February Group B strep moms??

[boycrazy]

I have group B this time around. First time. I have been doing alot of yogurt and Kefir to boost the good bacteria in my body. Are you guys going to do antibiotics or not? I am leaning towards no. Probably will not get there in time anyway. Do your hospitals have special proticol for the non antibiotic users?Ours, I'm told, will make baby stay till 48 hours after birth for observation. Any wise mamas who have it all figured out? Those who are giving birth at home have a plan?

[savannah smiles]

I have it this time around as well. I haven't done a lot of research yet but I'll ask my OB about a longer stay since my hospital typically keeps you for 24 hours. I'll go ahead and get the antiobiotics but keep an eye out for possible yeast infections later.

[alicia9178]

I have had it with my last 2 babies, but we are not going to test this time. Even if we end up in the hospital I will not treat it, and either way I plan to leave within a few hours after the birth, ideally 6-12 hours after the birth depending on the time of day. Both of our babies ended up with horrible yeast infections and green slimy diarrhea that irritated the already sensitive skin on their bottoms to the point that they were fire truck red with skin peeling off. I cannot say 100% that it was from the antibiotics, but I cannot think of anything else that would have caused it.
Alicia

[Boobiemama]

I am being tested this next week.
When I was at the birth center last week, I asked their protocol, and it is antibiotics during labor(that i will take if +) and a 24 hour after birth stay. Which I will also take, because the last time, the bc was so nice and relaxing I wish I couldve stayed longer! LOL

[cdenuccio]

I am debating being tested.... only b/c they are offering, not b/c I'm concerned. What can I do (if anything) to enhance chances of a negative result? anyone know?

Cara

[boycrazy]

This site is a great resource on the subject

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

[Dreaming]

I'm pretty sure that the hospital will *require* 48 hours of observation no matter what I do.
If I get there in time, I'll allow the antibiotics. I just need to remember to add probiotics to my suitcase before we leave the house.

I'm not looking forward to DH, DD, New Baby and I spending 2 days in a 10x10 room but it could be worse (I spent over a week with DD in the NICU).

[Tofu the Geek]

I thought I read that just because you tested positive at the time of the test, doesn't mean you would be positive during labour? I also read that they can actually test you during labour which would be more accurate. I REALLY wish I remembered where I read all of that! Does anyone else recall reading something along these lines?

[brownay2]

I think I will get tested tommorow, and hope that I don't have it again, like I did with my last. I will op for antibiotics, but will be using a natural salve on babies bottom, so the pee, and meconuim/poop will not hurt babies skin.

I just don't want to take any chances this time around, as we had problems with me not getting enough antibiotics, as he came really quick. I am just not taking a chance over one time use of antibiotics. That's me, but I respect other people's choices for not opting to take them. At my hospital they keep you for 48 hours, and there is a reason for that, to make sure baby is watched, and is ok.

Sometimes babies do not start to have symptoms right away. My friends baby boy was one of them, and got very ill, and almost did not make it. She opted not to test, and she had it. He is alright thank god right now. I think there are chances with everything. Everyone just needs to make the choice themselves, and what's right for them.

Hope that helped a little.

[MAMom]

I am GBS+ - have been taking probiotics throughout pregnancy, but have been + since before my 1st DS was conceived, so I don't have much hope of getting rid of it.

I was going to do the garlic inserted vaginally, but the first time I tried it, it was so uncomfortable and I also decided it wasn't worth it to me to spend 6 weeks walking around reeking of garlic

I am homebirthing. My midwife & I agreed that I will have antibiotics only if I have in-labor risk factors (fever over 100.4F during labor or rupture of membranes more than 18 hours before birth). If neither of these occur, I will not have the antibiotics.

She will test me one more time this week & then if positive she has a sensitivity run on it so she can have the correct antibiotic on hand. She told me most docs/hospitals don't do this, but she has encountered women who have a strain of GBS that wouldn't be responsive to the "standard" antibiotic that is administered (which make having the antibiotic useless).

And I will continue to take my probiotics after the baby arrives.

[ChiaraRose]

Unfortunately I am going to join you
I tested positive and got the results today. My midwife who is usually pretty laid back lost a baby to GBS 20 years ago and is pretty adament about treatment. i decided to go for it. I will take penecillin(sp) for 5 days now and then 10 days nothing and then the cycle all over again until labor and then amoxillin every 6 hours during labor. I am pretty upset, absolutely no fan of antibiotics, but I don't want to tale the risk. I have probiotics to take orally and vaginally, too.
Hoping for the best. I am not so concerned for yeast infections for me, but I don't want to put this on the babe.
Good luck to all of you,
Liane

[My Three Boys]

I'm positive too. But, at the beginning of my pregnancy, it showed up in my urine which means I'm highly colonized. So, I started a regiment of garlic (orally), vitamin C, burdock root tea, and echnicea at about 34 weeks. I was tested again last week (37 weeks) and was only moderately colonized. So, it's getting better. So, I'm now on Propolis and we'll test my urine again tomorrow (38 weeks). If it's positive still, I'll start on antibiotics and probably stay on them until labor.

When I asked my back up midwives about strep B, they told me that the only case they've had of a baby getting sick was to a mom who tested negative!!

[greenmansions]

I just got my results back today and I am negative, luckily.

My sister was GBS positive when she had my niece 10 years ago. They were living in Germany at the time, where they don't give antibiotics for GBS like they do here. My niece got very sick and spent 9 days in the NICU there and almost died. (She recovered just fine and has been a very healthy kid.) So if I had tested positive, I'd be taking the antibiotics. Not worth the risk, IMO.

[Boobiemama]

I was tested today, so will find out next week.

[*violet*]

I know I'm a little slow...but I just my results and I'm positive for GBS too. I dug though some of the old posts to find this thread.

So, how many of you turned out positive and what are you going to do? I don't know anything about this and am trying to find out all that I can.

[Sleepymama]

Yep me too, with DS and this one (I had a GBS UTI in 1st trimester with ds--so history of "highly colonized"). Last time I got two bags of a/bs during labor, which really doesn't bother me very much as I don't get yeast infections. But DS (who got even more a/bs in the NICU) had a nasty rash, so this time I am trying a tea tree oil rinse 2x daily, probiotics, echinacea/astragalus tincture, and vitamin C. I am having a homebirth and my MW will have a shot of a/bs on hand in case I have risk factors like PROM or I have a fever or it's just taking a really long time, as I don't really want to take any chances even though I know the risk of transmission is low. I'm also declining vaginal exams pre/during labor so hopefully that will help. If I end up going to the hospital I will get the IV a/bs as I think the risk of transmission is higher in the hospital, plus I just don't want to take the risk either.

BTW, note to self: remember to warm up that distilled water w/tea tree oil. Yeoch!!!! I think I put too much TTO in the first couple of times. Oooh the tingles...

[boycrazy]

I am using a strep homeopathic, drinking Kefir/eating yogurt. Probably won't have enough time to do abx at hospital as last time I was there less than 2 hours before baby came. Will reconsider if I have the risk factors...

Sleepy: how much tto are you doushing with?? I would be interested in doing that also. I assume that is what you mean by rinse. Had one vag exam a few weeks ago and mw said I was dilated to 3-4. She said there was no need for more unless I want her to. She said I will believe you when you say you are in labor

I can hardly wait...

[Sleepymama]

on the TTO--hard to say, as I'm not very exact about it! I fill my peri bottle up with warm water and add about 10? drops of straight TTO. I also have a diluted solution of TTO that I sometimes use a full dropper of. Sometimes it tingles more than others! And yes, I'm not actually douching as I'm not squirting it up that far but I do squirt just inside and all around my vulva. My MW said you can also use vinegar, betadine, hibiclens, even hydrogen peroxide or echinacea tincture.

[be11ydancer]

I was just talking about this with my midwives. I opted out of being tested for it. They told me that even when they deliver a gbs+ mama at home, there's really no special protocol for it. The only thing that worries them is if mama develops a fever during labor or the water has been broken for more than 24 hours. They will monitor the new baby a bit more closely but in all their years of delivering (maybe 15 years or so), they have never seen a baby end up sick from mama's gbs infection. They also told me that something like 25% of the population is actually gbs+. I found it all very interesting...

[Sleepymama]

Yes, in 20+ years my MW has also never had a baby sick from GBS (one was suspected but never conclusively diagnosed--baby died of septic shock with no risk factors). We talked about it a lot and with my history of difficult labor and baby with congenital defects, I just decided to go with the a/bs. It just makes me more comfortable.