All about Group B - Add your thoughts too.

[~Megan~]

I thought it might be nice to start a few different discussions about some decisions that we will all need to be making soon.

I found this article here at mothering. group B testing

What are you thoughts on this test and how would you treat if you chose to do it and it was positive?

[AKA_PI]

Ha! I just commented on this. I think for the most part, I may go ahead and do the antibiotics but I definitely want to speak to my MW about natural prevention methods before we absolutely make that call. I don't want to put my baby at risk but the percentage of infants that actually end up with GBS issues is pretty low. My mom also just told me that the antibiotics does have an affect on nursing so I may want to see what other options there are.

[Pyrodjm]

I was negative, but had I tested positive my midwife said we would use an antibiotic cream as opposed to an IV to treat it.

[Shiloh]

haven't researched it too much watched a show where the full term healthy infant died from strep b...so...I always thought it was not a bad prophalactic thing if you were positive....?

[deliarose]

I have done lots of research on this and since I am positive for the test this pregnancy, I am going to get the antibiotics. I want to be discharged early and my midwife told me that they will not discharge the baby early if I refuse the antibiotics. My only concern is how to be certain that I am at the hospital with 4hours prior to the birth to get both doses. How can anyone predict that? I have started my probiotics and bought some today that I can give the baby. Hopefully this will prevent any issues with trush. Florastor kids is what I am using for the baby. I realize that there are supposedly natural things that you can do to change the outcome of your test, but my midwife told me in all the years that she has been a midwife that she has never had a positive test change to negative, even with all the garlic, yogurt, & other natural remedies.

[Shiloh]

4hours prior to the birth to get both doses

I had my last baby in under an hour 4 weeks early what would they want to do to me then?

[Love_My_Babies]

I had GBS with my second. I went to the hospital after my water broke, and then labor stopped for the next 12 hours. They continued to give me iv antibiodics every 4 hours until I delivered (24 hours later). I got really sick from that much. Had I to do over again, I would have declined the iv until active labor started again.

[jennykilbo]

All I know so far is that I did consent to have the test done so that in the event we were in the hospital they would not automatically treat me as though I was positive and have to keep the baby there for 48 extra hours. Haven't gotten the results back though so I have not thought about or asked MW what my course of action would be if I were positive!

[deliarose]

Originally Posted by Shiloh

I had my last baby in under an hour 4 weeks early what would they want to do to me then?

Obviously the set up isn't perfect, but even if I only get 1 dose of the antibiotic, it significantly decreases the chance of the baby getting the strep b. Without it, 1 in 200 strep b + mom's babies will get it. With one dose that decreases a huge amt. Can't recall the exact numbers (good old pregnancy brain!), but my midwife mentioned it 2 me a few weeks ago.

[zoebird]

i didn't get the test because i'm UPing. according to the information i've read, it's rare to pass it along even if one is positive, and that there are many natural ways to eliminate the disease from the body.

i've just started my "prep for birth" regimen which includes preventative measures for this, even though i do not know if i have it or not. i figure it can't hurt. i'm doing the yogurt process (eating yogurt and using yogurt in the vagina). my other regimens include drinking RRL tea and also starting EPO and perineal massage.

and that's me! getting ready for birth. totally fun!

[Surfer Rosa]

I'm ticked that I've been doing probiotics, garlic, etc since 30 weeks or so, and I still tested positive. Boo.

I feel a little conflicted about the options I have: my first instinct is to forego the antibiotics, unless one (or more!) of the following happens: labour before 37 weeks (too late now), temperature during delivery, membranes ruptured for more than 20 hours. I'm not a fan of antibiotics (and am a little sketched out by thrush, yeast, etc., but not as sketched out as the thought of my baby getting quite sick). It also seems that there is some conflict over the onset of GBS. My MW said the only time a baby has gotten ill with it was with a mom that tested negative....which makes me kind of pause and think.
It seems like since I had my DD 3 years ago, the standard protocol has changed. My MW said (last time around) that it wasn't worth doing partially-and I had a very quick labour (under 4 hours once I got to the hospital). Standard procedure then was to use antibiotics if you had one of the risk factors. I remember monitoring DD's temperature for a couple of weeks, and that was it. Now it seems that MWs, OBs, etc are encouraging antibiotics as a standard course of action. My MW said that a study had come out saying that even with 1 dose of antiobiotics, at 1 hour, there was enough of a decrease in the colony to warrant the use of antibiotics.
I was tested merely bc I want to know for sure what my status is-and if one of the risk factors presents itself on d-day, I can make a more informed choice.

[naturegirl]

I am getting tested tomorrow just to know my "status". I believe 1-2/100 positive moms will have babies who get GBS but that the majority of those babies do well with treatment and do not have serious complications. So the risks of a positive GBS mom of passing it onto the newborn is .5 to 1% and serious complications is even less than that. Seems pretty low to me. And then when you take into account that sometimes negative GBS moms still have newborns that have the infection. ??? Maybe having the baby in a hospital ups your chances of infection.??? Just a thought.

If I have over 24 hours of labor after water breaks we will try to get things going as much as possible, as quickly as possible and then closely watch baby for any signs of infection. My water didn't even break until artificially ruptured during pushing with ds so it may completely be a non-issue. I was negative with him but we will see what happens tomorrow. I am not too worried either way though.

[Sasha_girl]

I turned down the test. Since homebirth midwives are illegal in my state my midwife can't give antibiotics if I ended up with a GBS+ test.

[jule924]

I was neg. with #1 and pos. with #2 and got the antibiotics. I want to avoid the antibiotics this time. I've started taking garlic tablets, pro-biotic tablets as well as eating yogurt almost every day. I also am starting tonight to insert a clove of garlic vaginally and nightly for 8 nights. My GBS test is next Thurs. I'll let you know how it goes!

[megsy]

I think I recently read something about adding some tea tree oil to your bathwater for a few days before testing. Anyone concur?

[hookahgirl]

I found a cool study on Hibiclense and GBS. Google it, I dont know if we can link here.

Anyhow, I was most nervous about this test over any other...Im so thankful I was negative.

[AmyLaz]

I will get the test and will get the antibiotics if I am positive.

[MissE]

I was positive with DS and was on abx from the induction on. I just learned today that I'm negative in this pregnancy...

[AKA_PI]

Turns out I'm positive and that they will be administering antibiotics in my IV when I go into active labor. No other way around it. I'm fine with this though.

[desertpenguin]

getting tested tomorrow to know my 'status', so if i do test + i know to be more vigilant after the birth to detect any signs of infection, but will not be planning on using antibiotics in labor unless i have prolonged rupture of membranes. i think my labor last time would've been 6 hrs or less had i not gone to the hospital (once i got there my contractions almost stopped after being consistent for 2 hrs.) and i had AROM at 7 cm...2nd labors are usually quicker, i will be birthing at home this time w/o vaginal exams, which lessens the risk of transmission anyways. i have thought about giving birth in water if i do test + as i heard that can also lessen the risk of transmission...but we will see what happens.