Do no harm. A Tiny Test and my big decision to waive antibiotics at birth.

We're almost there!  Signs of arrival have begun, 

so I will be ducking out soon to lay in with our baby.

Today's topic: DO NO HARM.

In your 37/38th week of pregnancy, you do a little test, with a little swab to see if you have a little colony in your nether regions called Group B Strep.

What? Strep in your nether regions? Like Strep throat?

Kind of, but this is just one of the many kinds of bacteria that are down there.  Unfortunately, while it rarely causes problems for the mother, it could be cause for concern with the babe.

Those who give birth vaginally and test positive have for many years been given a round of antibiotics at or just before birth, and same goes for baby (they share a bloodstream).

Why?  Because the theory is that if you can kill all the bacteria down there then you can eliminate ANY chance of the GBS passing to the baby.  But is this accurate? Or is it more of a lets cover our bases approach?

Well, I tested positive.

I got the news, beat myself up a bit, cried, and then spent the rest of the day digging even deeper into the research I had already glanced at.

I already knew Ina May Gaskin's thoughts, (certain births and babies are more susceptible and antibiotics come with their own problems, plus they didn't prove to work as promised) but what were other midwives and Doctors saying?  What about other mothers?  Was there anything else that could be done to prevent my positive diagnosis from becoming a problem?

After searching around I thought Wellness Mama had the best and most simply understood approach to helping prevent GBB and minimizing/eliminating the colony so you test negative.  She's also great at pointing to the research in her article that helped her come to a decision on natural alternative and waiving the antibiotics.  One note: when going down the research tunnel, don't spend too much time in the comments sections. People are very passionate about this topic (as they should be) but sometimes it gets downright mean.

Am I anti-Modern Medicine?  NO.  When I got the influenza virus coming back from Sundance and only having 4 days before I had to get back on another plane to go to another conference, I know I wouldn't have made it with out Tamiflu!  

I also had a lot of Strep throat as a child and was given a lot of penicillin, until finally they removed my tonsils and the strep throat pretty much never came back.  Take that for what it's worth, but my point is NO I am not against antibiotics.

Am I against interfering with the earliest of digestive and nervous systems that I have been growing, protecting and taking very good care of for the last 9 months?  YES.

Here's the bottom line with GBS, from my POV.

• Even if you test negative, you could still be positive at the time of birth.
• This is a much more common bacteria than people realize.
• The incidence of babies contracting the bacteria and becoming severely ill is much lower than the blanket antibiotic treatment recommended by most Doctors.
• Babies who are preterm, underweight, and born long after the mothers' water breaks into dry environments have a greater chance of contracting the bacteria. 

Again, the above are just a few factors, but it was enough for me to waive the antibiotics.  I've been on a natural protocol to eliminate/minimize GBS and I will be vigilant after giving birth.  Signs of the blood infection occur early on and usually in the first three months and the signs are clear.  At the first sign of any of them my Pediatrician will be consulted.

For a WELL RESEARCHED ARTICLE with much more information read on here: http://www.drmomma.org/2009/09/treating-gbs-group-b-strep-are.html