Boy, it just keeps getting trickier and trickier.
There are just all kinds of things that can go wrong - tho they usually don't - in homebirths AND hospital births. If you focused on any one of these, I can see how it would be difficult to give birth at all since you're supposed to relax in order for the body to do what its made to do. Today a friend of mine called and warned me about something called Group B Strep which can be carried and passed on from mother to baby and which can, on rare occasions, cause death. Noone has mentioned this to me yet - not the ob/gyn's or anyone else. The only remedy is to have IV antibiotics during labor. Which of course make the baby more susceptible to strains of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. Sheesh.
The only good thing I can see about this scenario is that if a mom is carrying GBS, then there really shouldn't be ANY kind of physical intervention with the actual delivery - no fetal monitor in baby's little head, no forceps, no vacuum, no c-section - bc it all increases the risk of baby's getting germs in its little system.
But it is just another thing to potentially worry about, along with the myriad of other things... like finding JUST ONE caregiver in Louisville who is not too worried about malpractice to back up homebirth if things get tricky. You'd think there would be one doctor who understands the benefits of homebirth who could at least offer support even if they can't necessarily condone it on paper. I am stunned daily.
In Europe, over 1/3 of all babies are still delivered at home, with a midwife. In the state of KY, midwifery is illegal unless the midwife is licensed...but alas no licenses have been given since 1976. But I am still going for it! And somebody else is having a home birth on my street next week!!! Wahoo, go ladies, go!!! Take back birth!
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They'll probably do a test around 36 wks. You could be doing things to help it be negative, like Vit C, probiotics/yogurt, garlic pills (your midwife should know specific stuff). I was stupid and thought naively that I would just be negative, so now I wish I had been more proactive about ensuring a negative for this labor.
If it is positive you may not have a choice about abx, which stinks, but I have read that penicillin is the least problematic. Also, you wouldn't need a continuous IV, request a heparin lock and get period dosages.
Ah! ok thanks for the info, that's good to know. I didn't know to ask the midwife about that...so many things to think about :)
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