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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Strep B confusion

4 replies

Shootingstar11 · 25/07/2021 15:32

Hi,
If you are Strep B positive, when do you go
to the hospital? 🙈 I was under the impression that I wouldn’t be able to have early labour at home and would have to go in at the first sign but at my last appointment I had a different midwife and she contradicted this. I know waters breaking means I definitely have to go but I thought there had to be a certain amount of time for antibiotics before labour. Can anyone shed any light? Thanks 😊

OP posts:
PuddingPie16 · 25/07/2021 18:29

Hi!

Unfortunately I had Strep B with my first pregnancy (and have it again now with our 2nd).

I think you have to have the first dose of antibiotics at least four hours before baby is born but I'd check on the exact time as I can't quite remember. There needs to be a certain amount of time you have them for them to be deemed as effective as possible.

I went into hospital when my mucus plug went and contractions were getting closer at 2am. They had to burst my waters though so I was lucky that they could give me the anti-biotics timed with that. Baby was born at 7:05am.

Thankfully, we were both fine but be prepared to be in hospital for a couple of days. This is to monitor the baby as sometimes the infection doesn't always show right away.

Your Midwife is right that you don't need to go in right away but when things start to change (such as the things I've mentioned above) you need to call and mention you have Strep B. Its very hard to say if you will get the antibiotics in time as it all depends on your labour.

Hope that helps and try not to worry! ☺

Shootingstar11 · 25/07/2021 18:49

Thank for your reply! I’m not far from my due date now so good to know this, thanks!

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ChateauMargaux · 25/07/2021 18:51

Do talk to your midwife again if you have any more questions.

Some more info...

www.sarawickham.com/topic-resources/group-b-strep-resources/

Yes, antibiotics ideally 4 hours before delivery but that is difficult to predict at best.

Hospital are likely to monitor the baby for signs of infection, heart rate, temperature, respiration and likely to be every 8 hours for 48 hours but you can check your hospital protocol.

www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5910a1.htm?s_cid=rr5910a1_w

evidencebasedbirth.com/groupbstrep/?fbclid=IwAR1c8RKpik04_p5EaKKZql0QUg8hNlPDhWhqxwwLtLjUwBJtBQw4JVrvqKY

In the absence of intervention, 1 to 2% of infants born to colonised mothers, develop early onset GBS infections. This is the same as saying that a baby born to a colonised mother has 25 times more risk of being infected. This is reduced by 90% if antibiotics are given.

Infected infants present with respiratory distress, apnea or signs of sepsis within 24 to 48 hours of birth.

Case fatality of babies born after 33 weeks is 2 to 3% though there may be long term impacts of requiring ventilation or treatment in NICU.

If there are clinical signs of infection, the baby would need to be hospitalized in neonatal care for blood work and initiation of antibiotic treatment and prompt treatment reduces the risk of complications and the prognosis is excellent.

Factors that increase risk: labour before 37 weeks, more than 12 hours between waters breaking and baby being born, young maternal age, black race, internal obstetric procedures (membrane sweep, induction methods which involve inserting something into the vagina, vaginal examination), fever during labour

Monitoring after birth: temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate 3 times a day for 48 hours then daily.

If no antibiotics are given, this is increased to every 4 hours for the first 24 hours and then every 8 hours for the next 24 hours and blood pressure is also taken.

Shootingstar11 · 25/07/2021 23:39

Thanks for this @ChateauMargaux - ive been booked in for a sweep so this is something I’ll enquire about again.

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