36 weeks pregnant tests

Strep B Test: MedlinePlus Medical Test

What is a group B strep test?

Strep B, also known as group B strep (GBS), is a type of bacteria commonly found in the digestive tract, urinary tract, and genital area. It rarely causes symptoms or problems in adults but can be deadly to newborns.

In women, GBS is mostly found in the vagina and rectum. So a pregnant woman who is infected can pass the bacteria to her baby during labor and delivery. GBS can cause pneumonia, meningitis, and other serious illnesses in a baby. GBS infections are the leading cause of death and disability in newborns.

A group B strep test checks for GBS bacteria. If the test shows that a pregnant woman has GBS, she can take antibiotics during labor to protect her baby from infection.

Other names: group B streptococcus, group B beta-hemolytic streptococcus, streptococcus agalactiae, beta-hemolytic strep culture

What is it used for?

A group B strep test is most often used to look for GBS bacteria in pregnant women. Most pregnant women are tested as part of routine prenatal screening. It may also be used to test infants who show signs of infection.

Why do I need a group B strep test?

You may need a strep B test if you are pregnant. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends GBS testing for all pregnant women. Testing is usually done in the 36th or 37th week of pregnancy. If you go into labor earlier than 36 weeks, you may be tested at that time.

A baby may need a group B strep test if he or she has symptoms of infection. These include:

• High fever
• Trouble with feeding
• Trouble breathing
• Lack of energy (hard to wake up)

What happens during a group B strep test?

If you are pregnant, your health care provider may order a swab test or a urine test.

For a swab test, you will lie on your back on an exam table. Your health care provider will use a small cotton swab to take a sample of cells and fluids from your vagina and rectum.

For a urine test, you will most likely be told to use the "clean catch method" to ensure your sample is sterile. It includes the following steps.

• Wash your hands.
• Clean your genital area with a cleansing pad given to you by your provider. To clean, open your labia and wipe from front to back.
• Start to urinate into the toilet.
• Move the collection container under your urine stream.
• Collect at least an ounce or two of urine into the container, which should have markings to indicate the amounts.
• Finish urinating into the toilet.
• Return the sample container as instructed by your health care provider.

If your baby needs testing, a provider may do a blood test or a spinal tap.

For a blood test, a health care professional will use a small needle to take a blood sample from your baby's heel. After the needle is inserted, a small amount of blood will be collected into a test tube or vial. Your baby may feel a little sting when the needle goes in or out.

A spinal tap, also known as a lumbar puncture, is a test that collects and looks at spinal fluid, the clear liquid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. During the procedure:

• A nurse or other health care provider will hold your baby in a curled-up position.
• A health care provider will clean your baby's back and inject an anesthetic into the skin, so your baby won't feel pain during the procedure. The provider may put a numbing cream on your baby's back before this injection.
• The provider may also give your baby a sedative and/or pain reliever to help him or her better tolerate the procedure.
• Once the area on the back is completely numb, your provider will insert a thin, hollow needle between two vertebrae in the lower spine. Vertebrae are the small backbones that make up the spine.
• The provider will withdraw a small amount of cerebrospinal fluid for testing. This will take about five minutes.

Will I need to do anything to prepare for the test?

You don't any special preparations for group B strep tests.

Are there any risks to the test?

There is no risk to you from a swab or urine test. Your baby may have slight pain or bruising after a blood test, but that should go away quickly. Your baby will likely feel some pain after a spinal tap, but that shouldn't last too long. There is also a small risk of infection or bleeding after a spinal tap.

What do the results mean?

If you are pregnant and results show you have GBS bacteria, you will be given antibiotics intravenously (directly to your veins) during labor, at least four hours before delivery. This will prevent you from passing the bacteria to your baby. Taking antibiotics earlier in your pregnancy is not effective, because the bacteria can grow back very quickly. It's also more effective to take antibiotics through your vein, rather than by mouth.

You may not need antibiotics if you are having a planned delivery by Cesarean section (C-section). During a C-section, a baby is delivered through the mother's abdomen rather than vaginally. But you still should be tested during pregnancy because you may go into labor before your scheduled C-section.

If your baby's results show a GBS infection, he or she will be treated with antibiotics. If your provider suspects a GBS infection, he or she may treat your baby before test results are available. This is because GBS can cause serious illness or death.

If you have questions about your results or your baby's results, talk to your health care provider.

Learn more about laboratory tests, reference ranges, and understanding results.

Is there anything else I need to know about a group B strep test?

Strep B is one type of strep bacteria. Other forms of strep cause different types of infections. These include strep A, which causes strep throat, and streptococcus pneumoniae, which causes the most common type of pneumonia. Streptococcus pneumonia bacteria can also cause infections of the ear, sinuses, and bloodstream.

References

1. ACOG: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists [Internet]. Washington D.C.: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; c2019. Group B Strep and Pregnancy; 2019 Jul [cited 2019 Nov 15]; [about 3 screens]. Available from: https://www.acog.org/Patients/FAQs/Group-B-Strep-and-Pregnancy
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Internet]. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Group B Strep (GBS): Prevention; [cited 2019 Nov 15]; [about 4 screens]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/groupbstrep/about/prevention.html
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Internet]. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Group B Strep (GBS): Signs and Symptoms; [cited 2019 Nov 15]; [about 4 screens]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/groupbstrep/about/symptoms.html
4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Internet]. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Streptococcus Laboratory: Streptococcus pneumoniae; [cited 2019 Nov 15]; [about 3 screens]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/streplab/pneumococcus/index.html
5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Internet]. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Travelers' Health: Pneumococcal Disease; [updated 2014 Aug 5; cited 2019 Nov 15]; [about 3 screens]. Available from: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/diseases/pneumococcal-disease-streptococcus-pneumoniae
6. Intermountain Healthcare: Primary Children's Hospital [Internet]. Salt Lake City: Intermountain Healthcare; c2019. Lumbar Puncture in a Newborn; [cited 2019 Nov 15]; [about 4 screens]. Available from: https://intermountainhealthcare.org/ext/Dcmnt?ncid=520190573
7. Lab Tests Online [Internet]. Washington D.C.: American Association for Clinical Chemistry; c2001–2019. Blood Culture; [updated 2019 Sep 23; cited 2019 Nov 15]; [about 2 screens]. Available from: https://labtestsonline. org/tests/blood-culture
8. Lab Tests Online [Internet]. Washington D.C.: American Association for Clinical Chemistry; c2001–2019. Prenatal Group B Strep (GBS) Screening; [updated 2019 May 6; cited 2019 Nov 15]; [about 2 screens]. Available from: https://labtestsonline.org/tests/prenatal-group-b-strep-gbs-screening
9. Lab Tests Online [Internet]. Washington D.C.: American Association for Clinical Chemistry; c2001–2019. Urine Culture; [updated 2019 Sep 18; cited 2019 Nov 15]; [about 2 screens]. Available from: https://labtestsonline.org/tests/urine-culture
10. Michigan Medicine: University of Michigan [Internet]. Ann Arbor (MI): Regents of the University of Michigan; c1995–2021. Group B Streptococcal Infections in Newborns[cited 2021 Aug 6]; [about 3 screens]. Available from: https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/zp3014spec
11. University of Rochester Medical Center [Internet]. Rochester (NY): University of Rochester Medical Center; c2019. Health Encyclopedia: Group B Streptococcus Infection in Babies; [cited 2019 Nov 15]; [about 2 screens]. Available from: https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?contenttypeid=90&contentid=P02363
12. University of Rochester Medical Center [Internet]. Rochester (NY): University of Rochester Medical Center; c2019. Health Encyclopedia: Pneumonia; [cited 2019 Nov 15]; [about 2 screens]. Available from: https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?contenttypeid=85&contentid=P01321
13. WHO Guidelines on Drawing Blood: Best Practices in Phlebotomy [Internet]. Geneva (SUI): World Health Organization; c2010. 6. Paediatric and neonatal blood sampling; [cited 2019 Nov 15]; [about 3 screens]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK138647

Tests You Might Receive in 3rd Trimester of Pregnancy

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

These tests are common in the third trimester of pregnancy:

Blood and urine tests: Your doctor will continue to check your urine for protein and sugar and any signs of infection, keeping a close eye for signs of preeclampsia, a complication that is most common in the last weeks of pregnancy. You may have blood tests again for anemia.

Other measurements: Weight, blood pressure, and fundal height measurements also continue. Your baby's heartbeats are loud and clear!

Pelvic exams: In the last few weeks of pregnancy, your doctor will start doing pelvic exams again. This is to see if the cervix has started the ripening process for birth. Ripening is the softening, thinning, and opening (dilating) of the cervix.

These changes can happen slowly or quickly during the weeks, days, or hours before birth. So it's not uncommon to dilate a few centimeters a few weeks before your due date and then to stop dilating. This process is somewhat unpredictable.

Group B streptococcus screening: Vaginal and rectal swabs are taken at 35 to 37 weeks of pregnancy to detect group B strep bacteria. Although group B strep can be present in up to 30% of all healthy women, it's the leading cause of life-threatening infections in newborns and can also cause intellectual disability, impaired vision, and hearing loss. Women who test positive are treated with antibiotics during delivery to protect the baby from contracting the infection at birth. As an alternative, your physician or midwife may choose not to test for strep but to treat you in labor if certain risk factors develop.

Electronic fetal heart monitoring: Electronic fetal heart monitoring is done during pregnancy, labor, and delivery to monitor the heart rate of the fetus. The fetal heart rate can indicate whether the fetus is doing well or is in trouble and can be done any time after 20 weeks.

Nonstress test: Done weekly in many high-risk pregnancies, such as in cases where a women is carrying more than one fetus, or has diabetes or high blood pressure, this test involves using a fetal monitor strapped across the mother's abdomen to measure the baby's heart rate as it moves. It's also used for monitoring overdue babies.

Contraction stress test: Also done in high-risk pregnancies, a fetal monitor measures the baby's heart rate in response to contractions stimulated either by oxytocin (Pitocin) or nipple stimulation. Doctors use the measurements to predict how well the baby will cope with the stress of labor.

Ultrasound: Most pregnant women have just one or perhaps two ultrasounds. If you're having twins, you'll have this test more often, perhaps right up until birth, to check the position and growth of your babies. When needed, doctors can combine non-stress tests with ultrasound. This allows your doctor to check the babies' breathing motions, body movements, and muscle tone as well as the amount of amniotic fluid.

Biophysical profile: Can be done with just an ultrasound or with a combination of a nonstress test and an ultrasound.

Health & Pregnancy Guide

1. Getting Pregnant
2. First Trimester
3. Second Trimester
4. Third Trimester
5. Labor and Delivery
6. Pregnancy Complications
7. All Guide Topics

When to do a pregnancy test? Maternity hospital Leleka | Blog

Pregnancy in the life of every woman is a significant event and most often unexpected.

But, even if the pregnancy came as a “surprise”, you must definitely confirm your suspicions or refute them. And you can do this with the help of an instant express pregnancy test, in a matter of seconds.

The most informative are digital and tablet tests (the strip is placed on a plastic device with two "windows"). However, strip tests remain the most popular, which means that the price of the test does not affect the result.

If there is any doubt after the test, you should make an appointment with a gynecologist.

How the pregnancy test works

Despite the whole range of pregnancy tests, the principle of action is the same for everyone - to determine the level of hCG (the first hormone of pregnancy) in the urine.

Pregnancy test procedure

Pregnancy test is performed no earlier than the first day of missed period or approximately 2 weeks after the expected day of conception. Until the zygote attaches to the wall of the uterus, hCG is not released, which means that before ten days of pregnancy, it is not advisable to carry out a test or any other tests.

At the beginning of the test, you should carefully study the instructions for its use. Although the principle of operation is always identical: one part of the test (paper) is immersed in a container with urine, the other (with a chemical indicator) determines the result in the form of red / blue stripes, the symbols “+” / “-” or the words “yes” / “no” ". The result is evaluated after the time specified in the instructions (from 1 to 5 minutes).

Sometimes there are mini-pipettes for metered distribution of urine in the tests, which are very convenient to use.

But putting the test under the urinary stream is not recommended, since this method can technically disrupt the express screening and give an error.

When to take a pregnancy test

In order not to be confused by the numbers, dates and know exactly when it is appropriate to take a pregnancy test, you need to keep a calendar, control your well-being and know the basic process of how the egg is fertilized .

In every woman with a regular monthly cycle, the egg goes through several physiological stages of development, one of which is called “ovulation”.

Ovulation is the process where a mature egg is released from the ovary into the fallopian tube to join the sperm. If there is no sperm in the tube, the egg dies and menstruation occurs.

If during ovulation the spermatozoa were inside the woman's genitals and conception did occur, the fertilized egg (zygote) begins to "move" into the uterine cavity, with the help of the ciliated epithelium and the muscles of the fallopian tube itself.

This whole process takes about 1 week.

After a fertilized egg enters the uterine cavity, it attaches there, hCG rises in the blood, cells divide and further development of the fetus occurs.

Some rapid tests can determine the presence of the hormone as early as the fourth day, but it is still better to check after at least 1.5 weeks. Then the level of the hormone becomes high enough to confidently determine the condition of the woman.

When is a pregnancy test false?

Two strips on the test do not always cause delight in women, since pregnancy is not a cherished dream for all women, for most it is a surprise.

However, if you really do not plan a child and your test suddenly becomes “striped”, do not rush to panic, since a result error is not ruled out here.

False-positive or false-negative responses can range from a technical failure of a screening test to the identification of serious gynecological pathologies.

As you can see, pregnancy is not the most “terrible” thing that a test can determine, so we once again emphasize the importance of a gynecological examination.

Be that as it may, a positive test result is only the first step towards determining pregnancy. The second step is a visit to the gynecologist, who must confirm / refute the information received. Since there are situations when express screening gives a false positive answer.

Main causes of a false positive result

A false positive result is a result that indicates the presence of pregnancy, in the absence of it.

Causes:

1. Incorrect express test.

Incorrect use of the test is the main cause of a false positive response. Therefore, you always need to read the instructions and follow the specified algorithm of actions. The evaluation of the result should be carried out strictly within the specified time range, from 3 to 10 minutes. After this period, a weak second strip may appear on the test (due to evaporation of urine), and the woman will perceive the result as a pregnancy.

2. Marriage.

A defective test is a very rare occurrence, but no one is immune from such a situation. Knowing this, women buy several tests from different brands and thus the problem is leveled.

3. Postpartum period.

Pregnancy test remains positive throughout pregnancy and 3-4 weeks after delivery. Therefore, if the test after the recent birth of a child shows a positive answer, and you are not planning children of the same age, you should not worry. However, you still need to check with your doctor about the absence of pregnancy.

4. Miscarriage, abortion.

After a miscarriage, miscarriage or medical abortion, the level of hCG cannot immediately decrease, it takes time. And, as a rule, this process takes from 2 to 4 weeks. Therefore, doing a pregnancy test during this period simply does not make sense, since the result will be false positive.

5. Preparation for IVF.

Some women dream of pregnancy so much that they take tests even when they don't have to. As, for example, when preparing for IVF.

During this period, ovulation is stimulated with hormonal preparations, which also increase the level of hCG, although there is no pregnancy itself yet. Therefore, a pregnancy test done during this period can misinform a woman.

6. Oncopathology.

Sometimes a positive pregnancy test, in its absence, indicates serious pathological processes that increase the level of hCG. These are ovarian tumors, lung, brain, breast or stomach cancer.

Main causes of a false negative test

A false negative is a result that indicates no pregnancy, if any.

Causes:

1. Fertilization occurred before the start of menstruation, and the level of hCG did not have time to rise to the desired concentration.
2. There is a threat of miscarriage.
3. A woman is taking diuretics (diuretics).
4. Technical damage to the test.

If a pregnancy test shows a negative result, but the woman has specific pregnancy symptoms (morning sickness, dizziness, frequent urination, pain in the lower abdomen and chest), you need to see a doctor.

What to do if in doubt?

There are situations that make a woman doubt the correctness of a pregnancy test. For example, different tests give different results, spotting is present (similar to menstruation), screening gave a positive response, and there are no specific symptoms of pregnancy.

What to do in this case?

1. Do not look for the cause yourself, but go for a consultation with a gynecologist and approach the solution of the problem comprehensively.
2. Do not dispose of unwanted and unconfirmed pregnancies yourself.
3. Find the exact reason why the test showed a false positive result in the absence of pregnancy.

The Leleka maternity hospital is a modern medical institution where you will always receive specialized, highly qualified obstetric-gynecological and neonatological medical care at the level of world standards.

Only timely diagnosis and competent treatment will help preserve the reproductive health of a woman and there are no other options here.

36th week of pregnancy what happens to the fetus

During this period, the fetus begins direct preparation for the moment of birth and adapts to the next period of life. In a woman, this period is different in that she can start giving birth at any time. For the first births, as a rule, the onset is likely to occur at a later period, after thirty-eight weeks.

During this period, a pregnant woman begins the last month of pregnancy, so this is the beginning of a very serious period for her. Since normally, childbirth can begin in a pregnant woman from the thirty-seventh to forty-second weeks, there are only a few days or weeks left before the onset of labor, so it is necessary to plan the place where the birth will take place, it makes sense to get acquainted with a specialist who will deal with childbirth.

Since the unborn child is large and it is quite crowded in the uterus, he moves less often. But there should be at least ten movements in twelve hours of observation. Supervision by a specialist is especially important in breech presentation of the fetus.

Since labor can begin at any time, it is advisable that the woman has all the necessary things for childbirth.

During this period, a woman's belly is so large that it is difficult for her to find comfortable positions for sleeping and resting. She often has back pain. Fetal movements can be perceived as very strong blows to the lower abdomen, to the liver or under the ribs. A woman may feel that her stomach is sinking, after which, subjectively, it becomes easier for her to breathe. This may be a harbinger of a very early onset of labor. After a pregnant woman's stomach sank, most often she disappears the unpleasant sensation that haunted her during pregnancy - heartburn. During this period, frequent lack of sleep begins, as it can be difficult for a woman to find a comfortable position for sleeping. At night, frequent urges to the toilet may disturb.

The weight of the unborn child during this period is usually 2600-2800 g. If this figure is higher, the expectant mother should pay attention to the diet.

It should be borne in mind that during the period of the thirty-sixth week, labor can begin and they can end with the birth of a completely healthy baby. In order for multiparous people to understand that they are starting labor, one should pay attention to the harbingers of this event for multiparous people. Women giving birth for the first time should take courses for expectant mothers, it will be very useful for them to watch a video of childbirth in order to imagine what is happening during this period.

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