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HEATHER — USA
Born June 2, 2003 Prenatal-onset Mother's GBS Status: Tested positive Gestational Age: Full-term at 39 weeks Age Harmed: Just before birth at 39 weeks |
My pregnancy was completely normal except for 2 UTI's caused by GBS bacteria. My due date was June 9th. On the morning of June 2nd, I started having very mild, but regularly spaced contractions. I went in to see my OB, because the contractions were only 2 minutes apart.
I noticed a few days before I started contracting, that there was a substantial decrease in movement and that morning I had not felt her at all. I went in to the doctor's office and they checked me. I was dilated to 4 cms. They told me it was time to go to L&D. Before I went over, I asked them to check for her heartbeat with the Doppler because I had not felt her. They heard the heartbeat and I was reassured so we went to the hospital.
As soon as we arrived, they immediately started the IV antibiotics due to my being GBS positive and hooked me up to the monitors. My doctor came in and we had some friendly banter with me remarking on how nice she looked that day. She asked the nurse if the baby was tachycardic. To which the nurse responded, "I don't think so."
The doctor proceeded to break my water to see what was going on with the baby. She saw I had thick meconium and they tried to flush it out. They turned me on my left side and they gave me oxygen, to no avail.
At this point my husband had to step out of the room to make arrangements for our not yet 2 year old son that was with us.
At some point the baby's heartrate began to drop. The doctor scratched the baby's head to see if she would respond to stimulus, and she did not. After quickly doing some various other things to see if they baby would perk up, they told me, "We have to get the baby out now, we can not wait for your husband."
The next thing I know is my doctor turns into drill sergeant doctor, and began giving urgent orders to the medical personnel around us. They were racing me down the hallway, and I felt like I was in an episode of E.R.
The operating room on the L&D floor was in use, so they had to take me to another operating room downstairs. The last words I remember was, "We don't have the tools for a C-Section down here," and then I went to sleep.
I woke up in recovery. My husband came in and informed me that the baby was very sick. Her apgar was 1 at 1 minute and 5 at 5 minutes, but that was with her being intubated. At this point they did not know she had GBS. She was transported to the local children's hospital, but no measures they took there were effective.
They told us that she needed to go to Vanderbilt and be placed on ECMO. It took them hours to get her stable enough to even move her from one bed to another. The transport team told me that they may have to turn around and come back before they got to the airport. This was because she was so unstable. Thankfully they were able to get her on the plane and off she went.
From her birth, they suspected GBS was the cause of her being so sick,and it was confirmed a day or two later.
Meanwhile, she was placed on ECMO and after many scares, 7 weeks, and 1 day later, I was able to bring her home.
Despite many a grim prognosis, she is now a healthy, happy seven year old. She does have some mild issues with her schoolwork, but this can not be definitively traced back to her tumultuous entrance into the world.
— Beth Cobble, TN, USA
Heather's mother encourages people to take GBS seriously and tries to educate other expectant parents with out scaring them.
I noticed a few days before I started contracting, that there was a substantial decrease in movement and that morning I had not felt her at all. I went in to the doctor's office and they checked me. I was dilated to 4 cms. They told me it was time to go to L&D. Before I went over, I asked them to check for her heartbeat with the Doppler because I had not felt her. They heard the heartbeat and I was reassured so we went to the hospital.
As soon as we arrived, they immediately started the IV antibiotics due to my being GBS positive and hooked me up to the monitors. My doctor came in and we had some friendly banter with me remarking on how nice she looked that day. She asked the nurse if the baby was tachycardic. To which the nurse responded, "I don't think so."
The doctor proceeded to break my water to see what was going on with the baby. She saw I had thick meconium and they tried to flush it out. They turned me on my left side and they gave me oxygen, to no avail.
At this point my husband had to step out of the room to make arrangements for our not yet 2 year old son that was with us.
At some point the baby's heartrate began to drop. The doctor scratched the baby's head to see if she would respond to stimulus, and she did not. After quickly doing some various other things to see if they baby would perk up, they told me, "We have to get the baby out now, we can not wait for your husband."
The next thing I know is my doctor turns into drill sergeant doctor, and began giving urgent orders to the medical personnel around us. They were racing me down the hallway, and I felt like I was in an episode of E.R.
The operating room on the L&D floor was in use, so they had to take me to another operating room downstairs. The last words I remember was, "We don't have the tools for a C-Section down here," and then I went to sleep.
I woke up in recovery. My husband came in and informed me that the baby was very sick. Her apgar was 1 at 1 minute and 5 at 5 minutes, but that was with her being intubated. At this point they did not know she had GBS. She was transported to the local children's hospital, but no measures they took there were effective.
They told us that she needed to go to Vanderbilt and be placed on ECMO. It took them hours to get her stable enough to even move her from one bed to another. The transport team told me that they may have to turn around and come back before they got to the airport. This was because she was so unstable. Thankfully they were able to get her on the plane and off she went.
From her birth, they suspected GBS was the cause of her being so sick,and it was confirmed a day or two later.
Meanwhile, she was placed on ECMO and after many scares, 7 weeks, and 1 day later, I was able to bring her home.
Despite many a grim prognosis, she is now a healthy, happy seven year old. She does have some mild issues with her schoolwork, but this can not be definitively traced back to her tumultuous entrance into the world.
— Beth Cobble, TN, USA
Heather's mother encourages people to take GBS seriously and tries to educate other expectant parents with out scaring them.
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.