I was told today that my group B strep culture came back positive. And here’s what I learned about that:
- Group B strep is considered normal flora.
- Group B strep is not a concern to anyone but pregnant women, or rather, their babies.
- Group B strep comes and goes, which is why they don’t test until 36 weeks.
- There are no side effects to me, I’m not sick.
- 30% of women test positive for group B strep.
- 5% of the babies born from those 30% will be born with it.
- It can make the newborn sick. If that happens, it can happen very quickly and be dangerous for the baby.
- To prevent this, women who test positive are given IV antibiotics 4 hours before birth.
- If they do not receive the antibiotics, or receive them too late (they give birth less than 4 hours later), then the newborn’s blood will be tested. And it won’t be a heel prick. It’ll be a blood draw.
- The culture takes 48 hours to come back, but the white blood cell count comes back quickly. If it is elevated, it is indicative of group B strep and they treat the baby with antibiotics immediately. If the white blood cell count is not elevated, they do nothing. The baby probably doesn’t have it. In 48 hours, the culture will determine whether to quit, continue, or begin antibiotics.
- Prolonged labor increases the chance that the baby will get group B strep.
- If a pregnant woman’s water breaks and she does not deliver within several hours (six was the estimate I was given), the baby will be more likely to get group B strep.
- Babies born to mothers who test positive for group B strep are strongly encouraged to stay the full 48 hours. And highly discouraged from leaving after only 24 hours.
And here’s what I know about my own medical history:
- I have quick labors.
- My water breaks during the pushing stage. Minutes before the baby is born.
- I’ve had C. Diff. Any antibiotic I take is likely to cause a recurrence.
- I do not want to have C. Diff with a newborn.
So here is what my midwife and I decided:
- Barring any circumstance that would increase my risk of passing group B strep to the baby, I will not be taking antibiotics during labor.
This increases the chance that the baby will have to be on antibiotics hours after birth. Which makes me sad. But it doesn’t sound like there is any great chance that the baby will get sick, given all the precautions. Whereas me getting an antibiotic will likely make me very sick.
Here are some things I still want to look up (If you know anything, could you please let me know?):
- How can I give a newborn probiotics to counteract the harmful effects of antibiotics?
- Does breast milk contain probiotics?
- If I were to take probiotics while nursing, would it transfer to the baby through my milk?
And here are some things I’d like to give to God, would you please join me?
- That the labor would be quick.
- That the water wouldn’t break until the end.
- That the white blood cell count is normal.
- That the culture comes back negative.
- That we can find childcare for our other three during the hospital stay that will now be twice as long as originally planned.
I know that was an awfully dry post. I just wanted to get it out there. I promise I’m still spunky when not discussing group B strep. 🙂
Studies show that a vagin wash with hibiclens shortly before delivery is as effective at preventing transmission. Prayers coming your way!
*vaginal. Silly phone
I feel your pain.
I have tested + for GBS twice. Once with baby #1. Was in hospital. Had 2 doses of antibiotics in hospital. Delivered vaginally, no meds within 8 hrs. No ill effects to baby. Left hospital early.
Baby #2 GBS – (homebirth)
Baby #3 GBS + again (another homebirth)
I also have quick labors and my water tends to trickle if it breaks early. It trickled with baby #3 just enough so I knew I was in labor and then not again until pushing. I was in labor from about 12pm until 5:30am (active only for about 5 hrs). I did the hibiclens wash a few times during labor. No ill effects to baby.
Praying for a quick, speedy delivery and a healthy baby.
Good luck. Wishing you the best with #4.
Stephanie
I’m totally feeling you on this one! We need to get together and talk about all the cool stuff on your blog. I could learn a lot from these posts. I also have the same dilemma with this one. Not happy about the antibiotics but it doesn’t seem like they give you much of a choice. I feel like I want a home birth after this.
I’m concerned about this too because I tested positive with my last baby. Having an iv was worse than labor pains to me and I really want to avoid it if possible. In my research I’ve found that some people say in the US we’re more likely to transmit than in other countries because someone is always sticking their hands in to check how far we’re dilated all the time. The less stuff is pushed up there the less risk to the baby. That makes sense to me.
That is what my midwife offers (for homebirths). But definitely will be praying for you!
Praying momma!! Love and hugs are being delivered your way!!
Praying. [Hugs]
This is what my midwife told me…..yes you can give a newborn probiotics. There are infant formulations available. Just put some of the probiotic powder on your nipple right before baby latches on. Or let baby suck a bit off your finger. As far as probiotics through breastmilk….maybe, it can’t hurt.
I did NOT get GBS testing during pregnancy. My midwife felt that GBS in an infant is so obvious that we would see it and seek treatment at that point.
I’m sure you know this but… you can refuse anything. You or the baby don’t have to have antibiotics. Pregnancy and birth is such a vulnerable time, don’t let anyone talk you into something that makes you uncomfortable.
Have a beautiful birth and babymoon.
Hibiclens is not supposed to be used on mucus membranes or internally. Do a bit more digging before you commit to Hibiclens.
Yes, there are probiotics for infants, and I highly recommend them. I think it made a big difference in #4’s fussiness. I used ‘Florababy’ but I don’t think the brand matters and I’m sure if you go to any health food type store you can find an infant & toddler formula. It is a powder, and I was encouraged to pump and put it in a bottle. I found this to be ineffective because – #1 – in the newborn time period I don’t want to have to pump / do the bottle thing and #2 – it didn’t dissolve very well. After months of doing this sporadically, I learned a more effective way. Wet your finger (like with water), dip it into the powder, and then let the baby suck it off. It is mildly sweet and she took it very easily this way. Makes it doable to do it several times a day.
My cousin (nurse) said that a study suggested that taking your probiotic 30 min before your first feeding in the morning has the highest chance of passing it onto the baby in the breastmilk.
Very good post. There’s a lot of good information here, though I did want to explain something – I am using XP with the circulating beta of Safari, and the look and feel of your blog is kind of flaky for me. I’m able to understand the content, however the navigation doesn’t function so good.
My baby was in the NICU after an emergency C-section. He was on lots of antibiotics. Besides his initial entrance to the world and the 12 hours preceding, he was, and always has been, fine, breastfed normally, growing like a weed, etc.
Regarding C-Diff, my experience with it from having an auto-immune disease (post-baby diagnosis) is that EVERYONE has C. Diff. It just depends how much of it you have relative to the good bacteria. When your immune system is low (like during pregnancy, or on steroids, or on stomach medicine that changes the pH so that incoming C. Diff doesn’t get killed, or your good bacteria is totally wiped out by an antibiotic), C. Diff can get intense.
It may be that even if you take the antibiotics, your immune system may be going so strong post-pregnancy that you’ll be fine. AND I might add that when you’re not pregnant you can take a $5 drug called Flagyl that blows C. Diff away (it causes birth defects when pregnant, but the results are evident within 1-2 days). I do take more probiotics than normal every time I have to take an antibiotic for the reason that I don’t want to the C. Diff bacterium to go crazy on me, but other than when I was on the steroids/stomach medicine combo, I have never had a recurrence of C. Diff. So I wouldn’t worry about it too much — just if you decide to go anitbiotic for you, take along your favorite probiotic to the hospital.
Just some more info to add to the pile.
Well you got your quick birth! 🙂 Congratulations!
So glad I came across this post. I tested positive for C. Diff last year, a few days before I found out I was pregnant. I had to take Vancomycin as I’m allergic to Flagyl. I lost the pregnancy, but am now pregnant again and in the home stretch at 38 weeks! I just tested pos for Group B Strep and am concerned. As much as I don’t want to get 2 rounds of Penicillin during labor, I don’t know what my birth will be like and I’m afraid to roll the dice with the babe. I just spoke with my gastroenterologist and he said that Florastor asap is a must and that Penicillin is not one of the antibiotics that wipes out bacteria in the gut.. so I should be ok. Still, the memories of C. Diff have me nervous.. also I don’t want to compromise the immune system of my child with an antibiotic in utero.. but.. ugh.. this is hard decision to make.
I hadn’t thought about probiotics for the babe but now will do some research and check back on these comments. Good luck and please keep us posted!
I learnt a lot about B-streps from this post. The other observations were interesting as well.
I liked this post very much.
-Jeniffer
you can buy wonderful professional line probiiotics through pureformulas.com–a superb brand is called klaire and they have an infant probiotic that contains lactobacillus and bifidobacterium. most others ONLY contain one or the other. you want both for baby. and these also contain infantis bifidobacterium which is specific to infants guts and is needed. if you choose to NOT go with this line then id suggest “natures way primodopholis” as my second choice. http://www.amazon.com/Natures-Way-Primadophilus-Probiotic-Capsules/dp/B0019CRU0Q —it contains both bifido and lacto and infantis bifido…you can find at the health food stores. also suggest testing your probiotics to ensure they are alive (bc it is live bacteria that is easily killed with any heat) and it always makes me sad when i hear people dispell probiotics as worthless when the truth is that they PROB have a dead batch. here is a link to do it, its VERY easy!! http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/03/is-my-probiotic-supplement-active-at.html
ive heard that you transmit the probiotics via your skin (bc the bacteria accumulates on your skin as well as in your gut)
ive also heard that yes your milk contains natural probiotics that are indigenous to your milk.
and here are links for natural remedies for GSB
http://www.myhomeremedies.com/topic.cgi?topicid=169
and…..http://ebaby-center.com/baby/birth-2713.html
I know that this is an older post, but I thought I would try… I am 35 wks, and trying to decide if I should get the test. I am not interested in antibiotics during labor, if I did test positive I would go with the Hibiclens. I have tested negative for 3 previous births (all hospital births), this would be my first homebirth. I have had short labors, usually having AROM during labor to “speed things up” even though things were going fine on their own. I took a round of antibiotics due to Strep A about two weeks ago and have been taking probiotics as well. My thought is that I should be fine not getting tested, but the whole ‘what if’ scenerio keeps playing through my mind. Any thoughts???
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This is dangerous advice, your baby could die from GBS or develop brain damage. Ya, the baby would show illness after birth, duh….that illness should be prevented! How would you feel if this happened to your child? Doctors want treatment because they are doctors! They want your kid to be healthy. The negative effects of antibiotics are FAR milder than the consequence. This post could lead to a person being handicapped for life when a simple IV could have prevented that.
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