|
HADLEE RAE — USA
Born March 24, 2022 Early-onset Mother's GBS Status: Tested negative Gestational Age: 39 weeks Age harmed: During labor |
My pregnancy for Hadlee was fairly easy, besides being extremely nauseous in the first trimester and being induced due to high blood pressure, I thought things were pretty run of the mill. I was tested at 36 weeks and was negative. I had my membranes stripped at 38 weeks and 5 days but no signs of labor, and induced at 39 weeks. I also had my water artificially broken. Neither my membranes should have been swept nor my water broken. But my doctor never educated me on GBS at the time of the test, and never discussed it again due to being negative.
Hadlee was born at 12:06AM on 3/24/22. My labor was traumatic alone, and couldn’t hold my baby for the first 3 hours of her life due to this. Fortunately my husband was able to hold her the entire time, but I could hear her struggle to breathe and was coughing and making grunting noises. We attempted to breastfeed finally, but she was limp, cold, and lethargic. She was making the grunting noises still but the nurses said it was “normal” for a baby swallowing a lot of fluid in labor. Finally we fed some, and I handed her off to my husband since I was not feeling well from labor. He noticed she looked ashy/purple and still grunting. The nurse again said it was “normal” and brushed it off. We asked for her to go to the nursery so we could get some sleep since I had a long labor and it was around 3:30AM. They took her away, and 15 minutes later the nurse practitioner for the nursery came back and said something was wrong. She began running tests and started a line of antibiotics while waiting for her results to come back, I think this saved her life. Her oxygen levels dropped drastically and they became very concerned and worried about brain damage. By 5:00AM the nurse practitioner came in again, and said she needed to be transported to a different hospital for their NICU, one of the best in the state, since they didn’t have the equipment to help her breathe.
Once transferred to a larger hospital, Hadlee underwent a myriad of tests, including spinal taps, EKGs, X-rays, blood tests and more to see what was wrong. We received her GBS test results 22 hours after she was born. The first hospital did know about her positive test, but never informed us and played it off that she just had “breathing problems” and needed “short term support.” We were told the worst case scenarios from the NICU team though, how she could lose her life, become paralyzed, have cerebral palsy, become deaf, blind, other long term complications… all the worst news. They said she could be in the NICU for many weeks or months trying to beat this.
Fortunately, Hadlee beat all the odds and outcomes and only had to stay in the NICU for 11 days. She was able to quickly breathe and eat on her own, and just needed a full course of ampicillin. She’s currently still thriving a month later after her discharge!
While our story has a happy ending and we are so grateful for the nurse practitioner catching that something was wrong and beginning antibiotics immediately, which helped us to have this outcome compared to other GBS cases, we’re still at a loss.
We will continue to spread awareness about GBS testing and knowledge of the symptoms to parents. This was the most traumatic event of our lives and hope and pray that no other parent or baby has to go through this. I wish my doctor had told me more about the testing and why we need to do it. I wish I had answers to why I tested negative. I wish I had access to a test right at labor to know. I wish providers knew more about GBS and could give us more answers until the NICU and know more about the long term effects for Hadlee.
Hadlee is incredibly strong and brave, we’re so proud of her beating GBS. We are so grateful she is here with us after it all.
-Brooke & Zachary Ward
They spread GBS awareness through social media and word of mouth
Hadlee was born at 12:06AM on 3/24/22. My labor was traumatic alone, and couldn’t hold my baby for the first 3 hours of her life due to this. Fortunately my husband was able to hold her the entire time, but I could hear her struggle to breathe and was coughing and making grunting noises. We attempted to breastfeed finally, but she was limp, cold, and lethargic. She was making the grunting noises still but the nurses said it was “normal” for a baby swallowing a lot of fluid in labor. Finally we fed some, and I handed her off to my husband since I was not feeling well from labor. He noticed she looked ashy/purple and still grunting. The nurse again said it was “normal” and brushed it off. We asked for her to go to the nursery so we could get some sleep since I had a long labor and it was around 3:30AM. They took her away, and 15 minutes later the nurse practitioner for the nursery came back and said something was wrong. She began running tests and started a line of antibiotics while waiting for her results to come back, I think this saved her life. Her oxygen levels dropped drastically and they became very concerned and worried about brain damage. By 5:00AM the nurse practitioner came in again, and said she needed to be transported to a different hospital for their NICU, one of the best in the state, since they didn’t have the equipment to help her breathe.
Once transferred to a larger hospital, Hadlee underwent a myriad of tests, including spinal taps, EKGs, X-rays, blood tests and more to see what was wrong. We received her GBS test results 22 hours after she was born. The first hospital did know about her positive test, but never informed us and played it off that she just had “breathing problems” and needed “short term support.” We were told the worst case scenarios from the NICU team though, how she could lose her life, become paralyzed, have cerebral palsy, become deaf, blind, other long term complications… all the worst news. They said she could be in the NICU for many weeks or months trying to beat this.
Fortunately, Hadlee beat all the odds and outcomes and only had to stay in the NICU for 11 days. She was able to quickly breathe and eat on her own, and just needed a full course of ampicillin. She’s currently still thriving a month later after her discharge!
While our story has a happy ending and we are so grateful for the nurse practitioner catching that something was wrong and beginning antibiotics immediately, which helped us to have this outcome compared to other GBS cases, we’re still at a loss.
We will continue to spread awareness about GBS testing and knowledge of the symptoms to parents. This was the most traumatic event of our lives and hope and pray that no other parent or baby has to go through this. I wish my doctor had told me more about the testing and why we need to do it. I wish I had answers to why I tested negative. I wish I had access to a test right at labor to know. I wish providers knew more about GBS and could give us more answers until the NICU and know more about the long term effects for Hadlee.
Hadlee is incredibly strong and brave, we’re so proud of her beating GBS. We are so grateful she is here with us after it all.
-Brooke & Zachary Ward
They spread GBS awareness through social media and word of mouth
To learn more about Perinatal & GBS Misconceptions, click HERE.
To learn more about the Signs & Symptoms of Preterm Labor, click HERE.
To learn more about the Signs & Symptoms of GBS Infection, click HERE.
To learn more about Why Membranes Should NOT Be Stripped, click HERE.
To learn more about How to Help Protect Your Baby from Group B Strep (GBS), click HERE.
To learn more about the Signs & Symptoms of Preterm Labor, click HERE.
To learn more about the Signs & Symptoms of GBS Infection, click HERE.
To learn more about Why Membranes Should NOT Be Stripped, click HERE.
To learn more about How to Help Protect Your Baby from Group B Strep (GBS), click HERE.