I’m 33.5 weeks pregnant and just left my midwife’s office for my 33 week appointment. I was reminded I need to make my decisions about GBS testing/treatment and sign the consent forms after reading the provided materials (pros/cons/etc.) as I plan for a home birth VBAC. As I drove away I began to compare this interaction with my first experience with GBS during my first pregnancy.
With my first pregnancy, I was seeing a well known Certified Nurse Midwives (a group) at a hospital in Chicago. I chose to switch from an OB at Northwestern to this CNM group with the hopes that I’d have a better “chance” at a natural birth (less hurdles to battle) and now, I can see how the hospital policy impacts ALL providers, even if they are more “natural” friendly like a CNM group. I remember one of those later third trimester checkups when I was talking with a CNM. Up until this point, I had verbalized the importance of movement in labor and intermittent monitoring or at the very least wireless monitoring because I realized I may not be able to actually choose that. At the later appointment it was pointed out that I actually tested positive for GBS so I would have to have antibiotics administered via IV upon arrival to the hospital when in labor and that it was important to not arrive “too late.” I recall feeling quite disappointed as the sounds of an IV in my hand and a pole strapped to me while in labor, didn’t exactly feel right. It seemed like, as we kept getting closer to the end, things like “natural birth” started going out the window (for example, also learning how the hospital doesn’t really allow eating while there) WTF? So now we were talking about needles in hands, IV’s, antibiotics (which are a whole issue in and of themselves with how they can impact the baby). hmmmmm….
Now… fast forward to my current experience, where I am able to CHOOSE …
1. whether or not I get tested for GBS,
2. the course of treatment or no treatment should I test positive,
3. and that I am given information both for and against treatment and more background information to the whole GBS testing thing in general. I am encouraged to research this topic to make an informed decision.
(I’m not getting into the full content/debate about GBS testing in this post but I’ll just mention that one can test positive for it one week, and not the next week and vice versa. If you test positive for it, it doesn’t meant the baby will be born infected by it, but there is a chance the baby could be.)
I have not decided yet which course of action I would choose if I tested positive again but I do know that I am grateful that I have an opportunity to make an informed decision about it. This one example of GBS testing and treatment in laboring mothers got me thinking about the nutshell of the main problem with the hospital system for maternity care in the US today. It is set up for the primary benefit of the PROVIDER and not for the needs of a specific mother/child/family. I am starting to understand what birth advocates are talking about when they mention a need for more “informed consent.”
What are your thoughts?
As I am deciding about this particular choice as well in the next few weeks, I would love to hear others experience with GBS testing/not testing and decisions of treatment/not treatment during labor. Please comment or message or tweet! Thanks!
Birth and Botox 