What Went Wrong

Several weeks after Melissa died I was told my by OB that her cause of death was Group B Strep. I had never heard of it nor was he forthcoming with any information. The only comment he made to me that day was that nothing could have been done to save her life. Then he handed me a copy of her autopsy report and walked out of the room.

I went to the library and found books with information about Group B Strep. What I learned only added to my grief. Not only was there a test for GBS but it was treatable. I was devastated! How could I have not known about this and why didn't my doctor test me? Also, why did he lie to me that nothing could have been done. I was furious!

What I learned was that GBS is a common bacteria found in many women. If a pregnant woman is a carrier, it poses a serious threat to her baby during delivery if left untreated. When I was pregnant with Melissa, the test to check for GBS was available but it was not mandatory for doctors to inform their patients or test them. Thousands of babies were dying in this country every year from a treatable disease! If a woman tests positive and antibiotics are given through her IV during labor, the baby is protected. It was that simple. I also learned that if a woman was not tested, or tested negative, but started running fever during labor, antibiotics were to be immediately started and the test be given then. Once the baby was born, it too should be tested and given antibiotics.

I made many, many trips to my doctor's office because of problems with my incision. A few days after the staples were removed, the incision completely came apart due to Group B Strep infection. I had to go to my doctor's office everyday, seven days a week, for six weeks. It was the strep that caused me to become so sick during labor and delivery and it was still causing me problems weeks afterward. Massive amounts of antibiotics and extreme measures treating the incision finally cleared me of the infection and allowed my incision to heal.

I told my doctor what I had learned about GBS and asked him why he didn't test me, why I wasn't given antibiotics and why the symptoms and warning signs both Melissa and I had were ignored. His exact words were that maternity care was already so expensive and the test would be an additional $30 so he just didn't mention it to his patients. YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT! Basically a $30 test and $10 worth of penicillin in my IV during labor and delivery would have saved my baby's life.

Thankfully in that same year a group of parents from Chapel Hill, NC who had also had babies die from GBS founded the Group B Strep Association and because of their determination it became mandatory that all pregnant women be tested. Countless babies are alive because of those wonderful people. I only wish it had been soon enough for Melissa.