#strep b

[mummab-a-blog]

Group B Strep: What I know🤔

I thought regarding my previous post I would share some knowledge of Strep B. I am no expert and I really don’t know much. But for those of you who have never heard of it or don’t know much about it, this might help.

(All facts are UK based)

•Strep B is a common bacteria found around the vagina and bottom area. It is a perfectly unharmful bacteria that naturally forms. It is usually passed from your bottom to your vagina, however this isn’t always the case.

•It is NO HARM to YOU or YOUR BABY while you’re pregnant.

• The ONLY HARM for YOUR BABY is when you are IN LABOUR. This is because when you vaginally deliver, your baby can catch Strep B. This can make your baby very unwell (I don’t know exactly what it does to your baby).

• They prescribe antibiotics through an IV drip while you are in labour. These are given every 4 hours.

•You and your baby are monitored throughout the process. Your baby will then be monitored once born. This is incase your baby shows any symptoms. They particularly look for problems with feeding.

•It should not cause ANY discomfort.

• It is NOT routinely screened for. If you have thrush, you are likely to be tested for it for free. However, if you want the test done by the NHS it can cost up to £45.

•Your midwife should add this information to your notes. My notes have a bright yellow sticker on the front alerting anyone who sees my notes that I have Strep B.

- Hope this helps some of you out there. I know I felt very clueless and the internet didn’t actually help me with finding information!

MummaB-A xx

[littlemissgloomanddoom]

Just Out of Curiousity

How many of my followers-or those who aren't my followers, for that matter-have siblings/half-siblings who were stillborn or died in infancy?

My half-sister Rebecca died of Strep B when she was five days old, and I don't think I've ever known another person of my generation to have had a sibling die so young, with rates of infant death being so low in the first world.

[littlemissgloomanddoom]

It Is So Fucked Up

That they don't require Group B Strep testing in the UK. Apparently only 1% of hospitals/clinics/birthing centers perform them.

[brettc]

OB appointment bright and early..

I am getting tested for Strep B and also getting an ultrasound to check my fluid. Hope everything goes well so Beau can cook a little longer. I want him to come out as healthy as he can and as close to my due date as possible contrary to what others may think. I'm really not ready for him to be out yet.

[babymurphy813]

Doctors appointment things

So I went for my 37 week appointment and I am strep b positive, which means I need to be at the hospital sooner, and when my water breaks:(. I hope my water doesn't break for a long time, because after it break I will need to be in bed. But, next week on my birthday we have another appointment and they are doing an ultrasound!!! I get to see my boy on my birthday, BEST PRESENT OF ALL TIME, BRO.

[littlemissgloomanddoom]

My Father Is

A drunk driver. He’s dead to me, but he still does it all the time. In late 1987 he hit a fifteen-year-old kid who was riding a non-street-legal dirt-bike on the shoulder of the road. The boy was-from what I know-was permanently affected by his injuries. 

Because the boy didn’t have a driver's licence and the bike wasn’t street-legal, as well as the fact that my father was grieving the loss of his infant daughter who had died of Strep B in July of that year, my father got community service and court-ordered AA.

It did nothing. My father could never admit that he wasn’t in control of his disease. He was sober from 1993-1997, but when his father died he started drinking again.

My feelings about all of this are a whole ‘nother post entirely.