Henry’s mum Rebecca writes,
“This is my GBS story with occurred on Friday 1st November into Saturday 2nd November 2019. Over the period of these 2 days, I had developed the following whilst heavily pregnant:
- Back pain
- Temperature
- Bright orange urine
- Fingertips turning blue
- Vaginal pain
I went to the hospital on Saturday evening, as my symptoms had got worse throughout the day. Whilst being monitored, my baby’s heart rate dropped dangerously low and so I was taken to theatre for an emergency C-section. In recovery, I went downhill and ended up being transferred to the Critical Care Unit separated from my new baby boy. I was placed in isolation whilst the team pumped me full of drugs and had me wired up to various machines whilst they tried to figure out what was wrong with me. Luckily, I started to respond to treatment and the test results came back as me having the group B Strep bacteria which had turned septic and had got into my kidneys. The professor came to see me and said that I had been very lucky, as I was at death’s door when the team took me to critical care. My baby boy Henry had received antibiotics as a precaution, but he too had been lucky.
At no point during my pregnancy did anyone talk to me about group B Strep. Both myself and Henry were lucky, but I know many people aren’t. As a result, I am raising awareness of this harmful bacteria. Thank you so much for reading our story.”
