GBS Positive- What Was Your Experience?

T., i know you hate to hear this... but i agree with dawn. if your baby contracts group beta strep and gets septic, you're looking at iv antibiotics for him, a septic work up which includes a lumbar puncture to get cerebrospinal fluid to test, lots of blood work, and a long hospital stay in the icu. you're possibly also looking at death. even the healthiest people with the most normal pregnancies can carry a baby to term and have a poor outcome. and although the baby won't necessarily become infected-- that's a pretty big "if" to play with. because the infection is very transient, it can be present and then gone multiple times throughout pregnancy, which is why even though it might go away again before labor, it can also come back. if you are considered positive even early in pregnancy, you should still be treated at time of delivery, preferably with iv antibiotics which can act rapidly on the infection. which is also why the lady a few posts down had an issue-- she was negative at the usual test point in her pregnancy, but it showed up after that, unfortunately for her and her son. please don't get me wrong, i think minimal-intervention births are great for the proper candidate, but your group beta strep status takes you out of that, in my opinion. good luck and keep us posted!

I home birthed and was positive. I had my midwife put me on antibiotics, and I stayed on them for 3 weeks, until the baby was born. That really is your only option, unless you want an IV. The key is that the antibiotics need to be active in your system during birth.

My midwife wanted to retest me to, thus getting a negative result. We told her we could care less about the test result, we wanted to make sure baby was OK at birth.

You can home birth, no problem. But the only way to get rid of it is to go on antibiotics and stay on them.

I think I've asked you this before, who are your birthing with?

For the first birth (home birth), I was on IV antibiotics; they kept the hep-lock (think that's what it's called) in my arm all day, but only hooked the antibiotics up every 8 or so hours. The second was home birth, and I just took an oral antibiotic while in labor. You have to take them every so many hours during the labor. There is absolutely NO reason to skip on the home birth because of this!!

Unfortunately, one of the side effects of being on the antibiotics during the birth is that the baby is not exposed to the natural flora of the vagina; both of my kids have serious food allergies, and this is the likely reason. BUT, it's better than exposing them to the GBS and having them get sick.

It comes and goes all the time. You can test positive at 36 weeks and test negative at birth...and the other way around. Does your midwife have a quick test? Some do and you can be tested right at birth, then if you have it, you get the antibiotics in your system at that point.
I'm not sure what choices there are other than antibiotics. BUT, if you take probiotics at the same time, you have less chance of the yeast infections. If you're taking the antis with each meal, then take pros between meals with a snack. You don't them both in your stomach at the same time. Get the refrigerated type, not the kind on the shelf. Ask someone at a place like Whole Foods which they recommend.
Most midwives can give you antibiotics during birth. I don't know where Dawn and Julie got their bad information, but they are uneducated about this matter. Homebirth is perfectly safe with GBS+ as long as you take antibiotics:)

Good luck with your birth!! I hope it's exactly what you want and plan. I'm totally jealous:)

Being GBS positive is absolutely no reason to go the hospital. If you want IV antibiotics, your midwife can give them in labor. You don't have to be hooked up to the IV for long! Or you can try oral abx. I have also read that a vaginal lavage is an option.

I was GBS positive, but had my baby in a hospital. My water broke before the onset of labor, I went in, got an IV with abx (takes about 20 minutes) and was then released to go home and wait for contractions to start (this was my wish and NOBODY had even the slightest objection to this).

There is NO reason for remaining hooked up to the IV, as the abx are only given every 8 hours or so (my baby was born within 6 hrs, so I did not receive a 2nd dose).
I left the hospital the same day my daughter was born (closest thing to a home birth my hubby was comfortable with) and there were no concerns with regards to the GBS at all. Good luck!

As with many of the interventions done with mother and baby during pregnancy and birth, this one is controversial as well. The best information I have found on GBS is this article from Mothering Magazine:

http://www.mothering.com/treating-group-b-strep-are-antib...

Best wishes for a wonderful birth!

Kristi Moke
InspiredChildbirth.net

I didn't test positive, but I know from working at a hospital (pharmacist) that women who test positive are given antibiotics during labor. See this CDC reference below:

http://www.cdc.gov/GroupBstrep/general/gen_public_faq.htm

If you take the abx now and then retest, you may be negative, but that does not mean that you won't have the bacteria again before you deliver. It is not that easy to get rid of it if you are colonized (which you are if you tested postive). Although I respect you decision to want to have a home birth, I think your midwife is misguiding you. She should be honest with you and tell you that you need to have the antibiotics during labor. You don't want to risk the health of your child. If you do an internet search, you will find many, many hits on the recommendations for GBS, and with few exceptions, they recommend IV abx. Good luck.

Just a follow up note after reading the other posts: the antibiotic of choice is penicillin, and it is usually given every 4 hours. It does not take 4 hours to be effective, it just doesn't need to be dosed again if you give birth within the first 4 hours. The 8 hour antibiotics are typically only used if the patient is allergic to penicillin.

Congrats on your pregnancy and upcoming home birth!!

I have heard of people having great results with a really good probiotic rather than antibiotics.

You want one that guarantees delivery into your lower intestine (most will get eaten by stomach acid before they have a chance to work).

If you'd like more info on what to look for when choosing a probiotic, let me know. :-)

B.

I was GBS positive and did the antibiotic course too. My OB also gave them throught the IV once I was in labor and delivery to ensure it wouldn't be passed on as she said I could get GBS again.. I have had 3 healthy boys.

I was GBS positive with my first two pregnancies. The second one I was told by the doctor that my test was negative when in fact it was positive. They gave me IV antibiotics during the early stages of labor but my boy still was sick and spent 7 days in the NICU. I tested negative for the 3rd one and he was fine.

I was given a shot during delivery.