Has anybody had the Strep B test?

[hennaly]

If so did any of you test nagative but then go on to have it at birth.
The reason i ask is i have been told that even if you test negative there are alot of false negs out there that are positive at birth hence the reason for not doing routine testing.
Also that if you test positive and get treated you can still be positive again at birth, so if i were to have a test when the heck should i get it to have an accurate result for the birth? im so bloody confused (yes i know it isnt hard to confuse me )

 

[mum's the word]

I had the test on my last pregnancy, I ordered a kit over the phone but when I told m/w she said she'd test me. It came back clear, and she explained that there are symptoms to look out for, eg offensive smelling thick discharge and if there was anything untoward your swabs would show up as there being an infection present.

 

[hanti-boo]

i have strep b and i don't have any syptoms ay all. i found out i had it when i had my first daughter 3 years ago. i was treated with a drip during my induction and labour for my membranes rupturing with out contractions starting. we were kept in hospital for 3 days afterwards for observations, and i was told when i was discharged that i have strep b. nichola is fine and doesn't have it and with my recent pregnacy i was swabbed a week before my due date and i didn't need the drip this time as i didn't 'grow' in the lab. i'm still a carrier and like i said i have no smelly discharge, no nothing. the only thing i do have is a tendancy to have thrush a lot. i'm not sure if the two incidents are related but strep b,c,g are all part of the same big family.

hopefully this will help you.

you can also request the drip for the labour if you're worried.

 

[hennaly]

does this mean once you have it you always had it then, i thought once it is treated thats it

 

[Carmipoos]

It's kind of like having the cold sore virus, it just pops up when you're run down. I also live with it with no symptoms. I was tested for it early in pregnancywhich was positive and told I would be checked again near the end (involved swabbing bum area too) and if positive would need anti-biotics intravenously and prob a two day stay in hospital to watch out for bebee becoming ill. Well, I was still positive, which totally scuppered my plans of a home birth. When I went into labour I was faffing about getting to hospital so I never had the anti-biotics (supposed to get four hours on it) and my boy was absolutely fine. My mw told me the less time your baby spends delivering and from when your waters break the better to protect baby from infection.

 

[nori]

I really dont know what to do about this either. Ive just had all the strep B stuff delivered so i can take my own swabs. I was all for having it until i went to my out patients appointment with the obstetrician. They didnt seem to think it was worth having it done. It would also mean i couldnt labour in water either if i tested positive..

decisions decisions....

Claire x

 

[kellysomer]

I have strep B and have no symptoms whatsoever, had no extra care in hospital and only found out after my last birth. This and so many other cock-ups mean that my birth is going to a negligence case, my meeting with my consulant was a suprise when she asked me why i had not had the antibiotics, she was stunned when i said noone read my notes or checked my test results!

My son and i had a lot of complications when he was born and he had a stay in neonatal, the lack of care meant dispite him already being ill he never got the antibiotics. He was however fine so i wouldnt worry too much.

 

[LittleLambe]

I have strep B and only found out after I had given birth, we were kept in for 3 days and DD was put on a drip every 12 hours. Blood tests don't show up until after 3 days (they have to see if the cultures grow) thankfully all was fine.

 

[Charlie:-)]

I was diagnosed with gbs at 10 weeks after having a swab at docs for thrush. I did tons of research after recieving contradictory info from hospital consultant, midwife and http://www.gbss.org.uk and in the end i was so confused i spoke to someone from the gbs charity whe helped give me some clarity and sent me loads of info to help me make decisions. All the info can be downloaded from their website and the info im about to give comes from their research papers. The nhs don't routinely test although i did have a test for gbs at 37 weeks done by my consultant due to testing positive in early pregnancy. The test was negative. I re-tested using a test i ordered from the gbs website and it came back positive. In around 50% of nhs tests the results give a false negative the most accurate tests are a 2 swab. If you test between 37 and 38 weeks then and the test is negative there is a 3% chance that gbs will be present at birth. Once tested positive you are more at risk of having it in future pregnancies. I had the antibiotics during labour and was kept in for obs as well as recovering from c section. Maia had bloods taken to see if she had gbs and was negative. At the end me the day its your decision on whether to have the test or not but the nhs are not very knowledgeable on the subject and their test is unreliable. There are 1000's of women who give birth without having the test but are carriers and everything turns out ok and they never know they have it. Its a tough decision but the test is fairly inexpensive and the antibiotics are painless but they prevented my baby from getting an infection that could have caused a disability or worse case scenario fatal. If you want any more info feel free to pm me.

 

[hennaly]

Thankyou, some very helpfull info here