Jamie-Leigh, mum to Theodore, says,
“The first time I had heard of group B Strep was when Theo was born. I had reached my due date of 21 October, and my waters had started to go the day after. I was told to stay at home until the contractions became unbearable. A couple of days later, I went into the induction ward and my boy was born on 24 October.
Straightaway, he was rushed off for oxygen with no explanation as to what was happening. I was in labour for 46 hours in total after my waters had gone.
My baby had been taken to the NICU and I wasn’t allowed to see him for four hours. I had to wait until my antibiotics had finished and my epidural had worn off until I was finally allowed to be taken to the NICU.
Finally, it was time to see my boy, but unfortunately, it wasn’t all happy and exciting. It was an upsetting scene that I will never forget; seeing my little baby boy hooked up to a ventilator and all these wires helping him breathe and being pumped with all these antibiotics to fight all sorts of infections. Unbeknown to us at the time, he had group B Strep infection.
Theodore spent seven days in hospital in total, with a ventilator at first, then high-flow oxygen and feeding tubes. I felt useless, not being able to do anything except hold my baby when they would take him out of his incubator.
Finally, my boy was strong enough to be off the oxygen and back on a normal ward for two days before coming home to his family. An experience I will never forget.”
