Since my first post on my strep B positive result (if you
need a catch up, click here), I had another midwife appointment, and I’m
feeling a little better about things. I think I’ll backtrack a bit though to
continue the story.
In my last post I wrote that I tested positive for GBS, and
I explained why this result might change how things go for labor and delivery. Here’s
the rest of the story:
Alternative treatment
to antibiotics
At my 35-week appointment (when I tested for strep B) the
midwife was telling me that in Europe practitioners have been studying a type
of wash they feel can reduce mother to newborn transmission of the bacteria.
Instead of giving a mother penicillin or some other antibiotic, they use a wash
in the time leading up to a vaginal delivery to reduce the possibility of the
bacteria being picked up by the newborn.
She said they’ve seen very good results with this
alternative, but unfortunately, the studies have yet to be replicated in the
U.S.
Fast forward to the following
week when I had my appointment to discuss my strep B result. I left that
appointment somewhat discouraged, knowing I would have to have antibiotics with
the birth and all of that. I headed to Cradle, a baby store in Northampton that
has tons of resources and offers workshops and classes during pregnancy and for
the postpartum period. They also sell cloth diapering items, baby carriers, etc. I was headed to purchase some final things on my registry,
and I mentioned to one of the women behind the counter that I had tested
positive for GBS. She immediately went to a file and handed me some information
on an alternative treatment, then encouraged me to ask about being retested at my
next appointment.
Turns out, the info she gave me was from one of the European
studies I’d been told about. The method uses Chlorhexidine (sold under the name
Hibiclens) and water. It can be applied in one of two ways, and according to
the study, researchers found washing or “flushing” with this mixture to have
the same efficacy as using an antibiotic.
I wasn’t sure if you could buy Hibiclens around here, and I
first wanted to run the study by my midwives. At my appointment on Friday I
asked about being retested and mentioned the information I was given. The
midwife I saw attended a conference last year on this very treatment, and she also
said there are herbs you can take that some find to help rid a person of the
bacteria. Unfortunately, I’m a little too close to my due date to try these
alternatives, and even if I were to retest and have a negative result, the first
positive on my chart will stay with me. Apparently, once I’m at the hospital,
the pediatricians there would see the first positive and still insist I have
the antibiotic, regardless of a second negative test. If I opted out, they
would run tons of tests on the baby following birth and keep it under close
watch for at least 48 hours. So basically, at this point, I may as well accept
the positive and proceed.
For the next pregnancy, though, the midwife suggested I try
the treatment a few weeks before I would be tested, get a negative and then be
done with it. I’m definitely going to hold onto it for that reason. She also
said their office gave thought to running their own study for the moms who test
positive and choose to opt out of antibiotics. They were going to offer the
wash and herbs and track the results; however, they decided it probably
wouldn’t be well accepted at this time by the medical field. As she put it, the
U.S. isn’t “edgy” enough for this type of research!
She did encourage me that it is still entirely possible for
me to deliver without pain medication, and that even if I have to be induced
with Pitocin, it is entirely possible for me to get through the birth without
an epidural. I said something about being afraid the contractions would come so
fast I couldn’t stay on top of them, and it would be more painful since Pitocin
doesn’t offer the release the natural hormone it imitates does. She replied,
“Well, we won’t make them come so fast.” (I figured out this meant they won’t
turn the dial up so much!) So I left more encouraged that I could still deliver
naturally, even with a GBS positive result.
A word on the
mental/spiritual effect of the result
But I like control. It’s something that has consistently
hindered my relationship with God—I could probably find something I have
trouble giving up control of daily. At least weekly. I knew before this GBS
test that if things were to end in a c-section, I would have a real possibility
of being depressed and feeling like I failed. Knowing that, Andrew and I (and
friends who know) have been praying that I’ll remember who is in control of
this birth and trust that regardless of how it turns out, things went the way
the Lord had planned.
That’s why the positive result hit me the way it did. It was
one more roadblock to remind me that I’m not in control. “Doing this my way” is
prideful and sinful, and I need to not only continue to confess that but keep
praying that my faith and trust will be bigger than the outcome of this birth.
AND that if I do end up having a natural birth, the glory doesn’t go to me—it goes
to God because he’s the one with the plan and the one who got me through it.
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