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Valerie's Baby   — Valerie House, TX, USA

I was induced due to PIH at 40 weeks with no problems in sight. I had been tested the week before for GBS and tested NEGATIVE. My water was broken at around 10 AM and by 2 pm I had gotten to 8 cm. By 4 pm I had not progressed anymore and the baby had not dropped. My doctor decided to perform a C-Section. The C-Section went well and my son was born at 5:27 pm on 8/29/05. It is very common for C-Section babies to have fluid in their lungs and my son seemed to have this problem. He was sent to the NICU to be monitored and while there he began grunting and seemed to be working a lot harder to breathe then he should be. While he was there his Pediatrician decided to start him on Antibiotics immediately and test him to make sure he didn’t have any infections. Unfortunately he did have a GBS infection. We believe that he was exposed to GBS because my water was broken so early and he was exposed to my birth canal while we waited for him to drop. Because of our doctors quick action and the grace of God my son only had GBS for 36 hours or less, finished up his 12 days of antibiotics, and is now home with us growing like a weed. This bacterium is so easily prevented and I do not understand why I wasn't given Penicillin just to be on the safe side. I am not allergic to it and it would have prevented this from happening. If I could suggest anything to the medical world I would suggest giving Penicillin to all women in labor that are not allergic to it as the GBS test is obviously not very effective. I think we would cut down on so many cases of GBS that cause so much heartache for so many people. The 12 days my son spent in the hospital were the worst 12 days of mine and my husband’s life. We are so blessed that we did not suffer through some of the more serious side-effects of this infection, and it does not have to happen as often as it does. Hopefully someday the medical community will figure this one out. Good luck to anyone who has to go through this and I hope that more GBS cases turn out as ours did.







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