Group B Strep, did anyone refuse antibiotics during delivery?

[G's mama]

I am 35 weeks prego & tested positive for GBS. I am planning a VBAC and my Dr wants me to have the antibiotics via IV in my hand. I didn't have this issue with my daughter born almost 4 yrs ago and who is completely healthy.
My doula doesn't agree that the antibiotics are necessary. anyone out there have any advise?

[MyBoysBlue]

I dropped my back up doc at 38 weeks because he insisted I find another doc if I refused the antibiotics. So I found another doc. I didn't see her until after DS was born at home. Planned UC.

Here are some resources I found helpful.

Mothering Article

Holistic Approach

[alegna]

I refuse GBS testing specifically because I would not get the antibiotics if positive.

-Angela

[UrbanCrunchyMama]

I was disappointed to find that I was GBS positive and resigned myself to getting the antibiotics. BUT my labor with dd went much faster than anyone expected, and I was ready to push at home. By the time we got to the hospital, it was too late to drug me. And dd was just fine.

[desertpenguin]

i wouldn't use antibiotics in labor if testing positive for GBS either. getting those antibiotics in labor, you're not going to be giving your baby the good bacteria present in your birth canal because antibiotics kill everything indiscriminately. the good bacteria are really important for the baby to get. i would try a holistic approach instead, like garlic and tons of probiotics. homemade kefir, sauerkraut, and kimchi would be excellent sources of cheap and plentiful probiotics.

[Ironica]

I was going to refuse, if I tested positive... but then, surprise of surprises, I tested negative this time. So I don't have to refuse.

I've made many very long posts about my analysis of the stats (taken straight from the CDC data that the antibiotic protocol is based on) and why I was going to refuse them, so you may want to just try searching under my username for all that. ;-)

[rmzbm]

I wouldn't take them, but I didn't take the test either.

[RosemaryS-F]

I didn't know you could refuse them. It was really annoying to have to put my arm out of the tub for my injection as I was beginning pushing. On top of that, I'm possibly allergic to pennicillin so they gave me ampycillyn which they told me was basically useless in fighting the infection if it were to occur anyway. So why do they even bother?:

[thefragile7393]

Well I SHOULD have...it was so dumb because they wanted me on an IV for 4 hours before delivery (now how THAT was going to be determined on when I would exactly deliver was never explained). I came in at 9 cm already and I consented to them trying to give me an IV....it was worthless..at that point I should have just said no. Ds was perfectly healthy.

It was really annoying to have to put my arm out of the tub for my injection as I was beginning pushing.

This was me exactly!

Now I have to go back to the same place......I'm not sure I want to consent to GBS testing and if I do, if I want treatments. They are backed by docs and have to have certain protocols because of it....I'm not sure what will happen if I refuse. Because of what happened last time, they may let it slide if I do the testing and turn up positive. I'm not close to there yet so I guess I'll do more research for the answer when the time comes.

[JamieCatheryn]

I refused but they stayed in the room threatening to take the baby away for 2 days for monitoring (which I knew we could refuse AMA) and kept asking until I said fine just leave me alone. I would have stayed firm but this nurse who massaged my back so nicely convinced me to give in.

[luckymamato2]

I should have refused testing in the first place, or just refused the antibiotics... the m/w bruised both of my arms trying to get the heplock in while I was in pretty active labor (5-7cm). She didn't get a vein and we didn't try again. She broke the water about 50 min before my dd was born, so there was no real danger for my dd.

[mamatosaskia]

I might be a rare case here, but I refused and unfortunately my dd did contract meningitis. She had a two week stay in the NICU but is totally fine today. I think it really depends on what your numbers are when you are tested and whether or not you are willing to do the homeopathic remedies to help your body get rid of the GBS.

With me, I was tested the day I went into labor and had previously (within the four weeks prior to that) tested negative. I assumed that I was still negative and I didn't see the need for the abx. When the results came in the next day (after I had already birthed dd and she was already sick) my midwife said the numbers were the highest she had seen in a long time. FWIW, my bags of water didn't rupture until I was dilated to 10 and ready to push, so it wasn't an issue of time.

So, I didn't have the chance to educate myself on alternative GBS treatments before going into labor.

Hope this all makes sense. Feel free to pm me if you have any other questions...not meaning to freak anyone out!!

With this baby I am going to do a lot of self-care but I am also consenting to the abx. I just don't ever want to go down the NICU route again! In the end my dd got waaaayyy more abx than she would have been exposed to during labor.

Jacqueline

[~patty]

I just found out yesterday that I am GBS positive. As much as I don't want to have that damn IV or heplock in my arm, I am going to consent to the antibiotics. However, I do want to make sure that I regain the flora in my gut and the baby's gut as quickly as possible, because I don't want to risk us getting thrush.

[kltroy]

If you are GBS positive then there is a 1 in 100 chance that your baby will end up with a serious infection (meningitis or similar) - and this can be very bad and put your babe in the NICU. A good friend of mine is an OB/Gyn and she's seen some really sick babies because of it.

If you receive antibiotics (they say an IV dose every 4 hours) then that risk drops to about 1 in 10,000. From a medical care standpoint, it is much better to give every GBS positive woman antibiotics because of this, despite the fact that most of them wouldn't have complications anyway. If you're on the fence, you can always ask exactly what the protocol is, whether you need an IV in place, could just get a shot, could have a heplock, etc etc. Figure out whether the hassle of getting the antibiotics outweighs the possible benefits of it. It's easy to be reactionary about this sort of thing, but you want to make the best informed decision you can.

[alegna]

Originally Posted by kltroy

If you are GBS positive then there is a 1 in 100 chance that your baby will end up with a serious infection (meningitis or similar) - and this can be very bad and put your babe in the NICU. A good friend of mine is an OB/Gyn and she's seen some really sick babies because of it.

Do you have a link? Those are nowhere near the numbers I've seen, especially for full term babies.

-Angela

[christinespurlock]

Originally Posted by alegna

Do you have a link? Those are nowhere near the numbers I've seen, especially for full term babies.

-Angela

it's actually 1 in 200. Go to the resource guide in this forum. There is a great article on it. It also goes over the negatives of using the antibiotics.

[alegna]

Originally Posted by christinespurlock

it's actually 1 in 200. Go to the resource guide in this forum. There is a great article on it. It also goes over the negatives of using the antibiotics.

Yeah, 1 in 200 is more what I've heard. BUT that stat includes preemies. Which totally skews the numbers for term babies.

-Angela

[sarah_bella1050]

I would take mass doses of probiotic, echinechea, garlic, and citamin C for 2-3 weeks and retake the test. I would also use hebicleanse right before the test. You will probably end up testing negative, if you don't then I would take the antibiotics b/c that would REALLY be some aggressive bacteria to withstand all of that

If you test negative and are still worried you can use the hebicleanse during labor every 7 hours (it's a vaginal wash that can kill the Group B strep bacteria). Which is what would do if I was worried I may actually have it, since it can be some really dangerous stuff IF by the off change your baby swallows it during labor.

This is not medical advise, just some silly hb mommas opinion

[suprgrl]

I was GBS+ with DS1 and had the ABX during labor, but the IV was not left in my heplock after I recieved the dose. So I was free to move around during labor.

With DS2 I decided to not even get tested and just take some prophylactic measures. I did the garlic thing, and had planned on the hibiclens, but baby decided to come too quickly for that! We had no problems with his birth. I believe in the garlic tx.

[kltroy]

Originally Posted by alegna

Do you have a link? Those are nowhere near the numbers I've seen, especially for full term babies.

-Angela

Those are the numbers I just read in "The Birth Partner" by Penny Simkin (great book, btw). She didn't specify whether they included all babies or just term babies, so yes, it's entirely possible it's skewed. She probably cites a reference but I don't have it off the top of my head.

The American Pregnancy Association cites a number of 1 in every 100-200 babies born to GBS positive moms without antibiotics, and 1 in every 4000 with antibiotics, that will have complications.

All of the CDC literature indicates that if you test GBS negative within 5 weeks of your delivery you don't need antibiotics, so if the original poster can re-test after doing the pro-biotics etc. trick and get a negative result, she's home free.

Either way, my main point was that it is up to each of us as individuals to inform ourselves and decide what odds we're comfortable with.