Finn's Story   — Leslie Kendrick, CO, USA

Finn's Story. On September 13, 2012 we had two beautiful little boys, Will and Finn. They seemed so tiny but were pretty big for twins as Will was 5 pounds, 1 ounce and Finn was 6 pounds, 1 ounce. They were perfect little boys. Finn was admitted to the hospital on October 25th with a temperature of 101.5. Everyone is fine now but we learned that he had somehow contracted late-onset group B strep and had to be on antibiotics for two weeks. We are home now, but here is what happened. On the morning of October 25th, we fed both Will and Finn at 2 am and they went back to sleep. At 3 am Finn woke up screaming with a cry that had an intensity that we had not experienced before. We ran through all the standard baby things to do when a baby is upset. We changed his diaper, tried to feed him, tried to burp him and took his temp to make sure there was no fever. Nothing helped, but he did go to sleep lying on my husband so we figured he was okay. In the morning we woke up and he again was inconsolable. We took his temperature, and it was still within the normal range. We called our pediatrician's office and spoke with the nurse. We figured she would say something along the lines of "he has gas, rub his belly." However, we were shocked and scared when she said, "He sounds like he is in pain, take him to the ER. Which ER is closest to you?" My husband took Finn to the ER and I stayed home with Will as we did not want to have both of them sitting in the hospital. When my husband got to the ER, they took Finn's temperature and it was a little high, but still in the normal range. They took blood, looked Finn over, and did every other test they could think of to make sure he was okay. After they had exhausted everything (including a spinal tap, but were unable to get any spinal fluid), they were about to discharge Finn. Before they did, however, they called our pediatrician who said, "Take his temperature one more time." Thank goodness they did, because it had shot up to 101.5. They immediately admitted Finn to the hospital and started antibiotics. With a baby at Finn's age (6 weeks) they do not take fevers lightly. Luckily, at our Hospital, we were all allowed to stay with Finn in the hospital room. This was a huge relief as I can't imagine leaving Finn in the hospital without my husband or me being there with him. On day three of the antibiotics (at about 3 am) the nurse came in and said one of the blood cultures came back positive. It was group B strep. I had heard of group B strep as all pregnant women are tested for it late in their pregnancy. If a woman tests positive, then they simply get antibiotics during birth and I was told that there is only a concern with a vaginal birth. I had tested negative for Group B Strep, had a C-Section, and Finn was 6 weeks old. So it did not make sense that Finn had contracted it. But we learned that there are rare cases where a baby will get late-onset group B strep from 7 days old to 3 months old. It was a shock to the nurses, our pediatrician... everyone. This is really rare and weird as they could not tell us where it came from. (Editor's Note: Although not commonly communicated to patients, per the CDC, C-sections do not prevent GBS transmission as GBS can cross intact membranes, although about half of late-onset infections are from sources other than the mother.) We kept asking if it was contagious and if we should take Will home for fear that he too would contract it. They assured us he was fine and it was not contagious Just a bacterial infection that no one is sure how a baby can get. Well, we originally thought that Finn (and all of us with Finn) would be in the hospital for a maximum of 7 days while he went through his course of antibiotics. They knew it was sepsis from the blood culture, but as they could not get clear spinal fluid from the spinal tap, they could not rule out meningitis. So out of an abundance of caution and to assure that Finn would be rid of the infection, they told us that Finn would have to have 14 days of antibiotics..... Finn is now a happy and healthy 8 month old and has no residual effects of the GBS. We are so lucky is healthy and happy with his healthy and happy twin brother Will. We are just so thankful to our pediatrician, the nurses and the NICU.