It is thought that around 12 to 15 per cent of Australian pregnant women carry GBS in their vagina. About one or two per cent of babies born to these carriers will develop GBS disease. The risk of GBS infection is higher among premature babies.
Kinda puts it into perspective I guess.
Also I think that some homebirth midwives use some kind of natural douche before labour or in early labour to kill off any bacteria. YOu could look more into finding out what that's all about if it interrests you
3 children and certainly not tested for the last two - can't remember whether they did for the first but don't think so. (all different doctors, hospitals and even state health systems)
GBS is transient, it goes in about a 6 week cycle. So they test you at 36 or 37 weeks, because I guess they figure that's how they'll catch the most cases that would actually be positive at the time of delivery. If you tested much earlier, the bacteria may have come or gone by the time of delivery. And if you tested later, you'd miss a good number of the deliveries.
From what I've read, you are at highest risk for transmitting GBS to your baby if you've had a bladder infection with GBS, if you labour for a long time with waters broken, if you have a fever during labour, and if you deliver before 37 weeks. If you go into labour before 37 weeks, they might just hook you up to the antibiotics anyways, just to be "safe". I understand that the IV antibiotics have cut the number of deaths from GBS in half. However, the risk of transmitting GBS to your baby is quite small, over all. And antibiotics come with risks as well. So you should do some reading and decide for yourself what you'd like to do about the swab, and treatments, I'd say.
Here's a thread I posted a while ago asking about this, and Kelly and Alan gave some great info.
Here's another thread I posted in my last pregnancy, after I tested positive at 37 weeks. I was planning a home birth, and had to change my plan last minute. I'm still in debate about what to do this time around. I think I will decline the test, and I think my midwife will not like it.
Thanks for the links to the threads Cricket, ill have a look through. My concerns also lie with the risks of antibiotics on such a small baby, i need to read into that a bit more too. I dont think i will have an issue declining the test. I am going through a birth centre linked to my local hospital and my midwife actually said that i was well within my rights to decline and i got the impression that she didn't really believe in the test anyway. I need to question her a bit more on the hospitals thoughts on the subject as i dont want to be harrassed if she cant make it to the birth and i have another midwife etc.
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I'm still in debate about what to do this time around. I think I will decline the test, and I think my midwife will not like it. 
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