My Son Was Born With Strep B

[lucysharp]

My Son Logan was born at 10 past 10 pm on the 16/06/2012 with GBS, i didnt know anything or heard anything about group strep b before, never got swopped or anything.

When he was born i noticed he didnt want to feed and was breathing weirdly and was really cold so i wrapped him and got a bath at first. Then i come back into the room tried feeding him again still he didnt want to know im breast feeding so i thought he wasnt sure what to do, so i asked the doctor to check him he said he was fine and so did a young nurse so i went to the ward.

Then he was breathing weirdly still and still felt cold so i was doing skin to skin for hours and hours it got to six in the morning and i wrapped him put him down still cold so i asked the doctor to check him again and was waiting that long i took him down to neonatal myself and the midwife said did you come here alone i said yeah then she noticed Logan went Purple so got him out of his crib and starting hitting him quite hard on his back and stripped him and put him in a heated incubator and on oxygen and i broke down crying rang my boyfriend to come back to the hospital and waited for news on Logan then after 2 days we got told he had strep b and he got treated, so thanks for my own motherly instincts he survived and is healthy now, he still has check ups every 3 months hes 14 weeks now and doing good.

I think it should be routinely checked and women should be swopped, or even explained that there is a serious infection out there killing babies. I think its discusting that i never knew anything about it and would like something done.

[JaneEliz Group B Strep Support Volunteer]

Hi Lucy - We're so sorry to hear of Logan's infection, fabulous that you were so persistent. It is disappointing when health professionals don't take as much notice of us Mums - most do, thankfully, but some don't.

Yes, I agree that all pregnant women should be told about group B Strep and offered screening late in pregnancy. There's a public consultation going on at the moment as the UK's National Screening Committee is looking at this issue now - if you haven't already, please do comment. There's info on how to at gbss.org.uk/NSC.

And thank you so much for sharing your story. Do call us in the office if you'd like to chat.