Beta Step Test Positive please share your experience.

[ck1]

Just found out today I tested positive.  I’m concerned because I am currently 37 weeks, this is our second child, the first delivery was fast and I’m told the second delivery will be even faster.  In fact, I’m already measuring 4 cm Dilated, 80% effaced, and the baby is at zero station.  So of course I worry I won’t make it to the hospital in time to receive antibiotics.  I also worry about our newborns health… worry I really don’t need right now. 

I’ve read a lot about Beta Strep (enough to scare me), and have heard the alternatives to antibiotics… what I really would like is to hear some of your personal stories and experiences with testing positive and delivering.  And did your baby have to stay for 48 hours if they seemed to be doing fine? 

Thanks!! 

[sarahbeara87]

I was posative with my last baby. I was not going to take antibiotics. My midwife didnt want to break my water because of the strep b pos. my water didnt break until he was about to be bor. i was dilated till ten for about an hour before my water broke, i pushed four time and he came out. there was little to no chance of infection without my water breaking. the baby was fine, healthy as could be. we were already at home so we just stayed comfy there.

[Bird Girl]

I was GBS + with my second child, too (and negative with my first.) I was at 4 cms before I went into labor, and I stayed home for the first couple of hours of active labor. I still got to the hospital in plenty of time to get a full dose of antibiotics--once they place the IV, it only takes something like 55 minutes to get a full dose. We stayed at the hospital a bit longer than 24 hours, but that was just because it was a little chaotic when we actually got discharged.

By the way, there's no evidence that any other treatment for group B strep is effective--your own body doesn't bother to fight the bacteria, and basically considers it part of your normal skin flora. That's why the antibiotic treatment has to be during labor--any earlier, and the bacteria can return, and your own body pays it no attention. It's only dangerous for the baby. So don't bother douching with chemicals or wearing garlic cloves or anything else.

If you have such a precipitous labor that you don't get in a full dose of antibiotics, your nurses may be a little more aggressive about taking the baby's temperature and monitoring his/her breathing. But unless something else shows up, you shouldn't be subjected to any other procedures.

[LLtheTinkerbell]

Not true re. garlic not helping if you insert daily. There are very few studies on efficacy of natural treatments because it's not a marketable solution. Do more research, you'll see lots of evidence of women using this treatment effectively to treat GBS (inserting garlic up until day of birth). Antibiotics have their own risks in a newborn, killing all natural flora & making for a very unhappy baby and giving the mother a LT yeast infection. Not to mention increased risks of e.coli and other bacterial infections.

[Bird Girl]

Do more research, you'll see lots of evidence of women using this treatment effectively to treat GBS (inserting garlic up until day of birth).

Lots of women post about doing this on the internet; anecdotes are not the same as data. The author of this blog lost his son on the day of his joyous homebirth to Group B Strep--his wife had been following the advice to put garlic in her vagina. He wrote more about alternative theories here: http://www.wrenjones.com/2011/01/17/gbs-and-alternative-remedies/

Obviously, not every baby will die of GBS. But what if yours does?

[amaayeh]

Well, the reality is also that some babies will die even if their moms receive the antibiotics.  Antibiotics are NOT fail-safe, so please don't let that fear overtake your ability to reason.

If you research, there are many different factors involved with strep.  Yes, it is a normal part of your flora and fauna, but you can create an environment in which it doesn't have as much influence...this is also why you can test negative one week and positive the next.  It changes almost daily and it CAN make a difference if you do the right things.

I believe in probiotics, garlic and all that stuff.  However, after researching Hibiclens and its use in Europe, I went with that.  Antibiotics are ONLY effective if YOU receive them FOUR FULL HOURS before baby passes through the birth canal.  If baby arrives before that FOUR hours, you might as well have not had them.  It sounds like you have fast labors, so it is doubtful you would be able to be in that time frame.  Please do your research and please, please research Hibiclens and the instructions you need to start following asap.

I was positive with my second child and labor was 3 hours from start to finish.  My water did not break until approximately two minutes before she was born so her exposure was very, very small.  I did the hibiclens routine and plan on doing it this time around whether I test positive or not.

[LLtheTinkerbell]

anecdotes are not the same as data.

Indeed, which is why I try my best not to let tragic anecdotes about babies dying (which will happen no matter how we intervene, and sometimes because of intervening) such as the one you link to make me fearful and cloud my rational thinking about this. All I'm pointing out is that there ARE alternatives, and as the PP says neither the mainstream nor alternative treatments for any potential problem are 100%. The benefits of avoiding antibiotics simply and clearly outweigh the risks for me.

Treating Group B Strep: Are Antibiotics Necessary?