Ben's Birth

I went into labor at 30 weeks, but I had a great doctor who was able to stop things. This went on for 4 more weeks back and forth between the hospital and home. My doctor finally sent me for an amnio when I was 34 weeks along to check for fetal lung maturity. The test came back that his lungs were mature and we all felt confident that things would be fine. At 34.6 weeks, after 5 days of contractions, the doctor broke my water and started pitocin to get things going. The labor was awful. the babies heart rate kept dropping and the pitocin made the contractions unbearable. At 7:30 p.m my son was born. The doctor handed me my beautiful baby but after about 30 seconds took him from me. Bennett was having alot of problems breathing. The nurses started bagging him and the doctor called for a life flight helicopter. Ben was flown 100 miles away to a neonatal intensive care unit. We spent the next month there fighting for Ben's life. He was on a respirator for 2 weeks and required all kinds of medications and 2 blood transfusions. He was critically ill for 2 weeks. We finally found out that Ben had group b strep. He is one of the lucky ones, he has no lasting problems that we know of yet. Group b strep kills 5 to 6 babies every day in the U.S and makes 12,000 ill every year. Its a natural occurring bacteria found in the birth canals of 15% to 40% of all women. Group b strep isn't routinely tested for so you usually have to ask for the test. Its quite simple, just a swab of the birth canal and if you are positive then you are given antibiotics during labor. You need to be tested during EVERY pregnancy because group b strep can be dormant sometimes so a negative test doesn't mean your not a carrier.

For more information on Group B Strep:

http://pregnancy.about.com/msubgbs.htm Group B Strep Resources