IV antibiotics during Labour question

[minimatron]

Hi,

I was just wondering if someone can help me answer my question...sorry if I am a bit vague!

My dd was born last year and I had a great birth. I am now pregnant with #2 and went to see the Drs at the hospital today for a medical clearance before moving to the midwife clinic. The dr asked me if I had had IV antibiotics during labour. He then went on to tell me that at some stage I had had a vaginal swab done and they had detected a bacteria...starting with G (soory cant remember what it was)....that required 2 lots of IV antibiotics during labour to prevent the baby getting meningitis. By the looks of it the results didnt come back in time, thankfully dd was ok. The dr did say something about it occurs when waters have broken some time before.

Anyway, I have to have a vaginal swab at 28 weeks to check if its there.

Does anyone have any information on this bacteria?

Thanks in advance

Melissa

[feeb]

GBS is group B strep and some hopsitals swab for it at varying times in preg generally aroudn 34 - 36 weeks preg.

It is a bacteria that can come and go from your vagina. It is nothing infectious or any nasty disease. Normal vaginal flora. But sometimes when baby is born they can get sick from it, it is rare but they give the antibiotics to be caustious.

Generally if your waters break and you are positive and you are not contracting they willl want to give you a syntocinin drip top get you labouring as well as give you IV antibiotics to protect baby.
If your waters break and it is negative they will let you get into labour on your own accord if you are not allreday labouring when they break. If you get to 24 hrs after they have ruptured and still not contracting they will want to give you drip also and the antiobiotcs as now you are classified prolonged rupture of membranes.

If swab not back current research says treat as negative.

All hopsitals have there own protocols and procedures and some dont even swab and how they manage may be different.

Hope this helps

[Alan]

Hi Minimatron
I think that you mean Group B strep. This is a very common bacterium that can be often found on our bodies including the vagina. If your baby is infected with this bug (not common) and it is not detected early (again not common) then your baby can become very sick. Many places no longer bother testing for this bug, unless you are showing some symptoms, as it can come and go. For example you could be tested at 38 weeks and be positive then a week later if tested again you could be negative. The reverse is also true. If you tested negative at 38 weeks you could be positive a week or even a day later. Should your baby become infected, and again I say it is not all that common, then it is quite easy to treat if caught early.

[minimatron]

Thanks for that info,

It was just funny how it cam e up at the doctors appointment today...puts my mind at rest and now I can explain it to dh a little better

Thanks again