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CHASE - USA
Born July 29, 2012 Late-onset Mother's GBS Status: Tested negative Gestational Age: 38 weeks Age Harmed: 9 weeks old |
When my husband and I found out we were pregnant with our first child we were thrilled! Our pregnancy went well besides extreme nausea and vomiting that occurred daily until hours before Chase was born. Before labor struck I visited our local hospital where Chase would be delivered to receive IV fluids due to dehydration. When the time came, at approximately 34 weeks I tested negative for group B strep. I was thrilled--one less thing to worry about. Only 4 weeks later our beautiful son was born. My labor started 4 days prior to the birth of my son. I was having contractions anywhere from 15 to 4 minutes apart. Being my first pregnancy I went to the hospital daily to get checked. Finally after many exhausting days my son was born. My delivery was much easier than my labor or pregnancy, to my relief. Chase was born at 9:42 pm and weighed 7 lbs 1 oz! He received perfect ratings on the apgar testing and he was breast feeding, pooping and peeing like a champ. Chase had higher levels of jaundice but we still got sent home two days later. They had us come back every day for 4 days to have his bilirubin tested. He gradually improved.
Fast forward many sleepless nights to about 9 weeks old. My husband went off to work and Chase and I did our daily routine, as usual. Everything was fine up until around 4:30 pm, I went from having a perfectly healthy baby boy to a screaming, projectile vomiting angry baby! His symptoms progressed over about a 4 hour span of time. First he was irritable and then he wouldn't stop crying and throwing up. I called my husband and suggested he come home. By the time he got home from his meeting Chase was inconsolable. We decided to call our pediatrician. When we contacted her we informed her of his symptoms and she originally thought it was a GI issue. She said we could wait it out and it could be gas or we could bring him in to our local hospital. Being new parents, we decided peace of mind was a lot better...I'm so thankful we made that decision. We packed up and left to go to our local hospital, the one Chase was born at. Once we got there Chase looked perfectly fine, no crying at all. The nurse took his temperature and we were shocked when she said it was 101. We were almost immediately seen by a doctor who had nurses come in and start and IV "just in case." She then sent us for a X-ray to look at his belly and lungs. When she got the results she came in and told us she would be transferring us to our local children's hospital thirty minutes away by ambulance because Chase needed surgery most likely for what she thought at the time was Intussusception of the bowel, aka telescoping bowel.
While waiting for transport they took blood cultures because of his elevated temperature. Transport had arrived and we were off to the children's hospital at approx 12:30 am. We had arrived just after 9:45. Once we got to the hospital we were rushed into the critical care area of the ER. We were met by a team of 4 doctors and 2 nurses. Over the next few hours we had a CT scan, consulted with pediatric surgeons and started on two high dose antibiotics. At that time Chase's temp had risen to 104. After the CT was read, the pediatric surgery team informed us that he did not have telescoping bowel but something serious was happening. Over the next 24 hours we had multiple tests done, from more blood work, to abdominal ultrasounds and lumbar punctures (spinal tap). Finally at approximately 3 am (24 hours later) we received the first results from the blood cultures that the ER doctor drew at SMMC. They informed that there was a bacteria in Chase's blood, but they weren't sure of which one. They would need the bacteria to grow in the cultures and within the next 24 hours we would know what kind of bacteria and within 48 hours from that point we would know how to treat it. At that time we were admitted to PICU. He was given high doses of powerful antibiotics and was started on maintenance fluids. Chase would not eat and hadn't in many hours.
After we found out what Chase had--late onset group B streptococcus and meningitis--we consulted with pediatric infectious disease. We were informed of the expected prognosis and told we were very lucky we caught it early because Chase was very sick, but it could be much worse. After that day we spent 17 long days at the children's hospital. Day 4 Chase's fever finally broke and we started to see the twinkle back in our beautiful boy's eyes. Every morning Chase would have a thirty minute IV infusion of his antibiotics. After about day 5 he was cut back to one high dose antibiotic. Chase went through multiple IVs because his veins were so tiny during his stay. At Barbara Bush Children's Hospital Chase had his own private room with a crib, a twin size hospital bed, and a pull out couch, a rocking chair and a mini fridge for food for mommy and daddy and breast milk for baby, and a private bathroom with a stand up shower. These became very useful because I never spent a night away from my son, let alone 2 hours.
Chase's prognosis grew better and better as the days went on. Our team of doctors were truly the best. We are thankful every day for our BBCH family. We are also very thankful for the ER doctor that helped with the speedy diagnosis that helped save our son's life and made his treatment even easier due to early detection. Our son was discharged from BBCH after a celebration ice cream party we threw for all the staff and patients on the floor and he has been healthy. Unlike some late-onset GBS meningitis babies Chase has no hearing loss, vision issues, or neurological Deficits. We want to raise awareness of GBS and especially late-onset GBS because so many families are unaware of the common symptoms and don't know how tragic the outcome could be. We will be forever grateful that we had such a positive prognosis. Without the every day help and support of our families and the outstanding doctors, nurses, medical students and staff at Barbara Bush Children's Hospital our life would not be the same.
— Meaghan Huot, ME, USA
Meaghan promotes GBS awareness by educating expectant/new moms.
Fast forward many sleepless nights to about 9 weeks old. My husband went off to work and Chase and I did our daily routine, as usual. Everything was fine up until around 4:30 pm, I went from having a perfectly healthy baby boy to a screaming, projectile vomiting angry baby! His symptoms progressed over about a 4 hour span of time. First he was irritable and then he wouldn't stop crying and throwing up. I called my husband and suggested he come home. By the time he got home from his meeting Chase was inconsolable. We decided to call our pediatrician. When we contacted her we informed her of his symptoms and she originally thought it was a GI issue. She said we could wait it out and it could be gas or we could bring him in to our local hospital. Being new parents, we decided peace of mind was a lot better...I'm so thankful we made that decision. We packed up and left to go to our local hospital, the one Chase was born at. Once we got there Chase looked perfectly fine, no crying at all. The nurse took his temperature and we were shocked when she said it was 101. We were almost immediately seen by a doctor who had nurses come in and start and IV "just in case." She then sent us for a X-ray to look at his belly and lungs. When she got the results she came in and told us she would be transferring us to our local children's hospital thirty minutes away by ambulance because Chase needed surgery most likely for what she thought at the time was Intussusception of the bowel, aka telescoping bowel.
While waiting for transport they took blood cultures because of his elevated temperature. Transport had arrived and we were off to the children's hospital at approx 12:30 am. We had arrived just after 9:45. Once we got to the hospital we were rushed into the critical care area of the ER. We were met by a team of 4 doctors and 2 nurses. Over the next few hours we had a CT scan, consulted with pediatric surgeons and started on two high dose antibiotics. At that time Chase's temp had risen to 104. After the CT was read, the pediatric surgery team informed us that he did not have telescoping bowel but something serious was happening. Over the next 24 hours we had multiple tests done, from more blood work, to abdominal ultrasounds and lumbar punctures (spinal tap). Finally at approximately 3 am (24 hours later) we received the first results from the blood cultures that the ER doctor drew at SMMC. They informed that there was a bacteria in Chase's blood, but they weren't sure of which one. They would need the bacteria to grow in the cultures and within the next 24 hours we would know what kind of bacteria and within 48 hours from that point we would know how to treat it. At that time we were admitted to PICU. He was given high doses of powerful antibiotics and was started on maintenance fluids. Chase would not eat and hadn't in many hours.
After we found out what Chase had--late onset group B streptococcus and meningitis--we consulted with pediatric infectious disease. We were informed of the expected prognosis and told we were very lucky we caught it early because Chase was very sick, but it could be much worse. After that day we spent 17 long days at the children's hospital. Day 4 Chase's fever finally broke and we started to see the twinkle back in our beautiful boy's eyes. Every morning Chase would have a thirty minute IV infusion of his antibiotics. After about day 5 he was cut back to one high dose antibiotic. Chase went through multiple IVs because his veins were so tiny during his stay. At Barbara Bush Children's Hospital Chase had his own private room with a crib, a twin size hospital bed, and a pull out couch, a rocking chair and a mini fridge for food for mommy and daddy and breast milk for baby, and a private bathroom with a stand up shower. These became very useful because I never spent a night away from my son, let alone 2 hours.
Chase's prognosis grew better and better as the days went on. Our team of doctors were truly the best. We are thankful every day for our BBCH family. We are also very thankful for the ER doctor that helped with the speedy diagnosis that helped save our son's life and made his treatment even easier due to early detection. Our son was discharged from BBCH after a celebration ice cream party we threw for all the staff and patients on the floor and he has been healthy. Unlike some late-onset GBS meningitis babies Chase has no hearing loss, vision issues, or neurological Deficits. We want to raise awareness of GBS and especially late-onset GBS because so many families are unaware of the common symptoms and don't know how tragic the outcome could be. We will be forever grateful that we had such a positive prognosis. Without the every day help and support of our families and the outstanding doctors, nurses, medical students and staff at Barbara Bush Children's Hospital our life would not be the same.
— Meaghan Huot, ME, USA
Meaghan promotes GBS awareness by educating expectant/new moms.
