Tristan's Story   — karen barnette, VA, USA

My husband and I tried for 8 years to get pregnant and then it finally happened. At 37 weeks my water broke at home and we went straight to the hospital. We already knew I was Group B strep positive so after getting me admitted I was started on the antibiotics and was given, I think, a bag and a half. After about 14 hours I wouldn't dialate past 6 .... my doctor decided it was time for a c- section. I had the c-section and Tristan was born, a beautiful healthy 7 pounder. After 3 days in the hospital we went home. Everything was fine. Then on the 6th day I noticed he didn't awake for his feeding and he was making a grunting noise. I checked his temp and it was high. We called the doctor. She wasn't too alarmed, but I was and rushed him straight to our nearest ER without even putting him in his car seat. I just had that motherly instinct that something wasn't right and within 30 minutes a new pediatrician diagnosed him with Group B strep meningitis. He was in the hospital for 3 weeks for treatment of antibiotics. He is 18 months old and has reached every milestone on time. Even when he was in the hospital, he never had any complications. He wasn't even put in the ICU or anything. When I read all the stories on this web page I realize just how lucky we are. How could this have happened when we had tried for so long? I don't know. I just am so thankful to the pediatrician who knew what to look for. By the way this pediatrician wasn't even on call, but I had heard of him and that he was new and young and fresh out of school. They called him and he came in. WOW!!!! Sometimes the new ones have all the fresh stuff in their minds and are so eager to find out what is wrong. How blessed we were and how blessed we are. It was a long hard 3 weeks. I was so nervous and cried every time someone called or came to see us. Just know there are good stories and I hope this will be encouraging for someone to read who might be going through this. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions. God bless. Karen Barnette barnette_karen@yahoo.com