Treatment of Strep B In Pregnancy?

Question

At 8 weeks preg & 22 Weeks preg I have been confirmed to be a carrier for Strep B.

From what I understand, the routine way to treat this (to prevent harm to the baby) is to be given antibiotics intraveniously during delivery.

Has anyone had this done? I *loathe* IV drips - I wouldn't mind an injection, but would rather not have to deal with a IV drip while giving birth. Does anyone know which they do? Can you get it done at the beginning of labour instead of the delivery itself?

I plan to talk to my midwife about it on Monday, but was just looking for other peoples opinions and experiances.

Answer 1

PLEASE make sure that you get antibiotics, and be very serious (no need to PANIC, just be serious) about this issue.

I was GBS+ and uneducated about it. My first son was born with GBS pneumonia. He was in the hospital for 10 days on oxygen and IV antibiotics. He got very sick and had chest x-rays, heart scans, etc. etc.

My doc was an idiot and "stripped the membranes" in my 38th and 39th weeks to try to induce labor. What it did was expose my baby who then got sick. Even IV antibiotics during labor didn't help by that point, and I was uneducated so I had no idea that my baby had been placed in danger.

The precautions you can take are these: tell your doc ASAP if you start spotting or lose your mucus plug when you are in your final weeks or when you go into labor. Any bleeding, water break, etc., can potentially expose your baby to that GBS. Don't let anyone do any invasive procedures to you now that you know. Tell your delivery team as soon as you get to the hospital so you can start that IV right away.

With these precautions you should be just fine! Good luck!

Answer 2

I was also positive for G.B.S. and yes, they do use an IV during your entire labor so that you are being treated as the baby is being born. Of course, in my case it was completely wasted because I ended up with a c-section. As far as I know, the IV is the only way that they do it so that the antibiotics are given to you the entire time. That would be a good question for your midwife, maybe they do have another way to administer it, good for you if so since you don't like IVs! Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy and delivery! I have only 8 weeks left until my 2nd son is born so I'm well aware of the stresses you are dealing with. Also, GBS is common among women, in case you didn't know.. I freaked out the first time because I wasn't aware... LOL

Answer 3

Honey, there;s nothing to happen but the IV antibiotics. Also, they are going to test your baby for infections, so its best that you are in a hospital. Group B Strep in there won't hurt you, but it's important to the baby. All of the babies that have been born to theses circumstances have been totally fine, so don't worry too much. The docs usually do a lot of testing, but everything's normal. The only neonate prob is the bilirubin. They just put the babies under sun lamps and draw their heel sticks often. This happened with my babes and I was Grp B Strep neg. The perils You'll be just fine, but they will want IV antibiotics while in labor. I'm sorry and good luck!!!

Answer 4

Oh dear. By all means have the IV drip antibiotics to avoid passing Strep B on to your precious baby. I understand that you don't like the IV, but your needs/wants are secondary to your baby's health. You will never, never forgive yourself if your baby is born with complications of Strep B infection. I am not going to list them here, because I don't want to frighten you, but believe me, they are nothing to be trifled with.

Be sure you are under a doctor's care. Midwives are great, but given this new information you have received, you absolutely need to have a doctor monitoring your pregnancy for the remaining weeks and attending when you are in labor and delivering.

Good luck and God bless!

Answer 5

Basically you will get an IV either way, to keep you hydrated during delivery since you can't eat or drink anything. They will add the antibiotics to the IV. As far as I know, it has to be continous through labor.

Answer 6

Well, at my doctor you don't have a choice but to get an IV and I had strep B with my first daughter and was given meds through my IV. I didn't feel any different. But they wanted to keep me and baby for 48 hours instead of 24 hours to make sure she still didn't get it. Good luck to you and congrats on your baby!!!!

Answer 7

I had that with my daughter i had a drip when i had her and the worst thing was i had her by c-section and i got told that there was more of a risk of her getting sick that way but she was fine.good luck and don't panic to much.