Austin's story   — rashe wright, KY, USA

My son Austin was healthy throughout my whole pregnancy! His weight gain stayed normal the whole time, my fluids were good, and my whole pregnancy was easy and fun for me! At 36 weeks I was tested for GBS and showed negative for the bacteria. I knew nothing about the bacteria and nothing about the potential consequences that could occur! I was induced the night before Austin was born because I had gained too much fluid from slightly elevated blood pressure! Austin was born at 3:44 after pushing for 45 minutes, when it should have been 20 or 25! Our first night together was like a fairytale! My husband and I had finally gotten the baby we always dreamed about and couldn't wait to meet! The next morning Austin woke up to nurse and wouldn't; then he wouldn't sleep and was unhappy and uncomfortable all day! He also had little spells when he would scrunch up and quiver! We later found out he was having seizures. We finally took him to the nursery to be checked out as we knew something wasn't right! A few hours later after running a slew of tests and spinal taps the doctors found out that our child was infected with GBS bacterial meningitis. My GBS test at 36 weeks was not properly done as the right areas were not swabbed! My husband and I thank the wonderful doctors of University of Kentucky Childrens' Hospital where we spent 2 and 1/2 long weeks, 24 hours day and night and our mighty God above for the second chance they gave our son Austin ! He is now nine weeks old and doing well, but every week we have a check up and a new test ran to make sure that he doesn't have any seizures. We have no idea how long he will be on an every 12 hours dose of phenabarbital! I wish anyone and everyone that has gone through what we have the best of luck and hope everything goes well!