Haroon’s mum Hajrah writes,
“I was tested for group B Strep a couple of times in my pregnancy, so I knew what it was and what will happen in my labour. Near the end of 37 weeks of pregnancy, I was told that I will have to be induced due to fewer fetal movements, so I was induced at 37 weeks and delivered my son at 37 weeks and 4 days.
I thought things were going fine and didn’t think how bad it will get. I was given antibiotics a bit later than I should have been given through IV. My contractions got closer and closer and he gushed out with respiratory problems and was taken down to the neonatal unit for his treatment and came back to me after a few hours.
I was discharged to go home, things were looking good but his jaundice level was on the borderline so was told he will be tested again by a health visitor. So 2 days later a lovely health visitor visited me and my son early in the morning and took some bloods from the heal and went back, within an hour I had a call from the same health visitor that she had got the results and rush to the hospital because his jaundice level was high and needed to be treated under phototherapy.
Back again at the hospital, he was looked after day and night but I knew in my heart something is going on. He started to sleep a lot and not have his feed and losing a lot of weight but I was getting no answers. They said it was normal. So we stayed on the ward for 7 days at the hospital. He didn’t seem too well in the early hours in the morning. His heart rate was too high, and his eyes were blood-shot red so he was taken down to the neonatal unit again and they took loads of blood cultures.
Within 10 minutes my husband and I see a couple of nurses and doctors running towards us and trying to take the baby out of my husband’s hand and I stop them and ask what is going on? Where are you taking my baby? They said he is very poorly and needs to be treated immediately, but we can’t say what’s causing the problem. So we all rushed to the ICU and his body is surrounded by the neonatal team and wires are put in the incubator. I’m in shock, and didn’t know whether to scream or cry. I stopped the main doctor in charge and I asked her is it because of the GBS I carried. She looked at me in shock and said, “Thank you mum, now we know what medication to treat him with.”
So we were in hospital for a good whole month until he recovered from the sepsis. His body was fighting the infection for the whole 2 weeks. If he wasn’t sent back to the hospital and being treated for jaundice I wouldn’t have known things would have got a lot worse or he wouldn’t have made it. It was a shock to me he was not monitored well after his birth or anything written on my notes about strep B. The doctors had no idea why his organs were about to fail until I spoke about it.
It hasn’t been easy for him straight after the treatment he couldn’t feed well so he was fed through the tube. I was told to try feeding him with the bottle but he couldn’t swallow, was always very lethargic and was losing more weight. I was fed up with no answers and sick of being inside the hospital. He is 3 years old now, but he had been through a lot of health issues and can’t balance well and has delays in understanding and speech. He doesn’t know the dangers around him at all so he is in full-time care and watched by his father and myself. It has been hard but it’s affected his brain a lot.
So please don’t take group B Strep very lightly and keep an eye on your newborn for signs of GBS infection.”
