Discovery Home & Health

I'm currently 26 weeks pregnant with my second baby and
was advised yesterday by my GP that I have the
condition Group B Strep.
I had some stomach pains a couple of weeks ago
(unrelated to GBS) and had a swab taken when I went to
hospital which is how this has been discovered.
I have been put on Penicilin and told that I will also
need to have antibiotics at the onset of labour to
avoid the baby contracting GBS during birth.
My main concern is that GBS is not routinely screened
for and as a result I could have gone into labour none
the wiser!!!
I feel that something should be done to inform all
pregnant women of the possible dangers of GBS to unborn
babies; Dr's and midwives made more aware; and
screening done as routine along with all the other
tests we have to go through during pregnancy.
Now that I have researched GBS on the support group
website I am more at ease as I have the facts!! I am
just extremely disappointed that I have heard limited
information about this condition before now. If anyone
else has had any experiences of GBS, I would be happy
to hear from you.

I definetly agree with u . I have never had GBS (don't know if i have it this time around) but i think it should be offered routiely offered to pregnant ladies because undetected could have serious consequences. I don't know how expensive or time consuming it is to check for but u can't put a price on a human life can u ?
I'm definetly with u on this one.

I am so glad i am not the only one that feels this way!!
I had only heard of GBS through american hospital programmes gon the telly and didn't really think much of it, i really wish i had done because i have it.

I wasn't tested at all for anything during my pregnancy because nothing seemed to be wrong with me. So i had what i thought was a normal pregnancy, delivered my beautiful baby boy, went home from hospital after 24hours and just got on with looking after my son.

I was contacted by the hospital about 3days after birth and was asked if i knew i had GBS, I didn't know. So they said well you have and you should have had antibiotics while in labour to reduce the risks of your baby getting the infection, then i was asked if he was ok. Well being my first child i was terrified!
I looked up GBS on the internet and read the facts, this made me worse because the first 2-3weeks is crutial for a baby who could have caught the infection.
I had my mum go out and buy a baby thermomiter so i could check him every so often, and was told by a friend/midwife to keep a very close eye on him and if anything worries me I.e sleeping too much/not enough, not eating or just generally not being themselves i should go straight to A&E.

Everything has turned out ok and my son is now nearly 5 months. I wish i could have known sooner so could have had less stress in the first few weeks and know that my baby was definatly ok, When i told my midwife what had happened, she didn't know too much about GBS and she also had to go to the net to find out some stuff about it.

Atleast now i know that i could have it again when pregnant and can be tested for it, but what a way to find out!!