I was GBS negative! (2 previous GBS+ pregnancies)!!

RockyMtnMama

Just wanted to share that I tested GBS negative this time and was positive for both my previous pregnancies. I still have to keep up my regimine to keep any strains from popping up between now and my birth, but at least I don't have to worry about that risk factor.

Here's all I did daily - take 2 capsules of 10,000 priobiotic strains (found at a our local health store in the refridgerator, take one capsule of garlic oil/garlic pill It worked and I didn't do any vaginal treatments or cleaning or anything.

Good luck for those moms who want to avoid that. However, I should add that antibiotics for GBS are probably only like $30 and by the time I deliver in 3+ weeks, I'll have proably spent $50 on all the supplements. So cost wise it's no different, but risk wise, I'm very happy not to have to deal with timing antibiotics and delivery.

Nericole

That's awesome!

katiekatieNJ

I just tested positive and I'll be getting the antibiotics intravenously at the hospital when I go into labor - I didn't realize there was anything I could do to prevent this! Could you fill me in a bit more? I'd have done whatever it took to avoid this... wish I'd known

RockyMtnMama

I'm not an expert, but from what I've learned now (3 pregnancies) there are over 30 strains of GBS+ bacteria in human bodies and only a couple actually could cause harm during delivery (as the baby comes in contact with them).  I had GBS+ tests for both my previous pregnancies, but I only had antibiotics with one birth (second birth I was at the birth center <1 hour before delivery, so no time).  Basically, a baby can get pretty sick, pretty fast and possibly stop breathing in the first 48 hours if they get the strain of GBS+ that is the worst.  However, they can only really test for all strains of GBS+, so most women don't have the worst strains. 

I think about 1/4 of women have GBS in their bodies that can flare at any time and go away too.  I guess natural ways to combat this are probiotics, garlic and some others.  Probiotics encourage the growth of good bacteria cultures that help with digestion and through that, you can rebalance your good to bad (e.g. some of the bad are GBS+ bacteria) in your digestive tract/body and therefore test negative.  Garlic is also a natural antibacterial, so I think it can kill off bacteria (good and bad). 

Lastly, I've learned that there are other effective ways to get antibiotics besides IV.  If you really don't want the IV, (but it wasn't so bad to have a hep-lock and 1/2-hour of antibiotic with my first kid - every 4-6 hours) you can also take oral antibiotics for the weeks leading up to delivery or you can get a shot of antibiotics when you go into labor (needs to be in your 4 hours-ish before delivery to protect baby).  Talk to your doctor and they should explain more of this.  I even know a girlfriend who tested positive at 35 weeks, took tons of probiotics/garlic, etc. and then asked to be tested again at 37 weeks and was negative, but I think that is rare to turn things around in <2 weeks.