Hi everyone,
I am seriously considering NOT undertaking the Gruop B Strep test in late pregnancy but am owrried the Birthing Centre I'm booked into will not allow this or bully me into it - has anyone else had this experience?
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Hi everyone,
I am seriously considering NOT undertaking the Gruop B Strep test in late pregnancy but am owrried the Birthing Centre I'm booked into will not allow this or bully me into it - has anyone else had this experience?
Koru, although I did do the test I was not pressured at all. I was told it was completely optional by my midwife. Hopefully you wont feel pressured to do the test.
Im thinking about it as well.
They cant make you have any tests that you dont want to have, they're just supposed to inform you/offer them to you.
a lot of OBs dont routinely do the GBS test.
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Oops!! Sorry!
Bri decided to have her say!
Now, my turn.
When I was pg with DD1 I was young & didn't have any tests done. The only reason they found out my blood type is coz they took it while I was in hospital with ms.
I was never pressured, just reminded, lol. The main reason I didn't do them is coz I was scared of needles.
With #4 and #5 i had it done, was positive, and had fast labours with no antibiotics anyway.... :rolleyes:
Didn't bother with the test for #6!!! ;)
My OBS doesn't test for GBS because your results can change throughout the pregnancy.
My midwives never even mentioned the test, didn't bother doing it. The results are useless really anyway as you can have it at the time of test and not at time of birth or vice versa. I doubt you'd be bullied into it, most things are optional really, and at the birth centre I'd say they probably wont even offer it.
i declinded and my midwife recommend i decline anyway
Like the others have already said it should not be a problem if you wish to not have it done. I had it done and the result was neg but Flynn got an infection anyway and was treated with abs for a week. As Leasha said it changes constanly it is really a fairly useless test.
I probably won't bother getting it done this time. It is only a swab tho, not a bt :)
hahahaha! I remember my son writing a lot of 'messages' like this when he was younger :):
I was never asked OR told about the test with any of my 3 babies...so ive never had it done!
Which birth centre are you booked into? I just had DS at Monash BC and they don't offer the swab at all. I asked the midwives about it because everyone else in my belly buddies group was having there's done and it hadn't even been mentioned to me at any appointments and I was told Southern Health don't do the GBS testing at all. As the others said, it gives no indication of whether you'll be infected at term or not so it's fairly useless in that regard.
I am another one who has never had it done - and never even had it mentioned to me by the midwives or doctors at the antenatal clinic. If it was mentioned, I would decline anyway.
I'm not going to have it either.
Never heard of it, let alone had it.
I survived with DS, I think I'll survive this time. How many things can they test for?? Is pregnancy becoming too much of a medical procedure, or is that just me??
The Step B test is a swab done similar to pap smear but less painful and only for a seconds and sent off for results.
I had it done with Julia's pregnancy but didnt need it done with Tara as I was had a c/s.
I decided to have the test but just from a birth centre perspective... I chatted about my options with my birth centre midwife and was not at all pressured to have the test. If I had it and came back positive I could still decide how I wanted to manage that (ie. antibiotics in labour were not essential). However if I didn't have the test and ended up being transferred to the main hospital I would be treated as positive and the main hospital pushed antibiotics. Based on that I decided to have it for the chance of being negative so I would be treated that way rather than being treated positive in either case. In the end I was negative and wasn't transferred anyway but I did it for paperwork insurance IYKWIM. I personally hold no value in the test.
Never heard of it or had it. If it requires poking holes in my skin, they can forget it! They'd probably forget to test for it anyway and send back a FBC. :wall: Local pathology lab is utterly useless.
Check with the birth centre if it is required or optional. In some birth centres (not all), you have to have all tests (and pass them) or else how will they know that you're low-risk enough to birth there? Not saying I agree with this reasoning, but I've heard it used.:
Melissa.
Can I ask why you wouldnt have it done?
I did it myself in the toilet whilst getting the urine sample...the middie gave me a long cue tip, I moved it around just inside my vagina and around my perineum and that was it.
It isnt a needle, or really invasive, and you can do it yourself.
I would have it again.
I never even heard of this test till my 3rd pregnancy and I never got asked or even took the test
The thing is that if you test positive they will hook you up with antibiotics during your labour. For me that would interfer with the natural birth i want. Also even if you test positive at 36 weeks or whenever you get tested, you might not be positive when you go into labour which means you and the baby would be having antibiotics unnecessarily.:
I dont think its necessary to have it at 36w, as the results can vary from week to week, I went to 10 days post dates with DS.
I wont be having it at 36 weeks this time, but will have AB if i go into labour at 37 weeks or less. I am considering having it if Im still pg at term, becuase that way I'll be more comfortable that the results are somewhat relevant to what I will have on the day.
The only think putting me off not having the test is that they will push me to stay in hospital for 48 hours after the birth and Im not sure what I want in regard to hospital stays and probably wont know til I get there.
A lot of the biggest issues with strep b happen with late onset strep b and theres nothing that the ABs you get or dont get for labour can do to prevent that one anyway.
OH! I have done that!:
Had no idea what it was. See, I am a good girl!
Hi - been having computer trouble so hopefully i can respond:
Thanks for all your replies ladies. The main reason i'm not wanting to do it is as 2 cheeky boys said: a positive result has no bearing on your actual status at labour and yet they'll hook you up to anitbiotics, transfer you to the main hopsital and the Abs can wreck your newborn's digestive system for several months after birth - compared to the 0.2% risk of them actaully acquiring GBS during labour I'm really miffed at that. But i am worried as somebody pointed out that if i don't do the test the birth centre will say 'well we don't know if you qualify for FBC anymore' essentially forcing me to do the test. i have no aversion to needles so the fact that its not invasive isn't an issue
You need to check your FBC's policy then because as I said my FBC would not have classed me as high risk if I had tested positive and would have let me labour without antibiotics.
Has any one gone to the clinic bathroom to "take" the test and not done it? I am considering this.
I think they would be able to tell when testing the swab that it wasn't done. Seems a waste of pathology costs when you could just say you're not doing the test.
Im not sure why you would bother - you can just refuse the test. It will still cost time and money to process only to find you havent done it...jmo, but hardly constructive.:
Thanks, yes I can see your points about wasting pathology's time and I know my doc would be fine if I just said no. I have just heard of a few people doing this or sticking in their mouth instead (heaven knows what would come up in pathology then!).
I considered not doing the test. I have a bad fear of cannulas (feel faint just looking at a bit of cotton wool taped to a hand after the cannula has been removed!). Plus the risk is so low. My midwife said I could decline the test, but not take it and then decline the antibiotics if I was positive.
I did a bit of googling and found a UK site which was all about fighting to have the test made routine etc, and decided that even with low risks of infection in babies I didn't want to take that chance just because I'm a wuss.
I am, as a whole, hoping to have a natural labour, and was very glad to hear that my results were negative.
medically, its equally as credible to have the test, or to monitor the mother during labour and baby afterward. The information that I was given about tests during pregnancy and the study that I read on it (somewhere in another thread on this topic has a link to it) said either method was equally as effective.
i just got asked yesterday, 8 days before my due date, have they done a swab lately and gave me the cotton bud to do it myself also when i did the urine test, but i didn't think to ask what it was for. i wasn't pressured into it and didn't think not to do it.
i noticed on the form it said GBS test, when it went to the pathology lab.
so is this what happens if the results come back positive, you get hooked up to a iv whilst in labour...? what would happen if you declined that.
My sister was positive with both her boys - it was discovered when she had a leak (with both boys) at 37/38 weeks. She had to be induced with both boys due to the risk of infection but she still went on to deliver her second son drug and IV free at a birthing centre.
Maybe each birthing centre is different so I guess it's best to check with them.
you arent necessary 'hooked' up to an IV, the ABS are usually done via IV (I knw at least 1 private hossy in Melb that does not do them via IV), but you arent necessarily attached to the drip