Group B + and hospital delivery

[HappyTomato]

I've done a little searching of past threads and saw that one mama got a shot of antibiotics instead of the IV. I really wanted to avoid an IV this time so I could have more freedom of movement and because the nurse blew out two veins last delivery trying to get an IV started. I'm 39 weeks today and only just found out Friday about my Group B + status. What other options are there that I could discuss with my OB? TIA

[jeninejessica]

Both on a personal level, and as a doula, this is something I'm very interested in- I've love to know some definitive answers. All I seem to find are "so and so may be an option".

[nikirj]

The IV is honestly your best option if you are GBS + in labor and are going to do abx. What I would do if I wanted to avoid the IV is try some natural GBS reduction methods and then retest. The closer to labor your test is, the more likely it is to be valid (GBS comes and goes, so a certain - surprisingly large - percentage of women who had it at 35 weeks won't anymore by 40-42).

IM injections and oral abx have been proven ineffective over and over again. If you want abx and want to avoid the IV, you might be able to get someone to do a smaller gauge needle with a smaller IV bag, run in the abx over 10-15 minutes, and then remove.

There is the hibiclens douche, which can really be made to sound great (it does eliminate colony counts) but 1) it's harsh, and on mucosal tissue, and 2) if the GBS bacteria have already gotten to the uterus it's going to be useless.

[HappyTomato]

Originally Posted by nikirj

The IV is honestly your best option if you are GBS + in labor and are going to do abx. What I would do if I wanted to avoid the IV is try some natural GBS reduction methods and then retest. The closer to labor your test is, the more likely it is to be valid (GBS comes and goes, so a certain - surprisingly large - percentage of women who had it at 35 weeks won't anymore by 40-42).

IM injections and oral abx have been proven ineffective over and over again. If you want abx and want to avoid the IV, you might be able to get someone to do a smaller gauge needle with a smaller IV bag, run in the abx over 10-15 minutes, and then remove.

There is the hibiclens douche, which can really be made to sound great (it does eliminate colony counts) but 1) it's harsh, and on mucosal tissue, and 2) if the GBS bacteria have already gotten to the uterus it's going to be useless.

Thank you for the info! Not exactly what I wanted to hear but knowing what is effective and what is not helps tremendously.