It is the worst case scenario for every expectant parent. A complication during birth affects your baby and eventually leads to you having to say good-bye to your precious 6-week-old bundle of joy. That was the reality for Emily Ashurst and Pete Vincent when their baby girl, Grace, was born. Grace contracted late onset group B streptococcus meningitis from her mother during childbirth and was given a 1 percent chance of survival.
Group B streptococcus is a member of the normal flora of the digestive system and female urogenital tract, so many women are carriers of this bacterium without knowing it. GBS colonization can be chronic or intermittent. Testing is recommended for all pregnant women between 35-37 weeks. If a mom-to-be’s test is positive, she can receive antibiotics through an IV during birth to neutralize the bacteria. Babies can acquire the organism vertically in utero or during delivery from the mother’s genital tract. When a baby does contract GBS at birth it commonly causes pneumonia. Sepsis (infection of the bloodstream) and meningitis (infection of the lining and fluid surrounding the brain) is seen in more severe cases.
Baby Grace developed meningitis 5 weeks after birth and spent four days in Intensive Care before being taken off life support. Her parents were told she would take a few last breaths and slip away. But she kept stopping breathing and starting again for the next six hours. Grace’s heart rate, temperature and blood pressure then all returned to normal, and last week she went home.
Grace’s parents were told she had catastrophic brain damage and had no chance of living. Her mother says every day she is making slow progress now. The future isn’t clear yet, as the doctors don’t know what kind of damage Grace might have sustained, but that the family is hoping things will improve.
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