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Natural Birth
erb82
member
GBS
erb82
member
I'm 32 weeks right now and will be having my GBS test at 35 weeks. I know I've read on these boards about how to reduce your chances of being GBS+ through diet. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
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Re: GBS
Avoid red meat (its where most people contract the bacteria), take a probiotic. Eat yogurt with active cultures and no added sugar.
Other than that, try to schedule your test first thing in the morning. Shower and wash your genitals really well and dry with a clean towel. Avoid having a bowel movement in between the time you shower and your test.
I don't get it either. It's one thing to try and prevent or get rid of the actual bacteria through probiotics, hibiclens, etc. But trying to manipulate the test results seems pointless. Plus if you really are colonized with GBS, a false negative test could cause problems.
I agree. I was GBS+, and even though I had to have an IV (which you can decline), I was still able to walk around, get in the jacuzzi, and do whatever I wanted.
I think if you are going to be GBS+, you are going to be GBS+ no matter what you do.
I also had gestational diabetes. I wanted to sway the results somehow, but I knew that if I did, and I actually was diabetic, and I wasn't being monitored, there could have been some serious complications. I know it's not the same thing, but think about it...
Because the test is arbitrary. It's administered at 36 weeks, but who's to say you don't get colonized at 37 weeks, even after a negative test? And having GBS in your rectum has nothing to do with transmitting GBS to your kid. You do nt give birth from your rectum.
True, no one can force you to take the test, but if you don't hospital policy will dictate that you must have the abx. If you decline them, they will force you to stay in hospital two more days than a normal birth. Some people don't want to deal with the hassle of all that, especially since the risks associated with GBS are pretty minuscule.
Sure, we know the anatomy. But also consider
1. your water may be leaking, running from one to the other, depending on how you are laying
2. the two are really close together, and there will be a lot of people with their hands down there
3. some women tear from one to the other
There's a reason a rectal swap + vaginal swab are the norm. Also, you don't get "infected" with GBS from meat products. GBS are normal flora in humans. You don't need to get "infected" by anything to have them.
I never said "infected" I said colonized. Yes, it's normal in humans, but it comes from red meat. The bacteria colonize your intestines and colon as you digest the meat and it moves to your rectum during bowel movements. It can then spread from your rectum to your vagina.
Infection is when the bacteria is found outside your digestive tract, which is a totally different situation to colonization.
I encourage you to do some research on the origins of the GBS test and why it came to be recommended universally. It's an interesting story and will give you a new perspective on the efficacy of the test.
I'm not trying to sway the results. If I have GBS anywhere in my system, I would like to know so that I can take the recommended steps by my doctor. However, if I can reduce my chances of carrying the bacteria in the first place, I'm interested in how to do it. I was GBS+ with my second daughter and ended up having a precipitous labor, so not enough time to be administered the antibiotics. As a result, my daughter was more closely monitored in the first few days. She was fine, but it's one less stressor I'd like to deal with during the first few days of this baby's life.
For me also, being positive with my first, the results of the second test didn't matter. I could've read negative at 36 weeks and still been positive at birth and I knew that b/c I've been positive before! So taking the test at all made no sense to me.
So, given that I didn't want to stay 48 hours (my reason being mostly the at -the-time 15 1/2 month old I had at home who had never been without me overnight), I knew I had to explore other options altogether. I had a homebirth and declined all testing. My bag of waters broke as I was pushing the baby out. I pushed for all of 2 minutes after my water broke. Chance of infection insanely low. I'm very happy with my decision, but for women who can't have or don't want to give birth at home, I can totally understand wanting to test negative to avoid what can be an extremely arbitrary across-the-board "rule."