Jax’s mum Natasha writes,
“Jax was born at 38+5 in 2020 during the pandemic. During the end of my pregnancy, I started to notice something was wrong. I was in a lot of pain, leaking some sort of fluid but unfortunately with every phone call and a hospital stay I was told to relax and I was probably just in early labour.
My waters broke in the middle of the night and 25 hours later Jax was born, screaming unusually. The screaming turned to grunting and he was extremely unsettled, he wasn’t able to suckle and wasn’t keen on the hospital lights. I had raised my concern multiple times that something was wrong but was advised they would review within 12 hours. Desperate for help, I called for a midwife on the ward and he was taken away for further opinions. He was then given antibiotics straight away and a lumbar puncture was performed, as well as bloods, showing his high infection markers.
We were told he most likely had group B Strep infection. After more results came back there was enough reasonable evidence for him to be diagnosed with group B Strep meningitis. Jax spent 14 days on antibiotics in the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU). Myself and my partner, Decklyn, were left confused and completely heartbroken – we’d never heard of group B Strep infection, what caused it and what the long-lasting effects could be. We had done a lot of research ourselves, and although being given a lot of positive reassurance that Jax would make a full recovery, we couldn’t help assume the worst when we saw our newborn baby connected to wires and tubes. Luckily Jax made a full recovery and is a thriving 1-year-old and now a big brother to Archie.”
October, 2023 update: Jax has now been diagnosed with epilepsy as of May 2022. There is no history of epilepsy in the family. Epilespy can be an after-effect of group B Strep meningitis. He’s doing well after being medicated for his seizures and is now over a year seizure free.
