Jodie, mum to Daisy, says:
“At the time, it was horrendous. I thought I was going to lose my baby. It came as a whirlwind, as I knew and had heard nothing about group B Strep while pregnant. I wasn’t even aware that I had been tested.
Everything was fine during my pregnancy – in fact, it was near perfect. My labour was the same. My waters broke at 6 am and Daisy arrived at 3.17 pm without pain relief. When Daisy was three weeks old, she was crying a lot, but still feeding and still putting weight on. However I noticed she would cry out whenever she was put on my chest and mother’s instinct kicked in. I just felt that something wasn’t right. I rang my mum and told her I would take Daisy to A&E. She responded with an ‘oh right’ as if I was an overreacting new mum. Same with my husband, who at first was reluctant until I said I was going regardless of whether he came or not. Off we went to hospital and did not come home for another three weeks.
Daisy had bloods taken, and we were kept in. Still, no idea what was wrong. A few days later she was taken for a lumbar puncture and a PICC line was inserted. Eight hours later, Daisy was back on the ward. The next day I remember a team of doctors coming into our room, and it was then the infectious disease consultant told me what was wrong – group B Strep infection, osteomyelitis and possibly meningitis (however the lumbar puncture had blood in it, so they couldn’t confirm).
We spent three weeks in hospital, and then for a further six weeks a nurse had to attend our home to give antibiotics through Daisy’s PICC line.
I now have a healthy, happy nearly nine-year-old beautiful girl and every day I thank my lucky stars.”
