What Is GBS? How Does It Affect Mothers During Childbirth?

SheéLee Rock, Childbirth Educator and Doula in Virginia, U.S.A.

This month is International Group B Strep Awareness Month. Group B Strep is a bacteria that is found naturally in 1 in 4 pregnant women and affects 1 in 2,000 babies in the U.S. It can happen, but it is not that common for babies to have adverse side effects. This month is to bring awareness to the general public.

For my book about childbirth around the world I interviewed SheéLee Rock, a childbirth educator and doula, located in Virginia. I asked her about GBS.

KHRISTEE: What is GBS?

SHEÉ LEE: GBS stands for Group Beta Strep.

KHRISTEE: How does it affect mothers when they test positive for Group Beta Strep?

SHEÉ LEE: GBS is a normal bacteria that lives in the vagina, all the time. It can come and go. It also comes and goes from the intestinal tract. It typically doesn’t cause any symptoms or signs. Moms can have it now, in their pregnancy, during their labor.

The concern is that sometimes moms that have Group Beta Strep in the intestinal tract and in the vagina during labor can possibly pass an infection to the babies and a very small amount of those babies can die. What happens though is that moms are typically tested later in pregnancy for this by a swab that goes into the vagina and then a swab that goes into the rectum and if it comes back positive, they’re not tested again, even though, your GBS can change. You could be positive during your tests around 34-36 weeks and then can be negative during labor. Or you could have a negative test, and then be positive during labor; they don’t care. In the U.S., they test you once and go with those results.

If you’re GBS positive and you’re wanting a hospital birth, they are going to recommend that you have two doses of IV antibiotics during your labor, prior to giving birth. There are a couple of drawbacks to this. 1) You are exposing yourself and your baby to antibiotics, whether you know you if your baby is going to get an infection or not 2) you have to have an IV which limits your movement, 3) sometimes IV fluids can dilute your hormones, 4) they can also cause extra fluid retention after labor which can be very painful, hard to walk. 5) They can also cause some issues with breastfeeding because babies sometimes retain that fluid that you got in IVs whether there is antibiotics in it or not. Those babies are weighed at being larger. So, when they drop that fluid retention, sometimes providers freak out and say, “Oh, my gosh, they’re not getting enough breast milk; they’ve lost too much weight. You need to supplement with formula.” The other issue is that you have to get to the hospital sooner than what your plan was. So if your plan was to stay at home and labor at home as long as possible, to avoid harassment, intervention, you know, all the rules of the hospital, that is going to change your plans a little bit because they do tell moms they have to have two doses of antibiotics. And it does take two to four hours to run each bag.

KHRISTEE: Crazy.

SHEÉ LEE: Some moms choose to get one bag because they feel like that is enough protection and it allows them to get to the hospital a little bit later. Some moms are having home births, so they stick with the home birth and don’t do it at all. The hospital policies are very strict with GBS and you getting there, so they will push you to get there early. There are some moms who just show up and oops! it’s too late to get the antibiotics. In some other countries, the way it is handled, instead of giving routine antibiotics as a preventative, they closely watch babies very, very closely for any signs of issues or infections. If they notice anything, then they administer antibiotics to the baby at that time. So, this is treated as needed.

So, even if you test positive and you want to have another test, like two weeks prior to your due date, or a week before or whatever, and you get retested, the doctors here will only accept your first test. Even if you have a second test that is negative, they don’t care.

Comment below. Were you familiar with GBS? Were you familiar with the policies in the U.S.? What is your country’s protocol for GBS? Were you given antibiotics in the hospital when you tested positive for GBS? What did you learn from this interview?

If you are interested to learn more about childbirth around the world, please make sure to read my new book about childbirth around the world and subscribe to this list for updates on this blog and to be notified when my book is available. Click here to join the list.