Mason’s mum Samantha writes,
“In July 2017 I was blessed with a beautiful little boy, Mason. My waters broke 1 week before my due date and he was born 2 days later with the help of the hormone drip. When I gave birth, my partner wanted to cut the cord but wasn’t actually allowed as when Mason came out he wasn’t breathing.
They whisked him across to the side of the room for what felt like a lifetime. Thankfully, my little boy was OK, and shortly after he was placed on me for cuddles. Nothing was said to me and at this point, I’d still never heard the words ‘group B Strep’. Getting home I was overwhelmed. This was my first baby and we were getting settled into our new life.
I started developing problems going to the toilet. I couldn’t leave the house and if I did I would have to return home to use the shower to be able to urinate. This started becoming a big problem and caused me so much pain, so I decided to take a urine sample to my midwife when Mason was around 2 weeks old. My midwife made me feel a little silly by saying things like “You have just had a baby it will hurt”. She dipped the stick into my urine sample and said there was nothing wrong and again made me feel like I was being dramatic.
I knew myself that something was wrong so when she said to me “I can send it to the lab but it will come back with nothing”. I said “Of course, send it away”.
I went home with my new baby feeling really stupid and like I didn’t know my own body or what I was talking about. A few days after this I received a call while shopping from my doctor. She told me that I had a urine infection and also asked if I had already been tested for group B Strep. Obviously, I didn’t know this and had never heard of it before even throughout my pregnancy. She asked me questions about Mason to make sure he was OK and told me to research it on the NHS website when I got home.
I had two lots of antibiotics to get rid of both infections. I’m so lucky my little boy is still here and I am one of the very fortunate people to have experienced no loss through this infection. Mason will be 4 this July and will start school in September and I’m very aware how different our lives could have been. I thank my lucky stars on a daily basis that we are both well.
I’m due my second boy in October 2021 and group B Strep has been on my mind a lot. I have a plan in place to have antibiotics through my next labour even if I don’t test positive for group B strep. I’m hoping for a safe delivery for my little boy and luckily I persisted about the way I felt, so I can now put things in place to prevent this happening again. I’ve learnt a lot from this and that’s to always trust your instincts. I feel things need to change in the future. More people need to be aware of this and not just pregnant women! My sisters have 5 children between them and none of our family or friends had ever heard of this before I went through this. Let’s hope for the future a more educated world about group B Strep.”
