Group b strep..antibiotics during labour

[Rosa8907]

I had UTI symptoms so got a test done (26 weeks pregnant) and it’s test positive for group b streptococcus. I received a letter saying I may need antibiotics during labour to stop me passing bacteria to the baby. Google says this is IV antibiotics so would need to go to hospital.

I’m devastated as I wanted a home birth and my UTI symptoms have vanished by the time I got the letter so I don’t even know if it’s an issue. I had a very quick first birth so I very much doubt I would qualify for the IV at least 4 hours before birth requirement. Being hooked up to IV in hospital is my worst nightmare and it just seems a bit over dramatic...I’m only 26 weeks I assume there’s a good chance the infection will be gone by then. I wanted to stay out of hospital because of covid and had an unmediated first birth with no interventions so really stressing about this.

Group B strep is no joke. If it's discovered during pregnancy they'll normally do a swab around 36 / 37 weeks to confirm presence of it nearer the time (this is happening to me) although different Trusts have different policies. I had antibiotics in labour with my first as I had group B strep. I didn't even notice the antibiotics. In my Trust, if you have GBS but are otherwise eligible for midwife led care, you can have your baby in the midwifery led unit and have a water birth in the pool, but you still need antibiotics and you just keep that hand out of the water, so it's all the same (non assisted) you just get antibiotics every 4 hours.

You're not hooked up to an IV. You just have a cannula in your hand and IV antibiotics are given through it.

As PP said strep B can be very serious for babies. I had it in my pregnancy, antibiotics during labour which I didn’t even notice with everything else going on, and monitoring of baby after the birth. You’ve got to think about the bigger picture here and the health of baby.

Oh that sounds much better went into major panic stress mode! I’ll call the midwife tomorrow and fingers crossed I can still go to the MLU. I don’t mind no home birth if I can go there I just have hospital paranoia and rightly or wrongly feel like I’m going to get interfered with a lot more in a hospital. Hopefully can get there quick enough my first birth was 6 hrs

@CBB2021 thanks I had no idea how bad it could be for babies just been Googling now, I was just thinking it was a normal uti

You’ll defs still be able to have the MLU even with strep B. In fact that should be the only medication you need!

I had GBS with my second child (I tested at home at 37 weeks), I had antibiotics during labour but had a water birth (albeit in hospital, but midwife led).

I could still walk around etc.

@Rosa8907 I am glad you have now seen how serious this can be. My nephew nearly died shortly after birth as GBS was not screened for at that time (he's now 22). Fingers crossed you will be able to have the antibiotics AND the type of birth you want.

@BathTangle thank god your nephew was ok, it sounds like it can be very nasty! I made the mistake of opening my post just before bed and had a mini freak out but it doesn’t sound so bad. I just feel very uptight about all the uncertainty in hospitals in the winter because of covid etc but can’t be helped.

Does anyone know of it’s still ok to breastfeed straight away after having the antibiotics? I know some are fine, assume they would try to give you something safe

@Rosa8907 yes definitely okay. My sd who is now 21 was born at risk of Group B strep. She had to stay in hospital “under observation” for 48 hours so check if there is any policy nowadays about minimum
Time for discharge…
Yes antibiotics were fine for BFing and she was able to have skin to skin and breastfed til she was nearly 3 years old.
As others have said, the antibiotics are just in a cannula and I had first dose in left hand then the cannula removed to not interfere with my labour and then inserted in the right hand for second dose. Had a water labour but not a water birth.

Thanks everyone, think I overreacted a bit! I confirmed with midwife today and my trust still allows MLU and water birth then 12 hours monitoring of the baby so really pleased.