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KEATON — USA
Born May 28, 2016 Recurrent Late-onset Mother's GBS Status: Tested positive Gestational Age: Full term Age Harmed: 5 weeks and 10 weeks |
GBS is something not a lot of new mom's have to worry about but I wanted to share our story as Keaton first became sick with Group B Strep Bacteremia on July 8, 2016.
I was familiar with the GBS swab at 38 weeks since having our daughter, but it was negative with her. When I had the swab done while I was pregnant with Keaton it came back positive. I had no idea what that meant other than according to my doctor I needed to receive at least 3 doses of antibiotics at least 4 hours prior to delivery--no big deal, but I was so wrong!
I received 4 doses in plenty of time. We stayed 48 hours after delivery which is normal protocol after GBS + to make sure the baby is ok.
Fast forward 5 weeks later it was my LAST day of maternity leave and Keaton woke up from a nap around Noon and it was time to eat; he never turned down milk and it had been 3 hours so I knew he should be hungry. He wouldn't eat and was really upset. He's always very happy --- I tried gas drops and everything but nothing calmed him down.
We called the pediatricians office and things changed very quickly and I want to share his symptoms because we had NO idea what was going on and what turned out to be GBS (Group B Strep Bacterium). He started running a fever, he got very fussy and started moaning, his skin started turning a pitted color. His fever got up to 103.5 and he was immediately admitted to the hospital after going to the pediatricians office.
He started on strong antibiotics (rocephin to start then switched to ampicillin) our pediatrician remembered I was GBS+ when Keaton was born and treated it as that. He had 2 spinal taps and blood cultures and started an IV for antibiotics. It took 48 hours to get the final culture results it was Group B Strep. He received 11 days of IV antibiotics in the hospital. His next blood culture showed up completely clear and his spinal tap was negative.
We're so thankful it was caught early and treated so quickly or things could've been so different! Especially since late onset often appears as meningitis. I'm thankful everyday that he woke up and something was noticeably wrong because some babies don't wake up when they become GBS Septic.
Fast forward to when Keaton's 10 weeks old and he wakes up at 2:00am and starts having the same symptoms; won't eat, inconsolable, fever, starts moaning...I had this feeling in my stomach it was GBS again but knew how SLIM chances were for him to have a recurrent case...only about 1-3% chance of re-infection.
We took him in to the pediatrician that morning and got a blood culture; given his history he got a shot of rocephin to cover him for 24 hours until we could get the preliminary culture results to show if anything was growing. We were able to go home this time because if it was positive we had to go to another hospital. I knew when the phone rang early Sunday morning that it was showing up again!
We were sent to another hospital's ER about an hour away and admitted. This hospital thought there was NO way he had GBS again, but thankfully our pediatrician (whose office had only seen a recurrence once in 18 years) saw him BOTH times and said, "I've seen him--that's what it is" which I knew, too. The final culture came back GBS Bacterium again. I asked to have my breast milk tested because I wanted to know (had to be persistent as they had never tested breast milk before), but it was negative. They said breastfeeding was best for him and he could've been sicker not having it.
We were there 11 days with IV antibiotics (rocephin and penicillin) over those 11 days we never got to leave; he had 7 spinal taps, heart ultrasounds, bone scan, and many IVs and blood work. He ended up with two IVs in his head and he kept blowing veins; they couldn't do a PICC line and thankfully we avoided a mid-line. Thankfully all his tests were coming back perfect. No signs of meningitis, osteomyelitis. We had 2-3 infectious disease doctors and nearly 10+ doctors in our room everyday.
We are truly so blessed our little boy is happy, healthy and no setbacks or complications from GBS. It's definitely a silent killer and I wanted to bring awareness to something that impacted our life! Most importantly, trust your instincts -- early diagnosis and treatment are essential to combat late onset GBS infection - delay can be fatal! We are so blessed ours turned out as well as it did.
— Andrea Pelley, USA
Andrea tells others about GBS through social media.
I was familiar with the GBS swab at 38 weeks since having our daughter, but it was negative with her. When I had the swab done while I was pregnant with Keaton it came back positive. I had no idea what that meant other than according to my doctor I needed to receive at least 3 doses of antibiotics at least 4 hours prior to delivery--no big deal, but I was so wrong!
I received 4 doses in plenty of time. We stayed 48 hours after delivery which is normal protocol after GBS + to make sure the baby is ok.
Fast forward 5 weeks later it was my LAST day of maternity leave and Keaton woke up from a nap around Noon and it was time to eat; he never turned down milk and it had been 3 hours so I knew he should be hungry. He wouldn't eat and was really upset. He's always very happy --- I tried gas drops and everything but nothing calmed him down.
We called the pediatricians office and things changed very quickly and I want to share his symptoms because we had NO idea what was going on and what turned out to be GBS (Group B Strep Bacterium). He started running a fever, he got very fussy and started moaning, his skin started turning a pitted color. His fever got up to 103.5 and he was immediately admitted to the hospital after going to the pediatricians office.
He started on strong antibiotics (rocephin to start then switched to ampicillin) our pediatrician remembered I was GBS+ when Keaton was born and treated it as that. He had 2 spinal taps and blood cultures and started an IV for antibiotics. It took 48 hours to get the final culture results it was Group B Strep. He received 11 days of IV antibiotics in the hospital. His next blood culture showed up completely clear and his spinal tap was negative.
We're so thankful it was caught early and treated so quickly or things could've been so different! Especially since late onset often appears as meningitis. I'm thankful everyday that he woke up and something was noticeably wrong because some babies don't wake up when they become GBS Septic.
Fast forward to when Keaton's 10 weeks old and he wakes up at 2:00am and starts having the same symptoms; won't eat, inconsolable, fever, starts moaning...I had this feeling in my stomach it was GBS again but knew how SLIM chances were for him to have a recurrent case...only about 1-3% chance of re-infection.
We took him in to the pediatrician that morning and got a blood culture; given his history he got a shot of rocephin to cover him for 24 hours until we could get the preliminary culture results to show if anything was growing. We were able to go home this time because if it was positive we had to go to another hospital. I knew when the phone rang early Sunday morning that it was showing up again!
We were sent to another hospital's ER about an hour away and admitted. This hospital thought there was NO way he had GBS again, but thankfully our pediatrician (whose office had only seen a recurrence once in 18 years) saw him BOTH times and said, "I've seen him--that's what it is" which I knew, too. The final culture came back GBS Bacterium again. I asked to have my breast milk tested because I wanted to know (had to be persistent as they had never tested breast milk before), but it was negative. They said breastfeeding was best for him and he could've been sicker not having it.
We were there 11 days with IV antibiotics (rocephin and penicillin) over those 11 days we never got to leave; he had 7 spinal taps, heart ultrasounds, bone scan, and many IVs and blood work. He ended up with two IVs in his head and he kept blowing veins; they couldn't do a PICC line and thankfully we avoided a mid-line. Thankfully all his tests were coming back perfect. No signs of meningitis, osteomyelitis. We had 2-3 infectious disease doctors and nearly 10+ doctors in our room everyday.
We are truly so blessed our little boy is happy, healthy and no setbacks or complications from GBS. It's definitely a silent killer and I wanted to bring awareness to something that impacted our life! Most importantly, trust your instincts -- early diagnosis and treatment are essential to combat late onset GBS infection - delay can be fatal! We are so blessed ours turned out as well as it did.
— Andrea Pelley, USA
Andrea tells others about GBS through social media.
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.