Concerned about GBS Strep B

[Strawberry06]

So I found out I was pregnant on Sunday (I’m 5 weeks tomorrow) but I’ve been having ongoing issues with BV & thrush and I saw a NP this morning…

I also saw a doctor on 26th May because a swob I did showed BV & thrush. She was reluctant to treat me for BV because at that point I was in the 2ww but she did swob me again and told me to treat the thrush myself with a pessary which I did.

So today when I saw the NP, she said the swobs the doctor did for BV were negative (which I’m pleased about) but can’t understand how its suddenly just gone! But I haven’t had any symptoms so I did think it was strange.

But the NP did say that on another swob I had in April, it showed I had GBS (Step B) so obviously I’m really worried about that now as I already had a miscarriage.

But I also just find it weird cause this swob was done on 11th April just after I’d finished a course of antibiotics for BV which is why I had the swob - to check everything was clear and when I rang up for the results I was told everything was clear but evidently not as she showed me the GBS result.

I’ve had many swobs since then but I don’t think it’s been repeated to check for that and no ones told me until today! Obviously I will mention it to the midwife when I see them. Just feeling really down about it and concerned.

Try not to feel down. It's unlikely to cause a problem. Tell you midwife, and given your anxiety about the previous miscarriage they will hopefully offer reassurance and tell you how to get help if you're concerned from the early pregnancy unit. If you have had swabs since the one that was positive for GBS, it may be that the GP can tell you if the subsequent swabs were positive or negative. If you've had antibiotics since you might well be negative again by now?

Mainly the positive GBS swab means they will be cautious and offer antibiotics and monitoring during labour and once the baby is born. They will also swab again for GBS when you go into labour, and in my case that turned out to show that I didn't have GBS at that point, but they still did all the monitoring! It can come and go all the time.

I didn't enjoy the cannula for the antibiotics - but lots of women get those in labour for lots of reasons. I did enjoy the very calm, quiet 24 hours-ish that baby and I stayed in hospital for monitoring after birth. It was really peaceful bonding time compared to the chaos at home with older kids, and I really treasure it looking back. So there can be upsides!

Best wishes for a successful pregnancy this time and an empathetic midwife.