Hi all, my daughter in law has been diagnosed with GBS. We are all so concerned and it seems no-one else in the health profession seems to be as concerned as we are. Is this right or are we over reacting, I just wonder how other new mums and their families feel when they get this diagnosis.
Thanks for any advice or information you may have.
Reets
I felt the same and every time I raised it with midwives and doctors I was made to feel I was over reacting. All I ever got told was not to worry and you'll be offered iv antibiotics in labour. I googled it and terrified myself, thought the worst and honestly expected my baby to be ill or not survive. But when the day came I realised they made no big deal out of it because true to their word I had antibiotics and he was monitored for 24 hours and he was fine. I'm glad I knew I had it because it's better than not knowing and I felt the whole birth was more controlled, I was told I wouldn't be left to let labour run its own course, I had the drip to speed it all up. My waters broke and 4.20 am and I phoned the hospital, told them I had it and was told to come in. I had 1 dose about 830am (due to shift change over, being tested to ensure my waters had broken, me having rubbish veins and it taking 5 attempts to get a drip in) then was put on a drip to speed it up, 1230 I had a second dose then my body was doing it all itself so didn't need speeding up. He was finally born at 1939 perfectly healthy.
I totally sympathise with how you all feel, my family would never talk about it or ask me how I felt so I felt like I was dealing with it all alone which made it worse. I dealt with it by looking at the positive which was that at least I knew I had it, and because I knew I had it it could be treated at labour. It's worse not knowing you have it and it wouldn't put me off having another
Thank you so much for replying Gill, you're right, my daughter in law feels that she's now in limbo until baby is here. But I'm going to show her your reply and hopefully it will help her to relax a little bit. I'm sure, like you (and me too!) she'll have googled the life out of it and you do tend to read worse case scenarios! And that's pretty scary too.... even for me and I'm just the gran!! We're all in it together so we're talking about it all the time and that does help too. I'm sorry you had to deal with it alone, that certainly wouldn't have helped at all, but I am glad you had a healthy little boy!! I think this forum will help my daughter in law and I'm certainly going to direct her to it!! It's a shame that someone in the health service takes just a little time to sit you down and give an explanation of GBS instead of letting our imaginations run away with us ...... that way maybe there would be a little less aggravation!! Our little baby is due in September and we don't know what's coming this time, they have a little girl already, so it's going to be a lovely surprise for us all!! Thanks again for your reassuring words xx
Hi paterson25,
Congratulations to your daughter in law on her pregnancy. We don't give medical advice, but can certainly give general information on group B Strep.
Carrying group B Strep is perfectly natural and normal - group B Strep is just one of a number of bacteria, which live normally in our bodies without causing symptoms. A third of the adult population carries group B Strep, without symptoms – neither she nor her partner needs to have antibiotics just because she carries it.
Carrying group B Strep does not mean her baby will necessarily become ill – carrying group B Strep is common but group B Strep infections in babies are not. It’s important not to get too worried about a rare complication.
Knowing about group B Strep is good news since the vast majority of group B Strep infection in newborn babies occurs when their mothers were not told about group B Strep nor received intravenous antibiotics in labour.
You and/or your daughter in law may find our page for pregnant women at gbss.org.uk/pregnant helpful, and we have a leaflet for women in her situation at gbss.org.uk/wp-content/uplo...
If you have any other questions, please do let us know here, or on info@gbss.org.uk or 01444 416 176.
Oliver
