I know far more now than I did at that time - I can only be thankful that my son was born with no Strep b problems. Others, sadly, have been less fortunate. It is your future baby's life that they are responsible for. Hope things go well for you, please keep us up to date on this thread with how you get on.

butterfly

For any avid internet shoppers among the mums who contribute to this thread, just a reminder that if you visit your favourite shops via U Shop U Give (check which ones here ), then you can choose to have a donation made to the Group B Strep Support group charity (or indeed any one of a number of other worthy causes) at no extra cost to you.

butterfly

Thanks for the reponses. My midwife said the policy was to swab regularly from 34 wks and act only on a positive result. Fortunately the hospital where I want to give birth has a diiferent policy and they do give IVab to al women with a GBS history. I shall still write it on my notes and birth plan and make sure dh is primed to remind them just in case.

Louli, did anyone manage to give you a reply to your question of 9th September yet(ie "Has anyone else had a c-section for suspected Strep and gone onto have a VBAC or had an elective c-sect next time around?"?

Hope you don't mind me checking - wouldn't want to think it had been 'lost' in this rather long thread.

butterfly

Drib - have been thinking of you -is everything OK since your last email?

Thanks for asking Butterflymum. No I haven't heard anything back. Most people I have spoken to have normal births with Strep.

Butterflymum, Ive e-mailed you. Thanks again!

Just a reminder that in Bella Magazine from tomorrow (Tues 7th Oct) there will be a story on Strep B in the health section

This is something I asked them to do to help me raise awareness of this infection and features our story.
Try and get it if you can!

Drib, xxxx

Drib

As you know, I have said to you before that you were very brave to share your story about Charlie on Mumsnet. Now, to have shared it with a wider audience via the pages of Bella, I can only re-state the same with even more admiration for you.

The article is excellent. It is clear and concise, yet hard hitting too. Hopefully many more people will sit up and take notice of Strep B and ask why more is not being done by the Government.

On a personal note, Charlie was indeed a lovely baby as his picture clearly shows. You, Steve and the family must have been very proud of him. Continue to be proud, for in his name hopefully others will be spared his fate.

Take care and continue to be strong.

butterfly

Hi, I am new to Mumsnet and have been guided to this thread due to gbs. I too am a carrier and my daughter who is now 15 months was seriously ill at 6 weeks of age due to gbs related meningitis. My son who is 4 was admitted to hospital at 8 weeks of age, diagnosis is still unknown. I know now, that is was gbs related. Both of my children have degrees of hearing loss, I know that this is minor compared to other parents sad sad situations. I now am going to join the support group - I should have done this a year ago - but I just felt like buring my head in the sand - that was the easiest thing to do somehow, its taken me putting it all in writing to be able to move on. Now I am just angry that it was allowed to happen.

xxx

It was a complete shock to me to be told (within hours of his birth) that DS would have to stay in hospital for 5 days for intravenous antibiotics because my waters had broken more than 2 days before he was actually born, and they had discovered that I carry Strep B.
I remember the midwives saying during labour that they should do a swab and send it for emergency testing. At no point during ante-natal classes did anyone ever mention Strep B. I had never heard of it. I was doing everything in my power to have a natural and at-home birth, and very nearly managed it, but had someone ever mentioned to me that DS would need anti-biotics if he was not delivered soon after waters breaking, I would have said induce, accelerate labour, whatever it took to get him delivered within the deadline and avoid anti-biotics. But, my caring, sharing home-birth community midwives, nor the evangelistic anti-interventionists at the NCT ever mentioned the risk to babies of Strep B carrying mothers (a HUGE % of the population), and i was never offered that choice.
We had to watch our baby scream as they tried to get a canula into his hand, foot and finally neck. each time anti-biotics went through the tube he screamed again: it hurts them. Then they told me that high doses of anti-biotics in newbors carry a risk of hearing damage, and we had to spend hours forcing him to stay still while they electronically tested his ears. I would advise those ttc for a first baby to get tested beforehand. I wish I had.

In a way, it is sad that so many have stories to share.....sad because these stories could be avoided. Please, if you are reading this thread for the first time, take notice of what Strep B is and the enormous impact it has on so many lives. Please help make a difference and support the campaign for change.

Cuca, thanks for coming and joining us on Mumsnet.

I know your story from our previous contact and it is excellent that you have decided to share part of it here also. The GBSS group will be very glad of your support as well. The more voices, the louder the calls on government to take action sooner rather than later will be.

Blu, I know you are a regular mumsnetter already. Thanks for deciding to share your story too.

butterfly

Ive recently just had my routine antenatel check up with my midwife.
(If you are not aware then this is my second pregnancy. We lost our little boy Charlie aged four days to Strep B in March).
She said that there are so many women now showing signs of carrying strep b and that they are testing more and more and these tests are showing as a positive result. She told me that the midwifes are now more aware of strep b because of what happened to us. Iam really pleased that they are finally recognising the infection and trying to save babies lifes, I just wish that It could of came a bit sooner then maybe they could of picked up my symtoms of Strep B infection and saved Charlie.
The govenment really need to start changing there attitude towards Strep B. I know that until the law is changed in this country then I wont stop fighting for screening to be brought into womens antenatel care until the day I die, because I wont let my son come down to another government statistic to be forgotton about.

I have actually now read the whole of this thread, and realise that far from complaining about DS's 5 days on antibiotics I should feel that we were in fact the lucky ones. I am over-awed with respect for the campaign that you have all mounted, and I will certainly now write a letter to my local NHS Trust and MP. My choices would certainly have been different had I known that I was a carrier, and had my status been diagniosed in advanced, the risk to my baby could have been lessened even more. Good luck with the results from the Bella article. Drib: you have inspired real change for the better, in honour of your darling Charlie, and other little babies that have lbeen lost.

I had been to my first check-up and was told that they found group b strep in my urine. I was treated with antibiotics immediately. this is my first pregnancy, i am about 8 wks. has anyone else been diagnosed with it in their urine? Im so scared, this is my first pregnancy and i am only 17yrs old. I feel like i have been jinxed.
what is the chance that the group b strep with cross the placenta and get to the baby and cause me to miscarry or have a stillbirth? im really worried about that. can anyone help???!!!!!

Hi solita, I had it too and had antibiotics on IV as soon as labour started. No problems in the pg or after though. I think there is a lot more info on the rest of this thread plus a link at the bottom to a support grp. Maybe try there. Try not to worry, I'm sure every thing will be fine.

Solita mine was diagnosed by HVS and was not present in urine. Have a look at the Group Strep B website (Soupdragon has provided a link in her post at the bottom of the page) I found them to be very helpful. All the best.

Doh, I've just read mollipops post properly and realised she has just recommended the same thing.