GBS in labour

[clo1992]

Hi ladies

Just had the whole birth talk with midwife.
I was aware that you were supposed to go straight to hospital for Iv antibiotics if you want them if your waters break.
My midwife says you can wait 6 hours 🤷🏼‍♀️
What has everyone else been told as Iv been told go straight to hospital by some.

I'm gbs positive but declining the IV antibiotics and going for a home birth instead. I've researched the risks and discussed it at length with the midwives. Ultimately it's your choice

Ps my understanding is that you don't go straight to hospital if your waters break, even with gbs, only if your waters break at 24h later you're still not in labour. Then you'd have to go in to be induced.

Hmm, I have tested positive for GBS. My midwife told me that if your waters break before labour starts then they advise you to go straight to hospital for antibiotics and induction ASAP (unlike waiting for 24 hours as you would if you didn't have GBS). This is because the infection can cross to the baby once the membrane has ruptured. If you read the guidance from RCOG this is their advice too. Obviously getting to hospital and getting seen to by the appropriate people might take some time so maybe that's where the 6 hour thing came from?

Of course, as Umberta says, it's only advice and ultimately your choice.

@muststopeatingfroyo I was aware that infection could also harm baby if waters break and to start Iv antibiotics as you need at least 4 hours of it before you actually have the baby. There is so much different advice. I definitely want the antibiotics but I no some people choose not to.
Hopefully they will allow me to make my way there if waters break as it can take me 40 mins anyway. X

I had this with DD (was GBS positive, waters broke and contractions didn't start). I had to go straight to hospital and they induced me within a couple of hours of arriving.

Hope everything goes well

@suzysheeprocks can I ask how the induction went? My midwife said they can't use the pessary as that can increase infection risk so it's straight to the drip.. This is what I'm really worried about so I'd be really interested to hear how it was for you.

Op - hope you don't mind me hijacking the thread a bit..

@muststopeatingfroyo my midwife is on about inducing me. I don't no anything about induction and pessary. What's the risks?

@clo1992 I'm a first timer so don't know much either but my understanding is that if you have group b strep and your waters have broken then they won't use the pessary induction as there is a risk of pushing the infection further up the birth canal towards the baby. They prefer to use the drip. There are lots of "horror stories" on mn about the drip and how painful it is and that it leads to other interventions.. I don't know how true this is though!

My waters broke and there wasn't time for me to have my antibiotics because I was ready to push so quickly. They just kept us in for a night to monitor us.

@muststopeatingfroyo ahh I'm with you. Sounds scary! Must admit I'm petrified of labour/induction the whole thing 🙈
And to top it off GBS. Sometimes I feel I would rather a planned c section. Iv got just over 2 weeks to go now. First baby too x

I tests positive for GBS in my first pregnancy nearly 5 years ago. My waters broke at about 9am, I went straight to hospital as I was 36 weeks so classes as in pre term labour. Because of the GBS they wanted to induce me so that my waters had been broken for too long. I didn’t need to be induced as I started getting contractions and going into labour myself but they didn’t give me the antibiotics until I was up on the delivery suite which was in the evening. So I’d gone about 10 hours or more with my waters broken before receiving any anti biotics. They also kept us in so that DS could have antibiotics too, they said it’d be for about 48 hours but after a 24 hours they said their tests came back to say he didn’t need any more antibiotics. Most of the issues we faced were due to him being pre term rather than the GBS.

@muststopeatingfroyo I did have the drip, and it was absolutely fine - although I did have an epidural. Please don't worry at all. As soon as the epidural went in, everything was great

I haven't had another delivery to compare it to and of course it was annoying having the IV in my hand (you need it for antibiotics and the drip) but I could move around, bounce on a ball etc and when it felt like it was getting too much I asked for the epidural.

Good luck, I hope it all goes well for you and OP.

Thank you @suzysheeprocks - really glad to hear it went well for you