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CASSIE — USA
Lived November 21-29, 2025 Early-onset Mother's GBS Status: Tested positive in urine Gestational Age: 39 weeks Age Harmed: 30 hours old |
Before Cassie was born, her family experienced late-onset GBS disease when their son, Matthew, was infected at 10 days old.
A year and a half later, my husband and I became pregnant with our daughter, Cassie. We were ecstatic to have a girl, Cassie was the first name my husband and I had picked out for our children while we were dating. I had a healthy pregnancy and at 39 weeks and 1 day, I went into labor early unlike with Matthew. Initially I wasn’t sure I was in labor but after only an hour my contractions went from every 12-15 minutes to every 2-3. My husband rushed me to the hospital that was 20 minutes away, my water broke on the drive, and Cassie was born within 5 minutes of being in the ER 2 years and 1 day after our son. Since my labor was so short (only 2 hours in total) I did not receive any antibiotics. I told every single nurse and doctor who saw me for the next day that I was concerned about Cassie getting infected due to my history, but they assured me that they would just watch her and she would be fine.
At 40 hours of life in the hospital, Cassie started grunting while she breathed in spells, she would no longer eat, and she had a fever spike of 100.6. The nurse practitioner who came to look at her thought she was only hot because she was double swaddled and she believed that her grunting was “just how she cried.” I told the NP that my son had GBS and sounded the same way when he was sick but the NP said that she thought Cassie was fine and that we would just wait and see how she did. I don’t know why I accepted that answer but I did, and Cassie technically clinically improved overnight and we were discharged the next morning.
My husband and I assumed she must be fine and she did not show any other symptoms initially when we went home. That night however, Cassie would not eat and then she started having rhythmic spasms. We took her to the ER and in the ER she had her first seizure at three days old. All of a sudden she was surrounded by dozens of doctors and nurses in the same ER room she was born in and receiving countless treatments. After what felt like an eternity, the head of the ER notified us that Cassie would have to be airflighted to another hospital almost three hours away to get proper care. I drove with my mom and son to the hospital while my husband waited with Cassie to get picked up by the MEDEVAC. Once Cassie was at the other hospital they ran multiple tests and confirmed she had both GBS sepsis and meningitis. I knew that her seizures probably meant she had meningitis but hearing the doctor confirm it was horrifying. I couldn’t believe we were going through this again, especially after I had expressed my concerns countless times to the other hospital.
Cassie had multiple subclinical seizures the first few days but they slowly subsided and she began to grow stronger. She grew radiant and her newborn beauty started to shine through again. Every doctor and nurse who would come in would comment on how beautiful she was. At day 6 of life, the doctors said she was responding well to the antibiotics and no longer had an active infection. We felt like we could finally take a breath. The next day, the doctors informed us that the hospital had had an influx of patients and since Cassie was the most stable patient in the PICU, she would have to be moved to the pediatric floor. My husband and I did not feel comfortable with the move but nonetheless Cassie was moved to the pediatric floor at 7 days old.
The pediatric floor was not nearly as good of care as the PICU, but we were still very hopeful with how well she was doing, she was even able to nurse at this point. The next morning our nurses told us that Cassie was finally going to be able to get an MRI that afternoon so that the doctors could get a better understanding of her brain damage. Once the afternoon rolled around we walked with Cassie and her nurses the 10-minute walk to the MRI room. Cassie’s nurse placed her on the MRI table while I sat in a corner to fill out her paperwork. Cassie let out a little cry and I told the nurse I could feed her to help her calm down, then all of a sudden Cassie turned blue. Her nurses panicked and fumbled with an air bag to the point my husband had to rip it open for them. The nurses began frantically providing CPR, lights began flashing, intercoms started booming, and all of a sudden our daughter was again surrounded by countless medical staff. I just stood in the corner paralyzed and praying. I couldn’t believe that any of this was happening or that God had let this happen to her. My husband stayed by her side until about 25 minutes into them trying resuscitate her and he came over to comfort me. After 30 minutes the doctor who had been so integral during her care came over to us and said, “I’m so sorry, I’m going to have to call it. It’s been 30 minutes.” It didn’t make sense, I just stared at the doctor in disbelief. We rushed over to our daughter to watch her last breath leave her beautiful little body and she was gone. All of that commotion just moments ago and now not only silence but we were now parents without our baby. We held her and cried over her for hours and as every parent has to, we had to eventually let her go. I have never done anything so hard in my life as leaving our daughter in that hospital.
We had a beautiful celebration of life for Cassie and we got to share her precious 8 days of life with all of our friends and family. No matter how short, those 8 days were such a priceless blessing. Now, we pray that God be with her every day. I also pray that God gives her a hug and tells her how much her family loves her every night, it brings me peace and comfort to do so.
If you have read this, thank you for reading and I pray that if you have gone through something similar, I pray that it can give you some comfort knowing that you are not alone.
We hope to have more children and look at our future with some uncertainty after having two babies get GBS, but we are still hopeful that adding to our family will be a possibility some day. Much love and prayers to you all.
- Jordan
I have talked with multiple doctors at multiple hospitals who were involved in our daughters care about how the standard of care was insufficient for my daughter with respect to my medical history.
At 40 hours of life in the hospital, Cassie started grunting while she breathed in spells, she would no longer eat, and she had a fever spike of 100.6. The nurse practitioner who came to look at her thought she was only hot because she was double swaddled and she believed that her grunting was “just how she cried.” I told the NP that my son had GBS and sounded the same way when he was sick but the NP said that she thought Cassie was fine and that we would just wait and see how she did. I don’t know why I accepted that answer but I did, and Cassie technically clinically improved overnight and we were discharged the next morning.
My husband and I assumed she must be fine and she did not show any other symptoms initially when we went home. That night however, Cassie would not eat and then she started having rhythmic spasms. We took her to the ER and in the ER she had her first seizure at three days old. All of a sudden she was surrounded by dozens of doctors and nurses in the same ER room she was born in and receiving countless treatments. After what felt like an eternity, the head of the ER notified us that Cassie would have to be airflighted to another hospital almost three hours away to get proper care. I drove with my mom and son to the hospital while my husband waited with Cassie to get picked up by the MEDEVAC. Once Cassie was at the other hospital they ran multiple tests and confirmed she had both GBS sepsis and meningitis. I knew that her seizures probably meant she had meningitis but hearing the doctor confirm it was horrifying. I couldn’t believe we were going through this again, especially after I had expressed my concerns countless times to the other hospital.
Cassie had multiple subclinical seizures the first few days but they slowly subsided and she began to grow stronger. She grew radiant and her newborn beauty started to shine through again. Every doctor and nurse who would come in would comment on how beautiful she was. At day 6 of life, the doctors said she was responding well to the antibiotics and no longer had an active infection. We felt like we could finally take a breath. The next day, the doctors informed us that the hospital had had an influx of patients and since Cassie was the most stable patient in the PICU, she would have to be moved to the pediatric floor. My husband and I did not feel comfortable with the move but nonetheless Cassie was moved to the pediatric floor at 7 days old.
The pediatric floor was not nearly as good of care as the PICU, but we were still very hopeful with how well she was doing, she was even able to nurse at this point. The next morning our nurses told us that Cassie was finally going to be able to get an MRI that afternoon so that the doctors could get a better understanding of her brain damage. Once the afternoon rolled around we walked with Cassie and her nurses the 10-minute walk to the MRI room. Cassie’s nurse placed her on the MRI table while I sat in a corner to fill out her paperwork. Cassie let out a little cry and I told the nurse I could feed her to help her calm down, then all of a sudden Cassie turned blue. Her nurses panicked and fumbled with an air bag to the point my husband had to rip it open for them. The nurses began frantically providing CPR, lights began flashing, intercoms started booming, and all of a sudden our daughter was again surrounded by countless medical staff. I just stood in the corner paralyzed and praying. I couldn’t believe that any of this was happening or that God had let this happen to her. My husband stayed by her side until about 25 minutes into them trying resuscitate her and he came over to comfort me. After 30 minutes the doctor who had been so integral during her care came over to us and said, “I’m so sorry, I’m going to have to call it. It’s been 30 minutes.” It didn’t make sense, I just stared at the doctor in disbelief. We rushed over to our daughter to watch her last breath leave her beautiful little body and she was gone. All of that commotion just moments ago and now not only silence but we were now parents without our baby. We held her and cried over her for hours and as every parent has to, we had to eventually let her go. I have never done anything so hard in my life as leaving our daughter in that hospital.
We had a beautiful celebration of life for Cassie and we got to share her precious 8 days of life with all of our friends and family. No matter how short, those 8 days were such a priceless blessing. Now, we pray that God be with her every day. I also pray that God gives her a hug and tells her how much her family loves her every night, it brings me peace and comfort to do so.
If you have read this, thank you for reading and I pray that if you have gone through something similar, I pray that it can give you some comfort knowing that you are not alone.
We hope to have more children and look at our future with some uncertainty after having two babies get GBS, but we are still hopeful that adding to our family will be a possibility some day. Much love and prayers to you all.
- Jordan
I have talked with multiple doctors at multiple hospitals who were involved in our daughters care about how the standard of care was insufficient for my daughter with respect to my medical history.