|
ERIN — USA
Born October 16, 2003 Late-onset Mother's GBS Status: Tested positive Gestational Age: Full-term (c-section) Age harmed: 6 weeks of age |
Erin was born full term Oct 16th. she was healthy or so we thought. On Thanksgiving day, when she turned 6 weeks old, she woke up fussy. We thought it was gas, however,she wouldn't drink so we called our on-call pediatrician since it was a holiday. We told her Erin was fussy, wouldn't eat, and was making a grunting sound but had no temperature. She didn't like the grunting so she had us go to the ER just to be checked out since the office wasn't open.
We waited at the ER for quite a while but when they realized Erin was sick, things started happening quickly. Within one hour they had done a spinal tap and sent her via helicopter to Penn State Children's Hospital. There we received our nightmare news. She had meningitis, sepsis infection, was having seizures, was on a vent, had a central and arterial line and so many other IV's. The doctor told us chances were she wouldn't survive and if so she would be left with neurological devastation.
We had her baptized that Thanksgiving evening not knowing what would happen. Day by day her chances improved and we found out this was all caused by GBS. I was GBS+ when pregnant with her but because I had a planned c-section I was not treated with antibiotics (CDC doesn't recommend it). Erin had late-onset GBS so there was a 50/50 chance it came from birth or an "outside source", although we will never know for sure. Looking back we believe now that there were signs she was carrying it since birth.
We spent 3 long weeks in the hospital where so much happened that it's hard to name it all. She was sent home still experiencing seizures and on medications. Her MRI showed brain damage but all the doctors kept telling us is is that it's a waiting game to see how she develops. Well, Erin is our miracle because she has amazed her doctors and neurologists. She is a happy-go-lucky 3 year old with a load of energy. They keep telling us, "This is not what we expected. She is a true miracle." She was just diagnosed with oral motor apraxia, a speech and language disorder, but despite but what could have gone wrong, we consider this a minor thing. We know we are one of the lucky ones and never want anyone else to go through what we have endured.
— Tracy Stevens, PA, USA
Erin's mother spreads GBS awareness whenever possible.
We waited at the ER for quite a while but when they realized Erin was sick, things started happening quickly. Within one hour they had done a spinal tap and sent her via helicopter to Penn State Children's Hospital. There we received our nightmare news. She had meningitis, sepsis infection, was having seizures, was on a vent, had a central and arterial line and so many other IV's. The doctor told us chances were she wouldn't survive and if so she would be left with neurological devastation.
We had her baptized that Thanksgiving evening not knowing what would happen. Day by day her chances improved and we found out this was all caused by GBS. I was GBS+ when pregnant with her but because I had a planned c-section I was not treated with antibiotics (CDC doesn't recommend it). Erin had late-onset GBS so there was a 50/50 chance it came from birth or an "outside source", although we will never know for sure. Looking back we believe now that there were signs she was carrying it since birth.
We spent 3 long weeks in the hospital where so much happened that it's hard to name it all. She was sent home still experiencing seizures and on medications. Her MRI showed brain damage but all the doctors kept telling us is is that it's a waiting game to see how she develops. Well, Erin is our miracle because she has amazed her doctors and neurologists. She is a happy-go-lucky 3 year old with a load of energy. They keep telling us, "This is not what we expected. She is a true miracle." She was just diagnosed with oral motor apraxia, a speech and language disorder, but despite but what could have gone wrong, we consider this a minor thing. We know we are one of the lucky ones and never want anyone else to go through what we have endured.
— Tracy Stevens, PA, USA
Erin's mother spreads GBS awareness whenever possible.
