Group B Strep (GBS), testing in the UK, any of you bought a medisave test kit?...

[fudgecake251]

I'm 34 weeks pregnant on Monday, and today my sister in law (who is due any day now and lives in Spain) has been routinely tested and told she has GBS and during birth will be given penicillin to stop this being passed to her baby. I'm now worried because it's apparently not routine that we are tested here, but I have ordered a kit from Medisave which you can do yourself and this then gets sent back to the laboratory, they test it for you and let you know within 3 days. The kit and postage is free, but the testing is £35 which for peace of mind I don't mind paying. I think the risk to babies are minimal anyway, as 25% of women apparently carry this with no problems, and I wasn't tested with my son and he was fine, but as my sis in law has reminded me about this I'm now a bit concerned. Has anyone else done this test and were you sent paperwork afterwards with the results? Do the midwives etc accept this paperwork and result and treat you accordingly? or will they just ignore it? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fudgecake251]

Anyone?

 

[fudgecake251]

Anyone?

 

[Twinkle 3]

Hi I'm not in the 3rd trimester yet but saw this question, I am gbs positive and I will be getting antibiotics in labour. They don't routinely test here as gbs can be not present one day and then present the next. I don't think it would hurt to do the test you have bought and see what the results are. Then if they come back that you are group b strep pos then I would tell the midwife and ask/demand for a swab test done so they know themselves. I think they would take it seroiusly

 

[Hann12]

I've done it - did it with my last pregnancy, you take two swabs (one vaginally and one rectally) and send them off with the cheque then about 3/4 days later you get a text saying green (negative) or red (positive), and you receive the results in the post and they also post them out to your hospital if you have given the details. I think its worth doing for peace of mind. Just received my test pack this week so I'm ready to do it, will probably do it at 37 weeks.

 

[dan-o]

Yep I've got one I'm going to send off a week on Monday. I've been GBS + before and wanted to check if I still was now, or not

 

[mjemma]

Yes I did it as I had been GBS+ before and despite repeatedly asking, NHS refused to swab me and just said I should be hooked up to the antibiotics in labour. So glad I did as swab came back negative. They text me results, and sent paperwork to me and midwife. The medisave details were on a leaflet I got from my consultant so are well recognised and accepted.

 

[dan-o]

Yes I did it as I had been GBS+ before and despite repeatedly asking, NHS refused to swab me and just said I should be hooked up to the antibiotics in labour. So glad I did as swab came back negative. They text me results, and sent paperwork to me and midwife. The medisave details were on a leaflet I got from my consultant so are well recognised and accepted.

So did they accept the results?
This is exactly why I'm doing it as I had a precipitated labour last time, so might not get the AB's done in time and they've told me they will take the baby off me for 12-24 hrs observation if that happens, which seems a bit harsh if I'm not even GBS+!!
Obviously if I am still + then I'm happy to do whatever keeps a baby safe

 

[fudgecake251]

I just brought that exact point up with my husband as I had a precipitate labour last time, and all the sites I read say they should give ab's 4 hours before baby is born. My labour last time was 4 hrs total so I'm expecting it to b much shorter this time, meaning the ab's won't have time to work. I'm just wondering if the midwives take the results seriously and what they would do in the case of a fast labour. I didnt know about all this last time and my son was perfectly fine and I'm sure most babies would be, its just when you know about it you tend to be much more cautious.

 

[JeepGirl]

Wow, I'm suprised that they don't do it routinely there. I'm having a planned CS at 37.5 weeks and my doctor is still going to test for it at 36 weeks. I would do it for sure if I was you.

 

[MollyMalone]

I've just been tested today, but I'm based in Spain as well. Only thing though, is that over here if you have been tested and haven't given birth within 5 weeks they test you again just in case. Imagine getting a negative result and picking it up later on... If the results are positive I'm not sure whether they test again after 5 weeks or just give you the antibiotics regardless.

 

[winegums]

Just out of curiosity what would you guys do if you got a positive result, then they repeated it on the NHS for their own result and it was negative? Would you buy another one and do it again nearer the time?

 

[dan-o]

I was thinking about doing another one at 40+ weeks if my first one comes back negative at 36+5. Just depends on how quick the results come back really!

 

[ukgirl23]

I have mine and will be doing it thursday medisave seem to be very efficient but it is quite expensive.. i wish the test was routine here xx

 

[Twinkle 3]

Just out of curiosity what would you guys do if you got a positive result, then they repeated it on the NHS for their own result and it was negative? Would you buy another one and do it again nearer the time?

I personally think that If you got a positive then if they swabbed you themselves and it was negative then they wouldn't swab you again they would probably just give you antibiotics in labour if it was a reliable result you got the positive on. My midwife is great I was panicking about groub b the other day I was scared it was in my womb (long story but it can get there) and she offered to give me a swab to send off to the lab to check, I was just being paranoid but she was wanting to give me peace of mind so there are some midwives that will help you if your worried also they don't rountinely check you here as most babies that are born to a group b strep mother and are fine, I had my little girl and she was preterm but fine and im group b pos but i didnt know at the time.

It is a bit rubbish that they don't routinely check though as its your babies health/life that could be saved all for the sake of doing a routine swab.

 

[fudgecake251]

Is it right that the test normally is right for about 5 weeks after you've done the swab, so for example if I do it at 37 weeks that results should take me right up until the birth. I'm just concerned as they say you need to have the antibiotics at least 4 hours before baby is born, and my first labour was just over 4 hrs so I'm sure this one will be much shorter therefore don't know if the antibiotics would have time to work. Like you say though, I didn't know either with my first son so don't know if I had it or not and he was fine. Most of the time I think they are, it's just when you know about these things, you worry more.

 

[Twinkle 3]

I was swabbed at 12weeks to check for group b strep due to being high risk but as far as I know now I won't be swabbed again as they will just give me antibiotics anyway in labour. You need 4-5hours worth on a drip, if the labour is fast and the baby comes befor the full dose is given then they will give an injection of antibiotics to prevent infection to your baby as soon as she/he is born then they keep them in for atleast 24hours for observation.

Knowledge is sometimes the worse thing to have, we think the more we know the safer we are as we can try and protective ourselves from things but the more I know the more I worry and sometimes it's not even worth the worry.

I enjoyed my first pregnancy so much more as I was oblivious to so many things and I carried my little girl fine, but my second pregnancy was a nightmare and my third (my current one) is the worst I can't wait till my baby's here and well as I won't be having anymore the worry is far too much to handle but that's because I know more

 

[RaisinKane13]

Here we get tested at 36 weeks. I thought that was just a necessarily thing. Im not sure if they re-test you again after that if you dont go into labor. Crazy how countries are so differrnt.

 

[winegums]

It is a bit rubbish that they don't routinely check though as its your babies health/life that could be saved all for the sake of doing a routine swab.

I'm not sure what the value of routine testing is? You could test negative and then go into labour and be positive and have a bad outcome. The only way to true eliminate the risk is to give every single woman antibiotics

 

[Twinkle 3]

It is a bit rubbish that they don't routinely check though as its your babies health/life that could be saved all for the sake of doing a routine swab.

I'm not sure what the value of routine testing is? You could test negative and then go into labour and be positive and have a bad outcome. The only way to true eliminate the risk is to give every single woman antibiotics

The reason they don't routinely test is because it's very rare for group b strep to cause problems in babies if the mum is GBS + at the time of birth, iv also read that testing can do more harm than good as they don't want to use antibiotics too widely due to it becoming antibiotic resistant...

Iv read many things about gbs and asked many doctors, I was told not to worry about it but I don't think it would hurt to swab every women like other countries do but then again like you say it can be there one minute and gone the next