Mum Lieghann writes,
“This is our Callie.
I found out via a swab test that I had Strep B. I spoke to several midwives about it, but none of them gave me much information; they just told me to Google it. I had to be induced. On the way to the ward, I said to the doctor, ‘I have Strep B, so I will need antibiotics.’ She then replied, ‘Just because you had it when you did a swab doesn’t mean you have it now.’* After going up to the ward, another doctor gave me the antibiotics I needed, and Callie made her entrance into the world at 22:17, weighing 8 lb 11 oz on April 29, 2016.
Callie looked absolutely fine that night, but the following morning in the hospital, she was taking sharp breaths. The baby doctor came round and completed her usual checks, noticing her breathing, and sent her straight to the Trevor Mann Baby Unit for scans and antibiotics. Callie had Strep B, which caused pneumonia in both lungs. Callie and I stayed in the hospital for 7 days until the antibiotics worked. Those 7 days felt like the longest days of my life; Callie’s infection levels were really high. The doctor told us that if we had taken Callie home, she wouldn’t be with us today.
For the first year of Callie’s life, she was in and out of the hospital every 5 weeks with bronchitis as a baby and had a stay in the High Dependency Unit at 8 months old. Despite this, she is now happy and healthy, with a little bit of sassiness. We are so thankful that the doctor on duty that day noticed the signs and did everything to save our baby girl. More needs to be done to raise awareness, and doctors, nurses, and midwives should become more educated about Strep B.
*Research has shown that, whatever the result of a sensitive test for GBS carriage, your status is hugely likely to be the same for the next 5 weeks. After that, the predictiveness wanes a bit – though it doesn’t plummet like a stone.
