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have got group b strep! and home births **UDPATE**
hi everyone!
was at consultant today for follow up appointment after a bleed a couple of weeks ago (bleed was put down to sex and nothing serious)... at the last appt they had taken some swabs, and today said i had group b strep. they said nothing to worry about and ill just need antibiotics during labour.
anyway i wanted a homebirth and they said that because of my bleed (which was just one episode and not very much), ive to go back at 36 weeks and they will decide if i can still go ahead with home birth.
to me that seems very last minute! considering they would let me do it if i went ito labour at 37 wks. i am the kind of person who needs to know whats going on months in advance! (i know thats not realistic tho).
anyway i have a routine midwife appt on friday , where i was suppose to tell her if i definitely wanted a home birth, so she could draw up a rota etc. so hopefully she will be ale to advise me more on it. the doctor at the hospital said midwifes know more about everything!..she did say i was still low risk and they are just being careful.
just hope it is still possible x
anyone else been thru this not knowing if your able to have a home birth?
*********HI EVERYONE**************************************************************************************************
I PHONED MY MIDWIFE YESTERDAY AND TOLD HER WHAT HAD HAPPENED AT HOSPITAL, & THAT THE DOC HADNT TOLD ME VERY MUCH. SHE WAS SO SUPPORTIVE AND ACTUALLY SAID "OH I KNOW WHO SHE IS, ILL BE HAVING A WORD WITH HER". THE MIDWIFE EXPLAINED MORE ABOUT GBS, AND SAID THAT THERE HAVE BEEN WOMAN WHO HAVE HAD A HOMEBIRTH WITH GBS (ALTHO THEY WOULD CHOOSE NOT TO HAVE THE ANTI BIOTIC IT SEEMS THO). SHE SAID THE BLEEDING WOULDNT REALLY BE A CONCERN UNLESS I HAD ABOUT 5 OR 6 BLEEDS IN WHICH CASE THEY WOULD BE MORE CAREFUL ABOUT WHERE I SHOULD GIVE BIRTH, BUT IVE ONLY HAD ONE SO FAR SO SHOULD BE FINE.
SHE HAS ARRANGED FOR ME TO COME IN TWO WEEKS TIME AND MEET WITH HER AND MY PROPER CONSULTANT, AND THEY WILL SIT WITH ME AND WE WILL GO THRU MY OPTIONS AND MAKE A PLAN,
PERSONALLY IF I COULDNT HAVE THE ANTIBIOTIC AT HOME ID JUST GO TO HOSPITAL, BUT HOPEFULLY ILL STILL BE ABLE TO GIVE BIRTH AT THE MIDWIFE UNIT AT THE HOSPITAL, INSTEAD OFTHE LABOUR WARD.
BUT WHATEVER HAPPENS I NOW FEEL ALOT BETTER ABOUT THE WHOLE THING HAVING SPOKEN TO MY MIDWIFE, SHE WAS SO HELPFUL AND REALLY PUT MY MIND AT REST. BASICALLY SHE SAID SHE WOULD SUPPORT ME IF I STILL WANTED A HOMEBIRTH BUT ID WANT TO FIND OUT ALL THE FACTS FIRST. I REALLY FEEL LIKE FOR THE FIRST TIME IVE BEEN LISTENED TO. SHE ALSO SAID THAT IF THEY WERE TO GIVE ME ANTIBITOICS NOW MY TEST FOR GBS COULD BE NEGATIVE BUT IT COULD TEST POSITIVE AGAIN BY THE TIME OF THE BIRTH, SO THEY WONT RETEST AND WILL JUST TREAT ME LIKE I STILL HAVE IT AT TIME OF LABOUR.
ANYWAY JUST THOUGHT ID GIVE YOU ALL AN UPDATE, HOPE YOU ARE ALL FINE. X
[Modified by: lauragcam on 27 February 2008 01:06:31 ]
was at consultant today for follow up appointment after a bleed a couple of weeks ago (bleed was put down to sex and nothing serious)... at the last appt they had taken some swabs, and today said i had group b strep. they said nothing to worry about and ill just need antibiotics during labour.
anyway i wanted a homebirth and they said that because of my bleed (which was just one episode and not very much), ive to go back at 36 weeks and they will decide if i can still go ahead with home birth.
to me that seems very last minute! considering they would let me do it if i went ito labour at 37 wks. i am the kind of person who needs to know whats going on months in advance! (i know thats not realistic tho).
anyway i have a routine midwife appt on friday , where i was suppose to tell her if i definitely wanted a home birth, so she could draw up a rota etc. so hopefully she will be ale to advise me more on it. the doctor at the hospital said midwifes know more about everything!..she did say i was still low risk and they are just being careful.
just hope it is still possible x
anyone else been thru this not knowing if your able to have a home birth?
*********HI EVERYONE**************************************************************************************************
I PHONED MY MIDWIFE YESTERDAY AND TOLD HER WHAT HAD HAPPENED AT HOSPITAL, & THAT THE DOC HADNT TOLD ME VERY MUCH. SHE WAS SO SUPPORTIVE AND ACTUALLY SAID "OH I KNOW WHO SHE IS, ILL BE HAVING A WORD WITH HER". THE MIDWIFE EXPLAINED MORE ABOUT GBS, AND SAID THAT THERE HAVE BEEN WOMAN WHO HAVE HAD A HOMEBIRTH WITH GBS (ALTHO THEY WOULD CHOOSE NOT TO HAVE THE ANTI BIOTIC IT SEEMS THO). SHE SAID THE BLEEDING WOULDNT REALLY BE A CONCERN UNLESS I HAD ABOUT 5 OR 6 BLEEDS IN WHICH CASE THEY WOULD BE MORE CAREFUL ABOUT WHERE I SHOULD GIVE BIRTH, BUT IVE ONLY HAD ONE SO FAR SO SHOULD BE FINE.
SHE HAS ARRANGED FOR ME TO COME IN TWO WEEKS TIME AND MEET WITH HER AND MY PROPER CONSULTANT, AND THEY WILL SIT WITH ME AND WE WILL GO THRU MY OPTIONS AND MAKE A PLAN,
PERSONALLY IF I COULDNT HAVE THE ANTIBIOTIC AT HOME ID JUST GO TO HOSPITAL, BUT HOPEFULLY ILL STILL BE ABLE TO GIVE BIRTH AT THE MIDWIFE UNIT AT THE HOSPITAL, INSTEAD OFTHE LABOUR WARD.
BUT WHATEVER HAPPENS I NOW FEEL ALOT BETTER ABOUT THE WHOLE THING HAVING SPOKEN TO MY MIDWIFE, SHE WAS SO HELPFUL AND REALLY PUT MY MIND AT REST. BASICALLY SHE SAID SHE WOULD SUPPORT ME IF I STILL WANTED A HOMEBIRTH BUT ID WANT TO FIND OUT ALL THE FACTS FIRST. I REALLY FEEL LIKE FOR THE FIRST TIME IVE BEEN LISTENED TO. SHE ALSO SAID THAT IF THEY WERE TO GIVE ME ANTIBITOICS NOW MY TEST FOR GBS COULD BE NEGATIVE BUT IT COULD TEST POSITIVE AGAIN BY THE TIME OF THE BIRTH, SO THEY WONT RETEST AND WILL JUST TREAT ME LIKE I STILL HAVE IT AT TIME OF LABOUR.
ANYWAY JUST THOUGHT ID GIVE YOU ALL AN UPDATE, HOPE YOU ARE ALL FINE. X
[Modified by: lauragcam on 27 February 2008 01:06:31 ]
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Replies
It's normal to not agree to a home birth for definate until 36 weeks, its the same at my hospital.
Check out this site
http://www.homebirth.org.uk/
it has a section on group b strep and homebirth and what your options are...
I'm hoping for a homebirth but was told the other week it was not gonna happen as I had some complications but after further testing these complications seem to have gone away...they said they will review at 36 weeks if I can have a home birth...
good luck
xx
she went away to ask the registrar and came back saying i was to be told at 36 wks,
hopefully it will go away tho as you say.
the main reason for wanting a home birth was so i didnt need to be away from my 3yr old for days, so this has really changed everything esp if i need to stay in afterwards (but obviously if its best for baby then thats fine).
i hate the idea of being on a drip too. i had to have one cause i was dehydrated last time (had felt sick before labour started and hadnt eaten or drunk for hours) and it was so restricting, i like to be able to move about freely.
when you say you had to go into hosp straight away, do you mean as soon as labour started and not once contractions were closer?
I want a homebirth so I've really looked into this. You can in all circumstances have a home birth (legally) if that is what you want - no doctor can tell you you are not allowed, it is your legal right and they have to make a midwife available to you. However!!!!!!! Only some midwifes are trained to and allowed to provide you with antibiotics during labour (there are a few in my area) so if my test comes back positive I will have to make the decision that I go ahead with the home birth and take the risk that one of the midwives on call at the time is able to give me anitbiotics or make the difficult decision to go to hospital. My best mate has gbs and the anitbiotics made her lo's heartbeat plummet each time they gave her the drugs so I know she would advocate being in hospital. I would need to look into it further though to make my decision! Good luck, xxx
i am so annoyed with that consultant now. i left the hospital feeling that GBS was nothing really and that it wouldnt affect anything and now ive been searching internet about it and it is actually very serious.i had heard of it but didnt really know what it was and just assumed it wasnt serious as its not routinely tested for (in my area anyway).
i am just gonna prepare myself for hospital birth now cause i wouldnt want to push for a home birth if i am risking the baby's health. i will just need to deal with leaving my first child for so long.
in a way i feel lucky, because if i hadnt had that bleeding i wouldnt have got the swabs done and wouldnt know and baby could have been in danger.
the consultant said to me "its nothing, i see about 20 people a day who have it", but she failed to tell me about the drip etc, she just said id need antibiotics (i just thought like pills you get from GP, or thats the impression she gave me).
argh im so annoyed, we put our trust in these poepl but they dont tell you the full story. i cant wait to see my midwife i feel more confident about her information normally so im sure she'll give me a better idea of what will happen x
Can I have a home birth with Group B Strep?
Q: I've just found out I'm a carrier of Group B Strep and that I'll need antibiotics during labour. I was hoping to have a home birth - is this still possible?Obstetrician Leonie says: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a bacteria that some pregnant women carry, and which can cause potentially serious infections in their baby, which it picks up as it passes through the birth canal.
Taking antibiotics is the only treatment known to reduce the chances of a baby getting a GBS infection. Oral antibiotics are not well-absorbed during labour, which is why antibiotics via a drip are recommended. You can also have them as an injection, but it's more painful.
Being diagnosed with GBS doesn't rule out a home birth. You can have antibodies via a drip or as injections, as long as the midwife is happy to take responsibility for organising and giving them (they'll have to get them on prescription via your GP). But if you've a history of allergies to antibiotics, this could cause complications and I'd suggest a hospital birth. See your midwife to discuss your options.
For more info, advice and support about GBS, visit www.gbss.org.uk