OT: Circ or not to Circ

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>Consequently, Krysti has constant yeast infections. When she was in

>labor with Jordan, she was on IV antibiotics for Group B Strep in

>the vagina. She had to have two bags of antibiotics before Jordan

>was born to erase the strep infection.

>

> I know the yeast infections are at least 98% because David is not

>circ'd. As for the Group B Strep....well, that's anybody's guess.

>Barb

 

Hi Barb,

 

I am pretty quiet on the list here but this post caught my

attention. I, too, was Group B Strep active when my son was born.

It was, in part, one of the reasons he was born 3.5 months

premature. I spent 3 days in the hospital on antibiotics but fever

continued to spark.

 

I was never really given a satisfactory answer as to what Group B

Strep is, how it becomes active in the body, and what affects it can

have both to the mother and the child, if any later on down the line.

 

Here is what little I was told - Maybe someone in the group can fill

in the blanks or cross out the misinformation for us both:

 

Group B Strep is a infection carried in the blood that approx. 60%

of the population carries within their system. Some people never

become active or show signs of it, others become active and have

physical symptoms. The symptoms vary. Pregnancy seems to be one

catalyst for active infection and of those who carry the virus

within their system, 50-75% will become active during the 2nd-3rd

trimester. This infection is reported to be able to kill a healthy

newborn within 24 hours if undetected and left untreated.

 

I had a vaginal discharge that was like an extremely aggressive and

magnified yeast infection. I also had fever which spiked quite high

over that 3 day period. Both the fever and the infection caused

preterm labor, which combined with an incompetent cervix due to

surgery, and was pretty much all she wrote and my son had to be born

to survive. They kept him on antibiotics for 20 days because I was

still actively infected. They tried to deliver him still in the sac

for added protection, but as is typical of him, he had other ideas.

He stalled for some time while they debated which way to go, then

made his sudden arrival preventing a safer C-Section delivery (under

the circumstances).

 

Children born and infected with Group B Strep can become quite ill

and it can cause serious birth defects including blindness and

hearing loss. Mental retardation is not uncommon, though the level

of disability varies widely. Complications from Group B Strep are

detected very early though if the condition is known to be there.

 

Because of the fact my son was so premature, it is impossible to

know if the problems he has today can be associated to the

prematurity or the Group B Strep. We were extremely fortunate that

he did not suffer any of the expected outcomes. He is extremely

bright, but there are many other issues which we still deal with

today and cannot determine a root cause or treatment for. It was

strongly recommended, in my son's situation, that he be

circumcized. It was my preference in any case.

 

Anyway, this is probably more than you wanted to know but I thought

I would throw in what little I have been given by the medical

profession. I have found information, but not much that gives detail

which I take to mean that they really just don't know.

 

I hope this helps some.

 

Laura