GBS positive

[JenChaffee]

I found out yesterday that I am GBS positive. How might this affect my HB plans? Any thoughts on what I should do to reduce risk to the babies?

[onyxravnos]

i cant lay my hands on it right this minute but mothering has a great artice that you can find online about GBS positive... i think i found it via a google search. I was worried this time around that i might be so i started reading and it seems to me that as long as you are aware of it and watch for possible signs of infection in baby and have no other 'risk' factors the need for antibiotics is... perhaps a little silly.

also you can start taking garlic and probiotic pills now and have them retest you in two weeks. just because you are + now doesn't mean you will be when baby comes.

[S.Elise]

I got similar news a couple weeks ago. I've been told by several people, including my MW, that this certainly does not risk you out of HB, although you do need to make some choices about whether and how to treat the situation.

In USA hospital births for the last several years, this result means automatic IV antibiotics during labor. That is not the protocol in most other countries (in the UK where I had my first, they don't even test for GBS routinely since they believe the benefits of knowing do not outweight the risk of overtreatment from knowing). Other countries go by the old rule that we used to have - no treatment unless (1) labor happens before 37 weeks, (2) water broken for 18 plus hours before delivery or (3) fever during labor.

My MW was willing to (a) have me try herbs and retest (see recos I got on the thread posted below) (b) use antibiotic suppositories beforehand and then follow the old protocol, or, (c) if I want, I could have oral or a shot of antibiotics when I go into labor. There's also another protocol involving douching with an antimicrobial wash during labor (see the thread below for more on that), which apparently studies show is just as effective as the IV option.

Personally, I think the current US protocol is pretty over the top, especially since we know exposing a baby to massive doses of abx that early in life can increase the risk of allergies and asthma.

Good luck! I was really upset when I found out about this but now that I have all the info I feel much better, and am even MORE glad I am doing an HB since I actually have options on how to handle this.

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...light=oral+abx

[AlishaB]

I am not sure if this is much help...I was GBS positive with both of my boys, and had two homebirths with midwives...I am in Alberta, Canada tho.
I was offered antibiotics with both but declined.
My midwife said after the fact that the risk goes up the longer they are in the vaginal canal. (both mine were only engaged for less than 2 hrs.)
I just felt that an IV would hamper my birth process....
But, I took the risk anyway.
HTH.

[emnic77]

I was GBS+ for my birth with DS, it was a hospital birth with midwives. I declined ABX after doing research; I did the hibiclens rinse when I was in active labor, before I went to the hospital, and ate a metric truckload of garlic and vitamin C (grapefruit seed extract and grapefruits) and took probiotics. I had no risk factors (baby was overdue, my water didn't break until his head was born) and did not feel the ABX were necessary in my situation.

I'm not taking the test this time around (for a homebirth), I'll probably handle it the same way minus the hibiclens.

[JenChaffee]

Thanks! I am not feeling so bad about this, now. It was the hospital MWs of my parallel care group that found me GBS+. They explained the importance of the IV. I talked to my HB MW today. She doesn't seem too concerned. She recommended hibiclens if I want. I will try it if I can get my hands on it. I hear that it is easy to find. The problem right now is traffic ... expected snow and last minute Christmas shopping have essentially turned the county into a big parking lot.

[SalmonBayDoula]

I really like the info found on the gentle birth website.

http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/gbs.html

Check it out and beautiful birthing to you!

Sharon

[billikengirl]

I got hibiclens from inhishands.com but I decided to consent to the IV after all. My midwife put in a saline lock and I got two doses of clindamycin (I am penicillin allergic). The lock only became a problem when I really wanted to get on hands and knees in the pool (but I wasn't supposed to get it wet). In the end I said the heck with it and did what I needed to and got the thing wet.

[ABell]

at the begining of labor/when you water breaks(whichever one happens first)take a clove of garlic and cut it in half and thread a string through it for easy retrieval. insert it into your vagina you can leave it in there until it fall out or repeat this process every four hours. garlic has been found to effectively kill the gbs strain. i did this with my homebirth (was gbs+ with last two kids). i also labored and gave birth in the tub, i am sure that being in the water cuts down the risk to baby with gbs. i was in the tub for the last hour and a half of my labor and my water had been broke for a total of 24 hours and i had been leaking the day b4 it broke... my son came out healthy. you can fing an article on the use of garlic for gbs on Ronnie Falco's midwifing site just google it.

[smokeylo]

I was GBS + with my first birth but we didn't find out until after the baby was born (labs didn't come back fast enough). I did nothing differently. This time, my midwife gave me a handout that explained how GBS works -- it's something like a majority of women are GBS+, and of those, only like 2% have their kids become severely sick from it, and they're typically in one of several risk categories (low birth weight, pre-term, etc). For this pregnancy, I declined the test (because I figure we know I've been + in the past) but agreed to have a dose of abx at the birth **IF** any of the risk factors is a concern (which I don't think they are for me). I don't think it's really worth doing extra stuff for, but if you're worried, hibiclens seems like the easiest solution to me.

[Xiaohua]

Originally Posted by JenChaffee

I found out yesterday that I am GBS positive. How might this affect my HB plans? Any thoughts on what I should do to reduce risk to the babies?

Are you expecting twins?

This is a great thread with lots of helpful info. Thanks so much to all who have contributed!

Serena

[MegBoz]

Originally Posted by smokeylo

it's something like a majority of women are GBS+, and of those, only like 2% have their kids become severely sick from it,

Actually 2%, or 1 in 50 is the risk only for women who are GBS+ and have one other risk factor (as posted above by stella.rose although there are 2 more to her list - (4) urinary tract infection with GBS (5) having a previous baby who contracted a GBS infection. (in that case, they want to give antibiotics anyway & not even swab for GBS.)

With + swab being the only "risk factor" - the chance of baby getting GBS infection is 1 in 200 or .5%!!! However, the chance of having a negative side effect from antibiotics, such as thrush, is 10%!

All that being said, it absolutely shouldn't risk you out of HB because you should be able to get the antibiotics at home if you want anyway. (I know a CNM can start the IV.)

Originally Posted by stella.rose

Personally, I think the current US protocol is pretty over the top, especially since we know exposing a baby to massive doses of abx that early in life can increase the risk of allergies and asthma.

Yes! AND it increases the risk of contracting deadly antibiotic-resistant infections such as eColi.

"Over the top" is a great way to describe our US protocol. I joke that it is like taking a sledge hammer to kill an ant. You will kill the bug you intend to kill, but you're going to do a lot of collateral damage- and there are much better ways to go about it anyway! (i.e. hibicleans.)

I was able to buy hibicleans at my local pharmacy. I just bought a regular douche, dumped the contents from the bottle, then mixed hibicleans & diluted with, I think, just water (got the recipe from my doula.)

[JenChaffee]

Thanks, everyone.

Yes, I have twins. The treatment I was receiving because I am considered "high-risk" is what made us so certain that HB was the way we should go.

I used hibiclens w/ a douche that I dumped out the other contents. My next swab test that the HB MW did came back negative. She recommends that I use hibiclens once a week until birth. If a person has GBS in their body, it can't be got rid of entirely, so I will just try to keep my vajayjay clean of it until birth.

And it's reassuring to know that the risks are pretty low especially since I have no other risk factors. (I don't think twins are a valid risk factor, though the OBs tried their hardest to terrify me with "high-risk" pregnancy nonsense. I would have had my c-section a week ago if they had had their way!) I am happily heading toward a HB! Any day now!

[MyBoysBlue]

I was + too. Just adding a link. Glad you got a negative test.

http://www.joyousbirth.info/articles...lapproach.html

[Geerbabe]

I think this is the article mentioned by onyxravnos. Lots of good information.

[Brasilmom]

I just got word from my MW that I am +. She mentioned the use of acidophilus, echinacea with propolis and also hibiclens. I am on my way to find it locally and get going with it. So, for those of you that used hibiclens, is there a particular one that shall be used? I never heard of this and for what I found online there are some that are for athetes and a bunch others. I am not sure if my local health food store carries it, so I will have to get busy looking. So, if I find one, does it come with a douche? Never used one either.... Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks. Be well
Miriam

[tygrss]

Originally Posted by Brasilmom

I just got word from my MW that I am +. She mentioned the use of acidophilus, echinacea with propolis and also hibiclens. I am on my way to find it locally and get going with it. So, for those of you that used hibiclens, is there a particular one that shall be used? I never heard of this and for what I found online there are some that are for athetes and a bunch others. I am not sure if my local health food store carries it, so I will have to get busy looking. So, if I find one, does it come with a douche? Never used one either.... Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks. Be well
Miriam

I saw hibiclens next to the Witch Hazel and other similar products in Target a few weeks ago.

[loveneverfails]

I think it really depends on your risk tolerance.  To me, 1 in 200 is a huge huge number.  And I have had a baby with a 10 day antibiotic course in hospital after a home birth.  I will never, ever skip the antibiotics for positive GBS, especially in an out of hospital setting where a mom could legitimately have difficulty spotting respiratory distress until it is too late.  The risk is just too high for me, and I wanted to chime in from this side of things.