Patient casebook: Was it my fault?
I couldn’t understand how our perfect baby girl could suddenly become so ill...
When Autumn was first placed in my arms, I thought she was perfect.
It was February 2018, and despite being two weeks early, she weighed a healthy 7lb.
Now, all my husband Liam, 21, and I wanted was to bring her home.
But before we could do that, the hospital had to carry out the usual checks.
I could have stared at Autumn all day, but I soon drifted off to sleep.
Then just two hours later, a midwife woke me.
‘We’ve had to take Autumn to the ICU,’ she said.
As she wheeled me down to the unit, she explained Autumn had been making strange grunting noises.
‘It sounded like she was struggling to breathe,’ they said. But still half-asleep I didn’t really register what she was saying. When we got to Autumn, doctors told me she was hooked up to oxygen.
And they said they possibly needed to give her blood tests and a lumbar puncture, too.
But it wasn’t until the next day that doctors were able to give us a diagnosis.
‘Autumn has group B strep,’ she explained.
This meant nothing to me at first.
They passed me a leaflet and I flicked through the pages to find out more.
And as I did, my panic began to rise.
I learnt that GBS is a type of bacteria carried by most adults.
And while it’s normally harmless, if passed from mother to baby during labour it can cause lifethreatening infections.
In our case, I’d likely always carried GBS but never known.
‘This is my fault,’ I cried to Liam.
‘Don’t be silly, you couldn’t have known,’ he soothed. But I still felt guilty.
So I tried to learn as much as I could about GBS.
Reached out to Group B Strep Support Charity for help and advice.
Shockingly, I discovered it could have been prevented.
Unlike most other countries, in the UK we don’t routinely check for GBS during pregnancy.
If we did, we could reduce the risk of a baby developing a GBS infection by up to 90%.
So if you’re tested positive, doctors could give you medication during labour to stop the infection spreading.
And, like me, there are so many mums who don’t know what GBS is until their child is being diagnosed.
‘More needs to be done to raise awareness of GBS before it’s too late,’ I told Liam as I watched Autumn battle to survive.
She was on antibiotics. Her tiny body covered in bruises from the countless needles and cannulas.
Soon, though, the meds started working.
At 10 days old, she was feeding from a bottle.
And soon after, we brought Autumn home from hospital.
As I sat with her on the sofa I cried with relief.
After six months, she was cleared from relapsing.
Now she’s two and a total chatterbox.
But even though she’s growing up fast, it’s still just as important to me to raise awareness of GBS.
I wasn’t ready, but hopefully my story can help someone else be prepared.
Like me, so many mums don’t know about it