Does this sound like a serious infection while pregnant issue?

November 1, 2010 8:56 PM

I'll be 24 weeks pregnant this Thursday and I am not sure if I should calm down or call my midwife. Question about kidney, UTI, GBS urine that I just don't understand.

As mentioned, I'm just about 24 weeks pregnant. I would hate for any of this to lead to preterm labor.

I had a clean catch urine test done in late September and I got the results back on the 17th, I believe, of last month. I am GBS positive. I had a tooth issue since that test was taken and was given 10 days of antibiotics for that.

My midwife was not too concerned with the GBS+ cause I had no symptoms of anything. Nothing else ha been showing up in my urine. She had her Dr consultant call in another round of antibiotics for me and I redid the urine test last Tuesday. I'm waiting to find out the results. I was told I could have a UTI and other issues without having symptoms since I'm pregnant.

Starting around last Tuesday, my back pains picked up, I was tired more often. I didn't have any issues peeing besides the pregnant norm of going often but I felt out of sorts with a recurring headache a bit more than usual and slightly nauseated a few times. I went ahead and picked up the antibiotics and started taking them though I'm still waiting to hear. I wasn't comfortable waiting it out for results anyway.

My back pain has always been Endometriosis related so I didn't think too far into that. I'm up at 5:30AM now to bring my mom to work and I don't get home till nearly 8 some nights so yeah, I am tired. Now I pee every hour and every once in a while feel like going a little sooner. Like 30 or so minutes after the last time. I am drinking more cranberry juice and more water with the antibiotics so I thought that explained it. I've had no pain peeing unless I really hold it in over a nap or at night instead of getting up, no cloudy or bloody pee that I can see and for the most part I feel fine beyond what I think could be a super minor version of a yeast infection coming up from the meds I'm sure, a cold and rib pain, lower abdomen/pelvic pain (neither are constant or really bad pain). No cramps and no fever. Nothing else to really cause me to worry. They sound pregnancy related.

My question after all that is should I worry even though I'm feeling fine for the most part due to it being possible to have no symptoms yet still have a larger problem? I've never had any UTIs, kidney issues and so I don't know what to look out for. I took the antibiotics but finished them today. Should I consider myself fine now? I'm just at a loss for info on if I should push this further and find out for sure.

Baby is very active, hasn't changed a bit. My eating habits are about the same. I just don't know if I should focus on cough drops, probiotics and yeast fixing stuff instead of worrying over the larger infections.

Thanks.

posted by grablife365 to Health & Fitness (14 answers total)

I am certainly not an expert here, but just call your midwife and/or doctor. You need that reassurance. That's what they are for, and it's better to be safe.
posted by annsunny at 9:22 PM on November 1, 2010

When in doubt, call your midwife (or nurse or doctor or whoever). That's what they're there for, and they totally expect phone calls regarding things exactly like this. In my experience (now pregnant with #2), most questions can be answered over the phone, and peace of mind can be found! If I were you, I would call her in the morning. It's always better to be on the safe side.

Congrats on your pregnancy!
posted by I_love_the_rain at 9:24 PM on November 1, 2010

Mom of three here, I totally agree that you can absolutely call your health care provider. It's really what they're there for. They are the only one who can tell you to relax or to worry.
posted by TooFewShoes at 9:39 PM on November 1, 2010

Response by poster: I forgot to mention that my midwife is not in the state right now which is why I haven't called or emailed her. She specifically chose to head out now cause she had no mamas due soon and I guess no other worries. I'll try to contact her but for this I'm not sure if it would require immediate attention or not.
posted by grablife365 at 10:09 PM on November 1, 2010

Call the hospital you're planning on delivering at (or the nearest hospital if you're planning a home birth) and ask for the Labor & Delivery nurse. They may also be able to let you know if they think you should come in. Some places have laws about what medical advice a nurse can give, but I've found the L&D nurses to be extremely helpful and understanding.
posted by TooFewShoes at 10:22 PM on November 1, 2010

grablife365: "I forgot to mention that my midwife is not in the state right now..."

She didn't leave you a backup number or an alternate midwife to call? That seems irresponsible. Do you have a family doctor who you can see as a backup?
posted by IndigoRain at 10:33 PM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]

As a recently pregnant person, I remember that my doctor said to call if I was having any lower back pain that wasn't relieved by lying down for a few minutes. It could possibly be a sign of pre-term labor, and when combined with even very mild "lower abdomen/pelvic pain" doesn't seem like a good idea to ignore. Lots of stuff hurts and feels weird when you're pregnant, so it can be hard to make a call on what's normal and what's a problem. Your midwife is certainly expecting calls from her patients while she's away and she probably has a backup midwife if she thinks you need to see someone. FWIW my contractions didn't start to hurt until I was pretty deep into labor.
posted by defreckled at 5:45 AM on November 2, 2010 [1 favorite]

When I had a kidney infection while pregnant I felt very sick, had a fever and was even more exhausted than normal. Kidney infections can lead to preterm labor - if you're having more braxton hicks contractions than normal or just feeling crappy you should definitely call your midwife's backup, contact her or even go to urgent care. I ended up on bedrest for several weeks w/kidney infection with last kid - no fun. Hopefully all that's going on is tail end of UTI and long days but don't mess with this and feel better soon!
posted by leslies at 5:55 AM on November 2, 2010

I had a kidney infection when I was pregnant with my second child. What you're describing sounds very much like a standard issue UTI - the frequent peeing, etc - that's being dealt with by the antibiotics. I didn't get that sick with my pregnancy kidney infection; I was just tired and out of sorts and had some lower back pain, so it was a shock when a friend slapped me on the back and I doubled over in pain. The antibiotics cleared it all right up. If you're generally feeling okay, I wouldn't worry too much about it unless things change - i.e. you develop a fever, ongoing or more severe lower back pain or blood in your urine. If any of those things happen, call your midwife.

However, on rereading your question, I'm not sure if you feel the same as you did before you started the antibiotics? They should have made you feel quite a lot better by the time you finished them. If you feel the same as you did when you started taking them, then yes, I think you should call your midwife or go to some doctor's office - any urgent care, whatever - for another pee test. Diagnosis of a UTI or a kidney infection is really simple, by the way, and shouldn't take more than 24 hours. You go in, pee in a cup and they call you a day later.
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:56 AM on November 2, 2010

As leslies says, don't mess with this. Preterm labor can be very subtle. UTI's and/or dehydration can often trigger preterm labor. If this were me, I would not even consider gong to work. I would just go to the hospital and let them figure out if this is preterm labor or not. Even an uninsured labor patient cannot be turned away without an evaluation. If you are in labor you will get the care that you need and if you are not in labor you will have the peace of mind knowing you have been fully evaluated. This is not something you can get over the phone. Wishing you all the best.
posted by zoel at 8:19 AM on November 2, 2010

Do you have a temperature? I mean, you don't really describe what your pain is like, but my back hurts nearly every second of every day at this point, and I'm at 32 weeks.

As far as a UTI goes, I have never had one that was asymptomatic. I KNEW, and oh god, that was painful. And as far as I knew about Group B, it was natural on your body and could come and go at any time - I was negative at 36 weeks but still positive at birth, but untested, so I transmitted it to my son, who got very sick (but is just fine now!)

Nothing screams "omg call l&d", but it's really up to you.
posted by kpht at 11:29 AM on November 2, 2010

Response by poster: IndigoRain, I do have an FP. The midwife's backup number is not one that I have been given but I will be getting it. I do think she might be back today though.

defreckled, its pretty hard to tell the difference between whats normal and whats not with my backpain since its been pretty constant for the past 16 months. Even being doubled over daily isn't abnormal for me.

leslies, I've been reading up on preterm labor and I can't tell if it fit with whats going on but I am keeping watch over everything. I haven't had BHs that I can tell and at the moment I'm feeling pretty good overall.

mygothlaundry, I am feeling better than I was last week which is why I'm not sure I should do anything further about it beyond wait for the test results. It's been about a week already that I'm waiting.

kpht, sorry I didn't really describe it. I don't have a temp. I've been checking daily and I don't feel as bad as I did before I started the antibiotics. I expected my back pain to pick up as the pregnancy went on so that and all the other issues like peeing often, and some ab/pelvic pain every once in a while I expected. I'm not feeling ill anymore but I'm just worried that I may be thinking the current issues I have are pregnancy related instead of an illness that needs to be checked out.

I'll be getting in touch with the midwife regarding the test results, the backup's number, and if she thinks there's anything further to how I'm feeling. Thanks.
posted by grablife365 at 12:29 PM on November 2, 2010

My midwife was not too concerned with the GBS+ cause I had no symptoms of anything.
I forgot to mention that my midwife is not in the state right now which is why I haven't called or emailed her.
Should I consider myself fine now? I'm just at a loss for info on if I should push this further and find out for sure.

If you haven't already seen this- http://www.cdc.gov/groupBstrep/

Antibiotics have decreased GBS infections in newborns in the last thirty years but only for early onset infections (acquired 0-6 days old) not late-onset or other GBS related complications. This is not something you want to take guesses on. If you have questions, you have to make the effort and push to find the answers that satisfy you. Find a doctor who can answer them, as and when you need them answered.

I am not sure how competent mid-wives are and how all that works (swabs for GBS, how often, as per CDC guidelines or not etc etc) but this mid-wife just sounds too laid back to leave the state without providing an alternative number because no one's popping....what about back up plans for an emergency?? Did she have a plan at all for that?
posted by xm at 3:49 PM on November 2, 2010

Response by poster: xm, we've already gone over the options for GBS. Since its in my urine (not done by swab), my option is to take antibiotics now and retest my urine ( both of which I've just done) and to take the swab test if I want to then use more antibiotics in labor or use an alternative. Both of those I've researched and have no issues on. There's not much to do about it unless a problem presents itself before labor. I'm not quite sure if one is or isn't due to not feeling bad anymore.

As far as the pushing for answers, thats more on whether or not there is an issue with my kidneys or bladder that I may not be aware of due to a lack of symptoms/feeling ill since I feel mostly fine beyond aches right now.

Midwives are very competent. I feel fine with mine and have my own backup care in the form of an OB, a family practitioner and a doula who, while she cannot perform medically, does give advice. My midwife also has a backup doctor whose number I realize I do have. The system in place is that if anything goes wrong that requires immediate emergency care, I head to a hospital till she can get to me. That just leads me back to wanting to make sure that there isn't anything immediately wrong and no sudden need to head there.
posted by grablife365 at 6:16 PM on November 2, 2010