Homebirthers experience with Group B Strep!

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Permalink Reply by Jamie Bond on May 21, 2009 at 8:04am

I didn't have it luckily, but if I had, my midwife told me that I would have had to go to the hospital for my first dose of oral antibiotics, just in case I reacted. After that I would have been taking them every four hours at home.

Permalink Reply by Courtney Ellis on May 21, 2009 at 9:03am

I just had my second daughter 3 months ago. I was GBS positive with my first so my midwife had me on probiotics, garlic and Vitamin C my entire pregnancy and I was still GBS positive when we tested. I was hesitant about the hibiclens protocol at first but my midwife sent me a couple of really great studies on it. I also had the option of having antibiotics at home but she said it takes 4 hours to get to the baby. Good thing we went with the hibiclens because my labor only lasted 3 hours from start to finish! After testing positive at 36 weeks I just did one internal cleanse per week in the bathtub and and external wash after every bowel movement. (be sure to wipe front to back) I washed once during labor and my baby was born in the water which also has shown to decrease transference to the baby. Everything is fine and I have a healthy happy baby! Good luck in making you decision. I wish I still had to those articles / studies to pass on to you. I will check my old emails to see if it's still there :)

Courtney Ellis

Permalink Reply by Courtney Poulos on May 22, 2009 at 2:40am

Thank you Jamie and Courtney for your stories!

I'm on the probiotics, garlic and Vitamin C. We're going to retest at 36 weeks and then on to the Hibiclens! I'm so glad to hear a success story. Though my midwife is very accomplished and hasn't had a bad get GBS, I still (of course) want to make the right decisions. Hibiclens is an antibiotic, too, and all the research I've seen online shows that it is quite effective. That makes me feel much better. And, we, too, are considering the water birth!

Permalink Reply by Courtney Poulos on May 22, 2009 at 4:23am

@Courtney Ellis -- one more quick question. Re: the exterior wash, did you dilute the solution with the same ratio as the interior wash and just keep some in a bottle nearby? Or was the exterior wash more extensive?

Permalink Reply by Nicholette Devenney on May 22, 2009 at 10:24am

I was GBS positive, they just gave me 2 infusions of peniciilin, at my house. no big deal, each took about 20 min to go in. I've never heard of the probiotics/hibiclens. I am in ontario canada though...maybe different rules elsewhere.

Permalink Reply by Courtney Ellis on May 22, 2009 at 4:07pm

Same ratio. Just a quick exterior rinse with a peri bottle I kept on the toilet. :)

Courtney Poulos said:

@Courtney Ellis -- one more quick question. Re: the exterior wash, did you dilute the solution with the same ratio as the interior wash and just keep some in a bottle nearby? Or was the exterior wash more extensive?

Permalink Reply by Briana Manthei on May 24, 2009 at 9:26pm

I was GBS positive with my 2nd and 3rd child. From what I have read the greatest risk is in someone who is delivering before term and/or whose membranes have been ruptured for several hours. I chose not to get the antibiotics and feel it was the right decision for us. With my 2nd baby, I was already on oral penicillin for bronchitis, but even if I hadn't been, we would have declined. My midwife did have a hibiclens protocol that she likes her clients to use, but I just didn't feel it was right for me. My water broke just a few minutes before my daughter was born and we watched her for a couple of days after birth, taking her temperature and pulse frequently and she was fine. With my 3rd baby I was positive again and was using a different midwife. She offers IV antibiotics in labor but I again declined. My membranes were intact until about a minute before he was born and again we had no problems.

Knowing that GBS can come and go, and that being positive at 36 weeks has little bearing on whether or not it will be present at the time of birth, connected with everything I have read about it and the fact that I didn't want an IV and I know that in places like the UK they don't screen for GBS, made me confident in my decision. I know everyone is different though. I just wanted to offer a different perspective. Good luck with your decision!

Permalink Reply by Courtney Poulos on May 25, 2009 at 4:03am

Hi Briana,

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I had no idea that the UK doesn't even screen for it! I've been doing online research and reading women's stories. This site also had some good homeopathic remedies listed http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/gbsAlt.html.

The research I read said that if you tested positive at 36 weeks, there was a more than 90 percent likelihood of you having GBS at delivery. I can't remember which site I found that on, but I'm curious to know where you found the one that said that it is NOT a predictor?

As I'm doing my research, I'm learning that it is very rare for a baby to catch a fatal infection, but it does occasionally happen--which totally freaks me out, of course! But there seem to be downsides to the ampicillin treatment, too (e.g., the baby can get an E. coli infection). We're just assembling all the information we can get to make the right decisions when the moment arrives.

Kind regards,
Courtney

Permalink Reply by Sarah Starnes on May 26, 2009 at 9:14am

I was also GBS positive when tested at 36 weeks. This was my second homebirth and my first positive GBS test. My midwife wasn't concerned though, and showed me the European studies that show how effective using Chorhexidine Gluconate solution is. I definitely didn't want to go the antibiotics route as I already have a poor history of reacting to antibiotics, on top of the usual concerns/effects. My midwife told me that you can test positive for GBS one day and not the next and many other countries don't test for it - doctors in the U.S. currently insist on testing for it and aggressively medicating to cover their liability. (Which is understandable in today's litigious society, but I wish they'd take the time to better educate patients instead!)

My second daughter was born 5 weeks ago. My midwife's protocol was to exterior cleanse with the solution/water with each use of the restroom the week before the due date and then especially at onset of/during labor. I went into labor about a week before my due date, so had not started using the solution yet. In fact my labor came on so quickly, I only had time to cleanse once, right after my water broke. I gave birth about 35 minutes later! We have watched our daughter to make sure no symptoms developed, but as expected, she's perfectly healthy. No problems at all. : )

Hope this is comforting!
-Sarah

Permalink Reply by Amy on June 12, 2009 at 1:34pm

I think i posted this under the wrong message originally...as it is not so much a "homeopathic" remedy. ;)

I echo the recommendations for checking out the gentle birth website. Also, check out midwifery today.

I tested positive for GBS with my first pregnancy--wound up with a c-sec due to breech presentation. (After numerous natural attempts to turn, including moxibustion-which is an awesome story...for another time ;) and a failed external version) Anyhow, second pregnancy was an HBAC with a lovely midwife. In addition to a few supplements, she HIGHLY suggested that I take probiotics during pregnancy--specifically to drink kefir. This helped keep the flora in my gut in check. (google "GBS and kefir" lot's of great info) It was my choice whether to test during this pregnancy and what protocol to follow (IV antibiotics, oral antibiotics or natural methods. I decided to use natural methods and test, then decide from there. If I came back GBS+ while using natural methods I would use antibiotics for labor. Otherwise, I would stay with natural methods to keep it in check. She discussed my options with using garlic and Hibiclens. (Again, I recommend doing an internet search, you'll find lot's of great info on the use of garlic for GBS and even some studies recently conducted on Hibiclens.) I decided to take a course of vaginally inserting garlic cloves, nightly ,for one week prior to testing for GBS. I threaded my garlic (for easy retrieval) and nicked it (to allow more oils to escape). I did not find that it burned. I did get the slight garlic aftertaste in my mouth...that was weird. But I like garlic! ;) Then used the hibiclens method the night before the day of test. My GBS came back negative.

However, because GBS can intermittently come and go at any time without symptoms, I decided that I would use garlic as my EDD neared and Hibiclens again at time of labor as a precaution. I honestly cannot remember if I had a chance to use Hibiclens before giving birth....I don't think I did! ;) My labor came on fast and baby was born in under 4 hours. Never had any problems or signs of infection.

Good luck!

~amy

P.S. My sweet one was not only born at home..but she was a water baby. So much better than what the local hospital would've allowed! They never would have allowed a previous GBS+ mom to labor freely without IV antibiotics. Standard protocol was automatic iv for any mom who has previously tested positive for GBS. No jacuzzi/tub room for me.... and this is assuming I would've been "allowed" to VBAC.... even though they "allowed VBAC" at that hospital...they made it hard for it to be an actuality.

Permalink Reply by Briana Manthei on June 17, 2009 at 8:30pm

It's not that it isn't a predictor per say, but that the bacteria can come and go as it pleases. When are you due?

Courtney Poulos said:

Hi Briana,

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I had no idea that the UK doesn't even screen for it! I've been doing online research and reading women's stories. This site also had some good homeopathic remedies listed http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/gbsAlt.html.

The research I read said that if you tested positive at 36 weeks, there was a more than 90 percent likelihood of you having GBS at delivery. I can't remember which site I found that on, but I'm curious to know where you found the one that said that it is NOT a predictor?

As I'm doing my research, I'm learning that it is very rare for a baby to catch a fatal infection, but it does occasionally happen--which totally freaks me out, of course! But there seem to be downsides to the ampicillin treatment, too (e.g., the baby can get an E. coli infection). We're just assembling all the information we can get to make the right decisions when the moment arrives.

Kind regards,
Courtney

Permalink Reply by Courtney Poulos on June 18, 2009 at 3:15am

We're due in the next 2-4 weeks! We've opted to go with with weekly Hibiclens washes until the baby is born (just to minimize the presence) and then doing Hibiclens wash every 4-6 hours when in labor. I'm still taking the probiotics, colloidal silver, etc.

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