How could this happen in a homebirth? - Page 2

[mommariffic]

Some things I find interesting

On February 10, 2010, Katy Hayes, a free lance massage therapist and mother of two, gave birth at home to her 10 pound daughter after 8 hours of labor without medication or intervention. (See AOL’s linkhttp://alturl.com/8bh9). It is not known whether the home birth was attended to by a midwife.

...how is it possible you DON'T know?

And this:
Four days later, Katy was rushed to the hospital because of increased excruciating pain and almost died shortly thereafter.

If you had excruciating pain for even a day after giving birth at home [especially if no midwife was present..] wouldn't you contact a doctor instead of waiting an additional 3 days for the pain/infection to worsen, thus putting your life in danger?

[Ammaarah]

Oh, her baby is delicious! What a sad story. Obviously the risk of getting a really horrible infection is probably much higher in a hospital than at home, but birth isn't the safest thing we can do no matter where we elect to do it. I'm glad she survived and is around for that baby and the rest of her family.

[cagirlintexas]

Like someone else suggested I would read the blog. It answers alot of questions. Yes she had a midwife and had all the typical tests. It doesn't sound like she was in pain the whole four days but was ill advised when the pain did develop. here is a two paragraphs from her blog that help give a clearer picture

I called the nurse’s line to Kingwood Medical Center, two different times, and they said that if she didn’t have a fever, or wasn’t bleeding, then it was normal post-pardom pains.

The pain was resolved with massage, and Katy slept most of the night. Sunday morning I called the nurse’s line again. They, again, said that all of her symptoms were normal, and that nothing sounded out of the ordinary. By noon, Katy decided to go to the hospital in spite of the nurses saying it was nothing to worry about.

[JFTB1177]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate all the responses!

limette- I did hear about those other 2 cases, and those cases were a very strong reason why I chose to have my VBAC at home, because I thought there would be no chance of that happening at home. That's why this story has me so rattled.

I know the chance of this happening is super duper small... but it still scares the cr*p out of me.

[JFTB1177]

One more question... Veggiemom said her strep G was caught before she gave birth... I thought only B was tested for? For my next birth can I ask my MW to test for all kinds of strep... does everyone have access to this test??

[liqdsnk2]

Strep A infections are on the rise, it's also known as Child Bed Fever. I gave birth last year at home and contracted a life threatening Strep A infection. I was in the hospital for over three weeks and almost died. They had to do a full hysterectomy to save my life and I now suffer from PTSD. If anyone would like to know what questions to ask your midwife please PM me. I would like to share my story with as many women as possible so this never happens again. Even though my life has forever changed I still feel home birth is 100% safe with the right Midwife.

[JFTB1177]

Originally Posted by liqdsnk2

Strep A infections are on the rise, it's also known as Child Bed Fever. I gave birth last year at home and contracted a life threatening Strep A infection. I was in the hospital for over three weeks and almost died. They had to do a full hysterectomy to save my life and I now suffer from PTSD. If anyone would like to know what questions to ask your midwife please PM me. I would like to share my story with as many women as possible so this never happens again. Even though my life has forever changed I still feel home birth is 100% safe with the right Midwife.

Hey there, I just PM-ed you, but I think you should share your story here on this thread too! Maybe I'm just speaking for myself but I think it's important for us moms to know all possible outcomes. I'm so so sorry about what happened to you. (((hugs)))

[Climbergirl]

I would love to hear it too. I will PM you. I was in the hospital after my c-section due to infection (not strep though) and am very aware of this

Thanks!

[Annoia]

Ok, once childbed fever was mentioned, that rang a few bells. Pueperal fever.
Here's a link to some quick info. I'll be looking for more.

http://www.jessicastrust.org.uk/chil...n-for-parents/

------------------------------------
Just wanted to add this:
"In western medicine today childbed fever is unlikely to be caused by poor hygiene - although historically it was the lack of hygiene standards that led to its spread in epidemic proportions."

Currently looking for stats. Looks like 20 death maternal per year in UK, 150,00 deaths worldwide.

[meesh933]

Holy cow! That woman lives one town over from me, and birthed a week before me. When we took DS into our family doc at a day old, she tried to get me to submit to all kinds of blood work and told me there was a really sick HB mama at the hospital next door. I hadn't seen the rest of the story until now. How awful.

[Annoia]

Originally Posted by meesh933

Holy cow! That woman lives one town over from me, and birthed a week before me. When we took DS into our family doc at a day old, she tried to get me to submit to all kinds of blood work and told me there was a really sick HB mama at the hospital next door. I hadn't seen the rest of the story until now. How awful.

She's in my area as well. It's a truly heartbreaking story.

The more I try and find numbers on Strep A maternal deaths in the US, the more I am convinced it's truly a rare event and somewhat random. Your doctor may have been a bit upset by the situation, and not thinking clearly (as we all do when faced with such a troubling story) when pushing extra blood work.

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Searches in all the usual spots for the number of maternal deaths per year in the US due to Strep A might be fruitless. Would probably be even harder to find morbidity due to Strep A (injury but not death). It seems that we (the US) haven't been very good about recording causes of maternal mortality/morbidity (perhaps even to the point of 'deflating' mortality). The CDC proposed changes to death certificates but that was in 2007 - I don't know if the changes have taken effect.

[mwherbs]

here is a summary from a 2001 article on Strep A colonization - basically stating why it isn't screened for--

"Six thousand nine hundred forty-four screening cultures were obtained. Among these 1,393 were positive for group B streptococci and 2 for group A streptococci, yielding colonization rates of 20.1% and 0.03%, respectively."

[Annoia]

Originally Posted by mwherbs

here is a summary from a 2001 article on Strep A colonization - basically stating why it isn't screened for--

"Six thousand nine hundred forty-four screening cultures were obtained. Among these 1,393 were positive for group B streptococci and 2 for group A streptococci, yielding colonization rates of 20.1% and 0.03%, respectively."

Thanks. Good info. Supports the other rare & random event numbers. Which article is that from?

[mwherbs]

Vaginal-rectal colonization with group A streptococci in late pregnancy.
P B Mead and W C Winn
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington 05401, USA.
P B Mead: [e-mail]



free full text pdf-
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...5/?tool=pubmed

[JFTB1177]

Originally Posted by mwherbs

Vaginal-rectal colonization with group A streptococci in late pregnancy.
P B Mead and W C Winn
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington 05401, USA.
P B Mead: [e-mail]



free full text pdf-
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...5/?tool=pubmed

Wow, thanks for the info!!! This makes me feel a bit better (the fact that it is so rare). But I would still like to be tested for all forms of Strep later on- does anyone do that??

[HeatherB]

I'm also in the Houston area and have been following this story.

I have declined strep B tests for my home births after discussing them (and my particular situation) with my MW. We also discussed that there are some treatment plans that are very successful in killing off any strep B that you can do at home. Essentially it's rinsing the vaginal area with hibiclens, I believe. I'm not certain if that would kill OTHER strep strains, but it's worth talking to your MW about.

A few things I do know about strep B... Most people will have it at some point in their lives. You can test positive for it one day, and NOT the next. While a positive test may, in a hospital setting, get you marked as "strep B positive" for life, it is clear that colonization changes and CAN be changed by things like hibiclens wash.

The family in this case is also still very pro-homebirth. One article quoted a doctor as saying, "you can scratch your head and get it." Strep is EVERYWHERE - we just don't normally get enough of it to cause a problem. Absolutely, being at home is THE best place for avoiding things like strep. Whatever germs are there are ones you're already going to have been exposed to.

[Koalamom]

Originally Posted by HeatherB

I have declined strep B tests for my home births after discussing them (and my particular situation) with my MW. We also discussed that there are some treatment plans that are very successful in killing off any strep B that you can do at home. Essentially it's rinsing the vaginal area with hibiclens, I believe. I'm not certain if that would kill OTHER strep strains, but it's worth talking to your MW about.

I have declined strep test too. I know that my sister has to take abx every birth since she has tested positive once years ago before a birth. I don't like stories like this as it gets me all frazzled. What a story.
Still I am going to have all my future babies at home as I feel that a hospital birth is less safe for sure. But I may get the strep tests next time...

[writteninkursive]

I heard this story a couple of days ago and was kind of... confused. Hospitals are way more notorious for a birthing woman to develop a Strep infection. I would almost call the disease unrelated were it not for it starting in her uterus. I have NEVER heard of a homebirth mama getting any kind of serious infection like this.

But, rest assured, it will not deter me from having my HBA3C with my next baby.

[Ahappymel]

This article actually made me justify homebirth even more in mind. I think that exposure to diseases like that would be much more common in the hospital (although obviously not unheard of outside of the hospital). I'd much rather be at home with a lower risk, even is home is no guarantee, the odds are better I believe.
I am personally sending that mom, baby and family a whole llot of love and prayers.

[Ahappymel]

Originally Posted by HeatherB

I'm also in the Houston area and have been following this story.

I have declined strep B tests for my home births after discussing them (and my particular situation) with my MW. We also discussed that there are some treatment plans that are very successful in killing off any strep B that you can do at home. Essentially it's rinsing the vaginal area with hibiclens, I believe. I'm not certain if that would kill OTHER strep strains, but it's worth talking to your MW about.

A few things I do know about strep B... Most people will have it at some point in their lives. You can test positive for it one day, and NOT the next. While a positive test may, in a hospital setting, get you marked as "strep B positive" for life, it is clear that colonization changes and CAN be changed by things like hibiclens wash.

The family in this case is also still very pro-homebirth. One article quoted a doctor as saying, "you can scratch your head and get it." Strep is EVERYWHERE - we just don't normally get enough of it to cause a problem. Absolutely, being at home is THE best place for avoiding things like strep. Whatever germs are there are ones you're already going to have been exposed to.

Oh, I agree with all of this. My little boy got impetigo last year. A Kaiser doctor explained that there are a couple of sources of impetigo, one being strep. Then I got the strep lesson : )
Strep is generally not dangerous and is pretty common, he told me...but there are a few strains that are deadly and invasive (like the one that killed Jim Henson).