Diagnosed with GBS-can anyone help?

[Mirage]

I'm 15wks pregnant & found out today that I am carrying Group B Strep.It was only found by chance-from a swab after I'd had some bleeding,so I don't know if I had it when I had dd 15 months ago.

The hospital have told me that I can't have the homebirth that I wanted because it is too risky & that I will have to be put on an antibiotic drip as soon as I go into labour to help prevent infecting the baby.The thing that is really worrying me,is that to stand any chance of being effective,the antibiotics have to be administered for at least 4 hours before the baby is born.DD was born just 4 hours after I had a show & she was my first baby,so the chances of me getting to hospital 4 hours before giving birth are not great{sad}.

The hospital have given me a couple of leaflets to read & I have had a look at the GBSS website & am consequently scared to death-I can't seem to make any sense of what the chances are of my baby becoming seriously ill or dying if he/she contracts it & I'm really confused.Also the website mentions GBS being a factor in stillbirths/late miscarriages ect,but doesn't say if there is anything that can be done to prevent this.I am going to give them a ring tomorrow & see if they can straighten a few things out with me,but wondered if anyone here has any experience or advice?I fear a sleepless night of worrying ahead.

Thanks.
Mirage

Hi Mirage
Sorry don't know anything at all about this so can't really offer any advice. Hope someone else can soon. I just felt bad that nobody had responded yet and you're obviously really worried. All I would say is that from experience researching any medical condition on the internet always terrifies me. The internet gives you all of the information, including worst case scenarios in a very matter of fact manner. Try not to worry and I do hope you get some reassurance tomorrow.

Mirage - really don't worry.

If the labour is quick then the chances of the baby contracting GBS are very low. If the labour is slow on the other hand, there will be time for the intravenous antibiotics to take effect.

I was GBS positive too - with dd they gave me the antibiotics, but with ds he arrived too quickly. They tested DS for it immediately after birth and he was negative (if he had been positive he would have received antibiotics).

My midwife friend told me that in UK hosps they usually just give the baby antibiotics and then stop them if the tests are negative, but same difference. The point is that there is something they can do to prevent the baby from becoming ill.

Don't worry.

Hi Mirage, I was exactly in your position with my second pregnancy. Wanted homebirth but couldn't, worried would never get to hospital in time as 1st labour was quick. Now have 3 month old boy - it all went so much better than I thought. Got to hospital and had antibiotics 3 hours before delivery. Not the four hours they recommend but because a. ds was full-term b. Neither of us had a temperature c. my waters didn't break till 10 mins before delivery the paed agreed to not start ds on IV antibios immediately and just monitor him for 24 hours. They took his temp lots as any raise would have meant IV antibios straight away. Luckily all was well and we were allowed home after 24 hours. I was so scared beforehand like you are. I spoke to the GBSS - they lady there was SO helpful and really reassuring. Please call them and try not to worry too much - it's a tiny risk. x

PS - those stats you've read are general stats which don't take antibiotics into account as far as I know. You are lucky in that you and they know you carry GBS.

Don't know about the miscarriage stats - haven't read that. Butterflymum knows more than me about this.

mirage, please try not to worry, while your baby is tucked up inside you he/she will not come to any harm from gbs.Unfortunately leaflets etc tend to give you the worst case scenario.gbs CAN be dangerous to babies who are delivered to mums who have had no antibiotic therapy at all, some antibiotic is better than none and it will help your baby.The hospital will advise you to come to hospital as soon as you think you are in labour or if you think your waters have broken.If you have quick labours they may induce you so that they can start antibiotics straight away Your baby will be fine because the hospital are aware of your gbs and will monitor you well.{{{hugs}}}

forgot to add, have never heard of anyone having a miscarriage due to gbs, it cant harm your baby, it is well protected in the amniotic fluid.

Mirage, I have gbs. 2 weeks ago I went into labour and was in a bit of a panic in case I didnt get to the hospital in time for my 4 hours. I had my antibiotic drip put in as soon as I wasi n established labour and it took 30 minutes for the dose to go in. My midwife told me that the 30 minute dose would last for 4 hours (I think it was 4) and then I would need more if my baby hadnt been born by then. Like you I was wrongly under the impression that the dose took 4 hours to go in - this wasnt the case at my hospital so do check. After my baby was born (a very quick labour too), a stomach swab was taken to ensure she didnt have gbs, we had to stay at the hospital until the results were back (48 hours) then we were sent home. Try not to worry, the antibiotics shift the odds of your baby getting gbs from 1:300 to 1:6000.

Thankyou to everyone who responded.I am feeling MUCH calmer about the whole thing now.Yellowbelly,thanks for 'bumping' me up like you did

Senorapostrophe,Dinny,Spacecadet & Bunny2,THANKYOU for telling me about your experiences.It puts a whole new light on things to hear positive stories,rather than statistics ect.I am going to try & not think about it too much from now on.

I did ring the helpline today & the lady I spoke to was great-as she said-forewarned is forearmed.I will probably go onto the labour ward with 'RH Neg & StrepBpos' written on my bump in red pen,to be sure everyone realises.

no problem, mirage.

Love the red pen idea. I would be tempted to write "this way up" too, just in case

Glad you're feeling better about things, Mirage. I was SO scared while I was pregnanct but it all worked out OK. But when my lovely mw was getting my IV antibios in, she actually said, "These bloody IV antibios, we're doing them all the time!" Which kind of made me feel a bit better. btw, my IV antibio loading dose took five mins to go in. Please don't let this dominate your pregnancy. Where are you booked to have your baby?

Glad you are feeling reassured mirage, hope you enjoy the rest of your preg.

know how you feel i am 31 weeks pg an diagnosed gbs through post with a supporting leaflet not!it scared the shit out of me as i am a very anxsious person anyway an they only came across it by mistake , as i had a slight bleed at 26 weeks evryfin fine thou an now stopped worring bout it as long as they know it is safe web site an support group on it tells you evryfin but its tooooooooo much information, relax an enjoy your pregnancyx

only just seen this thread...please don't stress.
had gbs inboth my pregs.had no anti-biotics in first labour and had one dose( which took about 20 mins to go in) in second preg.both my boys were absolutely fine.strapping in fact!!!
don't let anyone break your waters..let nature take it's course, 'cos babs is safe as long as in sac.

Hey, Alexsmum, just wanted to say thanks for your kind words when I was in same position as Mirage - ie. scared and pregnant. You really helped me a lot. Enjoy uour pregnxancy, Mirage

ps had my prayers answered when in labour with ds, waters stayed intact till 15 mins before delivery.

Mirage, please don't be worried. I understand exactly how you will be feeling (well not exactly but YKWIM) - I was diagnosed with Group B Strep at 13 weeks. I know how scary all the literature is but maybe try and look at it this way - forewarned is forearmed, so to speak. Also, the chances of something happening to your baby are really very small.

My little boy was born on the 4th of November and he is absolutely fine. And I had a high risk situation too - went into labour nearly 4 weeks early, and my waters broke very early on - I had to be induced.

hi mirage, i missed this when you first posted but just to say, i had group b strep when i gave birth to dd, they only found out because they took a swab when my waters broke early that afternoon and i had dd later on that evening. they didnt get the test results til after i had dd so i didnt have the antibiotic drip like i should have so was given a list of things to look out for. luckily dd was never affected. so like the others say you have nothing to worry about as the baby doesnt always get affected and if you've got antibiotics then you should be fine xxx

I was also GBS+ve, but only knew for my second pregnancy (luckily my dd was fine). My ds was born half an hour after we arrived in hospital so no time for drip or any kind of monitoring. He was actually born 'in the caul' i.e. in the amniotic sac so didn't come into contact with me on the way out. The paediatrician decided he didn't even need the antibiotics since he hadn't touched me! It was at a birthing centre so a 'natural birth' and the midwife didn't try to break my waters. I think they are generally keen to speed things along by breaking the waters, but not doing it worked out very well for me! Good luck!

Hi Mirage, I am also a GBS carrier and didn't know about this until my second pregnancy (I am now 32 weeks). Like you, I was really worried when I found out, noone could give me a way I could help avoid an infection in this pregnancy, so I wrote to Gowri Motha of the Gentle Birth Method who wrote me a lovely note back telling me ways that I could build my immunity to help avoid infection. If you're interested, please CAT me and I will forward you her email. Best wishes and good luck!!

HI Mirage
Ihave just read this thread as i havent logged on to mumsnet for a long time. Most of the pple i have read about here had prior knowledge about their group b strp. Unfortunately for me mine was just realised half way through labour so i did not have the opportunity of having the antibiotic 4 hrs prior to delivery.
As soon as my ds was born he was put in SCBU and for a week after delivery we were on antibiotic every 4 hours . He is a very healthy baby and he has never been sick since he was born and he is the most active strong baby that i have ever seen. I was a bit worried after i was told and i went on the internet and it did scared me a bit but i just prayed bthat there would be no after effects and believed everything will be ok. Don't worry just focus on your baby at least u have fore knowledge. all will be well

Mirage, I have a good idea how you are feeling. I worried myself sick about this too to the extent that I wished I had never got pg a second time. I found out I had Group Strep B in labour with DS1, I was so drugged up when they told me I couldn't care, it was only when pg with DS2 I realised it was something important. I like you read up on the support group website and spent days on end crying and worrying until Mumsnet put my mind at rest.

In the end I decided to look at it as a good thing, I knew I was carrying Strep B and that way I knew that the medical staff would be looking out for anything unusual with my baby, there are so many Mums carrying this and know nothing about it and their babies may be at risk. I had a lightening fast labour with DS2 (although was in hospital a few hours before as I was having gentle contractions, although they would not give me my antibiotics at this time , they didn't feel there was any need for panic). When labour did start I was just about pushing by the time the Dr arrived with the antibiotics so I don't know if they would do any good, however DS2 came out with no ill effects from Strep B.

All the best with the rest of your pregnancy and try not to worry.

BTW I too wanted a home birth and was told it wasn't adviseable but my community midwife was all for me coming home ASAP. I was allowed home after 6 hours (although it was more like 13, grrrr paperwork) and although the hospital staff weren't too happy about it I was happy and my community midwife were happy to keep an eye on DS2 ourselves and obviously get back to the hospital with him if there was anything wrong.