strep b

[kerry86]

hi all i am 34 weeks pregnant and have strep b. i would like to know if there are any risks to my baby if i go into labour before 37 weeks, can anyone help? many thanks kerry-louise.

I think you are given IV antibiotics whilst you are in labour. Hopefully someone will come along with more knowledge {smile]

GBSS website

as far as i know the risks are the same whether labour is early or not.

you are lucky. i only found out i was a GBS carrier when my baby was in intensive care with GBS pneumonia.

even then, we were lucky because he survived.

i don't want to frighten you, but advise you to take GBS seriously.

it's so easy to treat during labour and to minimise the risk, so now that you know, you shouldn't have any problems.

plenty of people on here will tell you it's nothing to worry about because they haven't experienced the reality of passing GBS onto their children. unfortunately somebody has to be the 1 in however many births.

I had GBS with my last child. I was given 1 lot of AB's intravenously as soon as I arrived at the maternity unit but as I delivered quickly they couldn't give me another dose. My baby was then given AB's over 2 days. He had a whatsit (sorry about the technical term) put in his hand which was bandaged and had a mitten on to stop him hurtng himself. He looked a bit like a Borg. We were put in a private room that had a neutral atmosphere and we went down to NICU a couple of times a day for his AB's.

Tha was my experiance 20 months ago at my maternity unit, I don't know if it is the same for all units.

I have had Strep B with all 4 of my pregnancies (am currently preg with 4th). I was given IV antibiotics during labour each time. I made it a point to mention it to the nurse as soon as I entered the labour unit. My doc tells me that you need to have the IV going a min of 4 hours prior to giving birth. My DS came so quickly, I had no time for the IV to take effect. He was placed in the special care nursery and was given antibiotics as a precaution for a couple of days (I was released before him). He was fine. I now have strep B and am only 25 weeks along. My doc gave me 2 rounds of antibiotics, but could not clear it up. Since there is no harm to the baby right now, they will only treat me when I go into labour. Try not to worry... just make sure your midwife gets that IV into you as soon as possible... no matter what point you go into labour.

thank you all so much for your replies, i really appriciate it! kerry-louise

what are the symotoms of strep B, sorry to be ignorant!!

spats - usually there are no symptoms of strep b in the mother. It's a common or garden bacteria found in about a quarter of the population. It can (in rare cases) be contracted by the baby, usually as it passes through the birth canal, and a small number of babies develop very serious infections.

I'm interested hearing about other people's experiences. They seem to differ from mine! I've had two children and was GBS+ with both. Had plenty of time for the ABs with DD (first birth), but labour with DS was v quick and they didn't get them in quickly enough. All they did was keep us both in for 48 hours and monitored DS regularly.

I'm pg with DC3 and will be giving birth in a different area. Is it the norm now to administer ABs to the baby postnatally if the IV ABs aren't received quickly enough by the mother? Even in an otherwise healthy "normal" birth?

When I had Severe morning Sickness with DD1 I was hospitalised and they picked this up in a Urine Test.

I had lots of courses of antibiotics,but it comes back.

During my labour my MW gave me intravenous AB's through the cannula.I asked where the 2nd lot were,and she told me she'd given me "Double strength" ones so I didn't need two lots.

With DD2 I had a CS,so they put them in the I/V Infusion.

I'm interested in this too - I had Strep B with my last pregnancy and am now 17 weeks into my second. I'm unsure about what to do, as I know that the testing isn't hugely reflective of whether you have the infection or not. So I could choose to be tested, show as negative, but the bacteria could then be present when I go into labour.

i had premature rupture of membranes at 35 weeks with ds2 (now 6months old). i was admitted straight away, given iv antibiotics and closely monitored for 72 hours before being induced. During that time i ran a low grade fever (a possible symptom) It turned out the PROM was due to Strep B. As far as i know, both prematurity and premature rupture of membranes increase the risk of transmission to baby. I feel extremely lucky and thankful that my baby was fine (no doubt down to the iv antibiots i received) but we did have a few scares with him in the first few weeks of his life and if i was to ever manage to convince dh to have another i would insist on antibiotics the second my labour began, regardless of whether i tested pos or not during my pregnancy and whether prem or full term (and this from someone who avoids drugs at all costs!)

Things may have changed since 2006 when I had DD2.

The rationale then was not to test throughout your pregnancy,but at 37 or 38 weeks I had to send off got a Group B Strep Test kit,where I had to take a Vaginal and Rectal swab,and send it off in the envelope supplied.You then got a result within a few days.
If it was Negative at 38 weeks there was no need to test again as it would be negative from then on,if it was positive at that stage,then it would be positive during labour so AB's would be given.

My MW supported this "postal" method,as the most reliable at the time.

See here

Zonedout, I think you may have a point. I didn't make it to 38 weeks as had to be induced at 36 because of pre-eclampsia, and luckily had had a swab taken at 33 weeks for other reasons, otherwise I wouldn't have known. So really this time I suppose the safe thing to do would be to have the IV again.

I'm genuinely interested Sawyer64, why would negative at 38 weeks mean negative from then on? Sorry if that's a really inane question, after a day in the sun my brain is fried!

I have no real answer to give you unless its on that link,but its considered unreliable before this time.

I had the same thought,so was quite "relieved" when it was positive IYSWIM!

I did question that,but was told that it was the most reliable test around,hence having to pay for it.

Hi. I'm also a strep B carrier. I have 2 ds's but only found out late in ds2's pregnancy.
They sent me a letter telling me I had tested positive for GBS, the minute I opened it and saw those words, I was shaking and crying, God, I'm crying now just thinking about it!
I have a friend who is also a carrier, the infection in her sends her into premature labour and she delivers her babies very early. Sadly her 2nd ds was born at 25 weeks and died at 10 weeks old due to catching septicimia(sp?), her GBS wasn't diagnosed until after she lost her 2nd baby. So believe me, you are lucky they have found it.
The risk to the baby is when your waters break, that is the time the infection will/can pass over. This frightened me to no end as I have no idea when ds1's waters went. I went to see the consultant at my hospital, told him how scared I was and he agreed to induce me so that the labour could be controlled from the start. I was given 4 courses of IV antibiotics through labour and this meant that ds2 didn't need to be treated. He had to stay at hospital for a minimum of 48 hours after deivery as he was on 4 hourly observations to keep a close eye on is temperature and breathing.

It also means that now you have tested positive for this, they will treat you with AB's through every labour you go on to. They may not test you if you became pregnant again, but now they know you are a carrier, they will always treat you to protect bbies.

Whenever you speak to hospital staff, please tell them you are a GBS carrier. If you have to call them to say your waters have gone, tell them about GBS and they'll tell you to go straight in. If labour starts with contractions and they tell you to stay at home, mention you have GBS and they will tell you to go straight in.

Just reading through other replies, the reason they don't test for it normally is because you can test +ive one week, -ive the next and +again the next and so on. If you have tested +ive within 4 weeks of delivery, they will treat you with AB's regardless, and will treat you during subsequent(sp?) labours.
I was given AB's every 4 hours and had 4 courses.
JRocks If you have tested positive before, you are a cariier and I would definitely tell your mw about it. It isn't worth the risk. If your baby catches the infection it can show in them in things like menengitis, scepticimia and pnumonia. Something a prem baby may not be able to fight. Or a full term baby for that matter.
They found GBS in me because I had a UTI for 8 months continuous despite constant AB's.

I know it sounds silly, but if you want to try and keep it to a minimum treating yourself with garlic can get rid of strep b.
see here

I tested positive at 28 weeks for Step B and was absolutely devastated as I had my heart set on a HB water birth. I was told that once you test positive it is quite unlikely to then test negative. I decided to take a private test at 36weeks. If it came back positive I would go to hospital and have my water birth there with anti B if not home birth. I also investigated natural methods of getting rid of strep B and I did try the infamous garlic together with drinking lots of echinacea. At 37 weeks the test came back negative (I think the garlic worked and the visualisations etc but some people will say it is just fluke). I had my home birth.

However if I was ever pregnant again I would definitely take the private test again and if my membrane ruptured before I did, I would probably go to hospital and have anti B

Thanks littleboyblue. I suppose because I was diagnosed and treated with minimum fuss last time, it doesn't seem like such a big deal to me - but I certainly don't mean to belittle anyone else's feelings about it. My MW knows, as does my consultant as this time my care is consultant led. Actually there were so many issues from last time, I think that's probably why Strep B seems low on my list of worries. I expect I'll have the IV again, I don't want to put my baby at unnecessary risk.

I delivered 2 weeks early with DS..and for whatever reason, they did the test the night my waters broke and then before they got the results i had had the most amazing waterbirth on a natural birthing ward!! Now knowing that i have /had strep B, i feel really worried that i won't beable to have the birth i want with my next pregnancy (i am now 8 weeks pregnant with 2nd) any suggestions? can i have a homebirth and still have AB???

DS ended up going back in when 4 days old with jaundice and a big spot on his teeny tiny leg so they treated him with AB on special care just incase strep B had passed over, but surely they should have taken this precaution anyway?

I had homebirth with no AB's as it was so fast, only 1.5hours from first contraction to delivery. I was then just instructed to watch the baby very closely for 48 hours and
if there was any sign of anything even vaguely concerning, to take the baby straight to hospital for AB's.

He was fine. I was told that the risk of passing on the strep b is really only present once the waters have gone, and the longer the waters have gone the greater the risk. I was not "supposed" to have a homebirth, but the speed of the labour gave me no choice!

i was diagnosed with Strep B 5 days after giving birth to dd1 (I was still in hospital for something unrelated). They kept me in for another 10 days to give me IV antibiotics. Has this happened to anyone else?
They didn't, incidentally, treat the baby - they just told me that I "would know" if something was wrong with her in the first three months. Let me tell you that this made for one very, very paranoid first-time mother.....
(Second time round I was also strep b positive but had a c-section.)