My Baby Survived Strep B And Septicemia

A mother asked me if I would like her experience of how her daughter survived Strep B and Septicemia, I think you will agree the story sends chills down your spine.

It was my first Mother’s Day this year, my little girl was 8 weeks old and I was really looking forward to doing something nice. I was suffering a little with postnatal depression so needed a pick me up.

I was living at my moms and had a very rough night, so when I got up,  I asked my mom if she would take care of my little girl for an hour, while I could get more sleep. When I came downstairs after a nap, my mom told me that my little girl seemed to be quite hot and on her feed at 9am she had hardly drank any of her milk. I thought it strange, but thought maybe she might have a little bit of a chill as we had spent a lot of time outdoors the previous day.

My little girl was asleep on my mom and my mom mentioned she seemed to be groaning when touched and her heartbeat seemed to be beating extremely fast.

As it was near enough time for her next feed I said I would see what milk she would drink and ring the emergency doctors.

My little girl drank about 1oz and refused anymore. Whenever I put her down or passed her to her daddy she kept whinging but not crying. I thought this strange.  I phoned the emergency doctors as it was a Sunday. They asked me a series of questions and said they would phone back.

About 5 minutes later I had a call saying that they would book an appointment at the local walk in centre for 4.15pm.

We went to the walk in centre and after the doctor had checked her out he immediately referred her to the local children’s ward.

This is when the worry completely set in.

We arrived at the hospital and she was taken straight into to a treatment room where 2 nurses came in and 2 paediatricians followed. I knew immediately something was wrong.

My poor little girl had a bag put in her nappy to collect a urine sample, but as she wasn’t able to urinate she had to have a needle inserted straight through her stomach into her bladder.

She also had to have a lumbar puncture and 2 lots of blood tests as well as a cannula fitted.

She was given antibiotics immediately and they told us that it was suspected meningitis.

I was unaware how severe that it could be, but I asked how bad she was, all they kept telling me was they were waiting, waiting on results.

By 6pm she was hooked up to all the machines and given Paracetamol alongside her antibiotics. It was heartbreakingly difficult as her daddy and I sat hopeless, watching just how poorly she was.

The following day the results had come back and they said it was meningitis, but they were waiting on what type of infection it was.

They then told me the next 48 hours were crucial.

She was still not taking milk, was put on a drip and fed through a line.

On the 3rd day, we thought she was looking a lot better and the results had come back saying she had Strep b and Septicaemia.

She was allowed to come out of the cot and have cuddles, I also fed her and she polished off 3oz.

She had to have yet more tests, but was getting better.

On the 4th day she was looking much better and was taken for a brain scan to see if the fluid levels around her brain had changed. The results came back the following day and it looked as though everything looked normal which was really good news.

My little girl was putting in every bit of strength to beat this.

By the 5th day she was a LOT better and the nurses had come in and said that she was now only in hospital to take her antibiotics. She was also taken off all the Obs machines.

By the Monday (a week and a day after she had been admitted) we were allowed to take her home. She was given a 3 week course of antibiotics. This was a massive step as we had spent 7days/nights in hospital nonstop.

I was so thrilled to get her out.

After suffering from post natal depression and having thoughts that she would be better off without me, I really thought it was karma’s way of getting at me.

I spent hours in the hospital thinking it was my fault this had happened.

I looked into meningitis and thought “where was the rash?” the nurses said if I hadn’t taken her in that day, she wouldn’t be here with me today, my little girl wouldn’t even cry, not even with the pain of a lumbar puncture and endless amounts of needles..

I was sent an appointment for a hearing test and she passed with flying colours. In June she had a follow up with a paediatrician who concluded that basically the meningitis has not affected her development in anyway.

I was so pleased when they said she had been discharged and no longer had to have follow ups.

My little girl has been extremely lucky as she has lost no limbs and has not been affected any way by this nasty infection.

She is now 6 months old and shines. People still ask me how she got it. My answer is I don’t know, all I care about is that she got through it. I am so proud of my little lady.

This inspirational post was written anonymously. I have full permission to share the story and it is true to the best of my knowledge. If you can relate to this post and would like to share your own anonymous story please contact me. You could help us share the blogs support to helping others by sharing via the social sharing buttons.

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