Preface: I have a story about “Groupie Strep” (GROUP B STREP) I want to tell before I get to my main points and commentary here!
When I gave birth to my second son in January, 1994 I had two major complications. The first was pre-eclampsia.1
But, it didn’t stop there.
After being induced, giving birth and kept a couple additional days in the hospital, I returned home on a Thursday after a Monday delivery. By Friday evening I was experiencing what seemed to be the kind of post-delivery bleeding one should be concerned about. It is normal to continue passing smaller clots (maybe up to an inch in size) following the miracle of giving birth–something only a woman can do–but excessive clots and bleeding is abnormal.
I remember calling a friend who was a nurse and telling her these clots were getting quite large, nearly the size of an orange or bigger. That night, another woman church friend drove me back to the ER and they did some bloodwork and admitted me. They said that these were not huge bloodclots but that I appeared to have an infection/sepsis (I had a high fever, too) and they were checking for the cause.
I continued to feel very ill and was very upset at the return to the hospital, as I had been separated from my son quickly after the birth because of the pre-eclampsia, and my milk was just coming in that Thursday/Friday and I was once again separated from my baby.
I remember the OB/Gyn who had delivered my son came into the room, where I had (according to a nurse) “pumped enough milk to feed a cow.” (I had contacted Nursing Mother’s for help/advice and made an urgent request for a breast pump). Again, only a woman can use a breast pump with any success; this is something a man will never, ever do.
The doctor told me they were rushing my infant son in to the ICU to give him intravenous antibiotics, and I became further upset. She sternly half-yelled at me: YOU HAVE GROUP B STREP IN YOUR BLOOD!
Being in the condition I was and having no idea what she meant (I had heard of “Strep Throat” before) I recall thinking she was yelling this at me: YOU HAVE “‘GROUPIE STREP'” IN YOUR BLOOD!
I tend to (at least retrospectively) find humor in telling a good story…and I do honestly recall something flashing through my 31-year mind at the time (an image of a “Groupie” and discerning that her statement might be implying I had some type of “Groupie” disease!) and I said something to her along the lines of: THAT’S NOT POSSIBLE!!!
But then, it was explained to me that “Group B” is a strain of strep and that I was septic (blood infection) and that this could have been passed to my son before or during the birth and that if he had it, too, that by the time the results of bloodwork came back (he did NOT have it, thankfully, but they treated him as precaution) that it might be too late.
I remember her sternly saying, “BABIES DIE OF THIS. THEY CANNOT HANDLE A BLOOD INFECTION.”
I went on to learn at the time that at 36 weeks, pregnant women are routinely tested for Group B strep, and I had tested negative. I learned that it was not a disease form of strep, but that some women may have this in their natural make-up and others not, and, there can be transient cultures. (This is mentioned by Candace Owens in the video linked in the main commentary, below). I was told that once a woman tests positive, they treat as though it’s possible (even if a later negative result) and give antibiotics prior and during the birth to prevent what happened to me.
During the miraculous process of a woman giving birth, there are many exposed, open blood vessels/membranes, etc where the Group B strep can enter the woman’s bloodstream or even cross the placenta during gestation. I was also told that one complication can set the stage for the likelihood of another, and perhaps something with my induction had also been a factor. I was told that one hundred years ago when seemingly healthy infants (or the mother) suddenly died a day or two after birth, it was possible it was from this condition.
I was also sent home with a PICC line for two weeks of home IV antibiotics, that’s how sick I was from this. I left the hospital a couple days later, along with my son, Jonathan.
Also, the woman friend from church told me she actually knew of this condition, and had experienced it with her third child and I believe she said it led to a premature birth (the child of course survived and thrived! but with neo-natal care).
This is a long personal lead-in to this piece, which is actually about the topic of the medical community and calling out “misinformation.”
I came across the YouTube below while searching for another commentary a friend mentioned seeing on another topic, by Candace Owens. The title of “Group B Strep” caught my eye.
First, on this particular topic I agree that Candace Owens is starting with a wrong/false premise. And had I not had the personal experience I initially shared, I might not have been able to sort through the various competing “facts/studies” mentioned by each person in the video.
But, I’m not going to stop there.
Instead, I am going to encourage those interested in the topic of “misinformation,” and the politics/scripted responses of the medical community and the nature of our public discourse, to listen to the video to analyze the process, not just the content.
I’m also going to assert my opinion on perhaps what went on (from Candace’s view).
I think that Candace has a lot of valid commentary in her initial footage (I didn’t see it first-hand, however, just the clips shown) that seems to me generally based in fact and/or valid observations. I started listening some to her a few months ago for her stance/analysis of some transgender and so-called “Gender Affirming Care” and “WOKE” propaganda. I do like commentators who are able to dig up stuff I wouldn’t take time to find, but, I do realize that everyone has bias (including me, and including you) so I hope readers will hear my attempt at being “fair and balanced” here!
I hope that my introductory story about my experience with “‘Groupie’ Strep” (whenever I tell that very serious and difficult story, I do throw in that humorous moment…it wasn’t funny at the time and neither me nor the doctor laughed, but, like many things, over the years we embellish! As time went by I realized there was an amount of humor in what I thought I heard, and my response, versus what was actually said!).
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So, I think this OB/Gyn doctor is right to correct Candace’s flawed understanding of “Group B Strep” as it relates to pregnancy and the gravity of risk for baby (and mother). The doctor is right to call her out for naming a nurse and doctor specifically on her platform to hundreds of thousands of viewers. (I don’t know if hospital staff get public figure status and whether technically, Candace can do this without it being considered libel and slander, or as the doctor said, possibly prompting public/private negative actions toward these staff).
The doctor is right that many hospital staff are overworked, stressed and many (not necessarily all) are just ordinary, caring people trying to do their job. The doctor is likely right about a fair amount of her knowledge and statistics and reasoning, at least in the technical sense. The medical community may have good cause to push for various screenings in all hospital births, especially to demographics which may not be as inclined or able to pursue/recognize signs of conditions (such as hearing impairment, which is mentioned of newborns, in the video).
Now, for the other side.
First of all, I’m assuming this is Candace Owens’ first child (actually, I’m wrong, it is her 2nd…in 2022), since I actually had the pleasure of painting on her wedding invitation in 2020! Yes, I was contacted by a woman in the Boston area who found me online and commissioned this wedding gift. At the time I didn’t know who Candace Owens was, but I was told she was some type of public figure and had been married at the Trump Vineyard. I understood that I needed to make this extra special, and I embellished a lot of it in metallic gold leaf paint! I actually worked on this piece during the pandemic shutdown while I was stuck in a tiny place in Delaware for nearly 6 months following my divorce, due to a number of pandemic-related factors that prohibited me from being out of there in my originally anticipated 2-3 months. The financial costs to me in just that aspect of “covid impact” are huge and significant, although, I trust that God works all things together for my good and there may be a reason(s).
Back to this video, after that tangent! (I will show my artwork at the end of this piece).2
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Candace seems very passionate and angry over this. It’s possible her fervency is connected to the emotions every woman experiences regarding giving birth–before, during and afterward. Giving birth is something only a woman can do and a woman’s birth story of each child (especially the woman’s first birth) can be filled with many emotions, including anger.
There are still parts of my first son’s birth story that I can re-tell with emotions including small anger, as though I’m “in that moment” again, almost thirty-four years later.
But, I think the bigger issue is that Candace points out a lot of very absurd and true things that are embedded in the medical community, the profit-related entities, the politics/legislative process, and now, the so-called “fact checkers” appointed politically to censor freedom of discourse and silence so-called “misinformation” (which often times, proves to be true information).
The sad part of this which I think is evidenced here is that many people are forced to sift through such conflicting information and sources of agenda-driven koshering/twisting of studies/data, etc. that we are all in danger of one of the two pitfalls: either thinking we are an expert in a subject from online research (a little knowledge can in fact, be dangerous) or, acquiescing to either real or so-called experts to pre-digest things for us and inform us how to think/act/comply.
I personally, at this point, would rather err on the side of believing I’m intelligent enough to at least select my experts to listen to and form my own conclusions, rather than assume those being named as experts are actually unbiased, unfunded and un-agenda-ized.
The terms dangerous or unsafe/safe (and other terms) are being used these days to silence questions and censor information, dissent and discourse. I listened to one quite interesting interview with a Doula called “All The Birthing People | with Isabella Malbin” (OK, I do gravitate toward interest in birth issues/choices though I myself seem to have failed miserably both times to better hold up under a more natural delivery experience!) that was an amazing peek into the infiltration of queer theory agenda into the sacred, birth-giving spaces that true women have fought so hard to create and maintain since the dawn of time. I just love the part in Exodus where the midwives tell Pharoah that the Hebrew women are stronger than the Egyptian women, giving birth on their own before the midwives can get to them and carry out the LEGAL DECREE BY PHAROAH to kill all male children. I once was assigned this passage to write a 200 word or less reflection for a Lenten Collection of readings written by parishioners.
So, I think that Candace is pointing out a lot of really good points about the practices and hipocrisy of the medical community in various realms. Unfortunately, her main premise was flawed. She likely thought she understood this issue of Group B strep risk when she did not, or, it may not have been explained well to her.
Perhaps she felt some need to use this as a springboard to do what she does for a living, which is to comment on politics and current events.
I’m going to give her some grace in this, and I wonder (if I had time to search I would) whether she may have even retracted part of this if she later learned differently. I would think she got more than one feedback/callout on this). That said, maybe she researched and is right to some degree. I’m no expert either on Group B strep and the medical decisions surrounding care, etc. I speak here (on THAT topic) since I had a personal experience that informed me on that condition. What I shared above is exactly what I recall being told back in 1994, and it seems to line up pretty well with the doctor’s response to Candace.
However, I want to point out how the doctor (to her credit) did give Candace some “points” for making some valid statements, but also, part way through she does keep turning it political by interjecting remarks about universal healthcare, which again, is a complicated topic. There seems to me to be an underlying hostility this doctor has for Candace, which can be seen in her expression and the visuals on the YouTube main image. And to be fair, Candace has ire/hostility as well.
I suppose anyone (including me) that feels passionate about some wrong in the world has an amount of ire.
By the end, the doctor seems to be on script in language used and defense of the medical community’s approach. She points out that “the doctors didn’t make” the Tennessee law that Candace references concerning papers that had to be signed, since she refused certain newborn tests and wanted to leave earlier than the recommended time. Candace also references being threatened with charges if they didn’t do some test (paraphrase; I will let readers listen for the specifics in the video).
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I’ve had medical specialists speak to me with the same tone/jargon/scripting (do they learn this in medical school, how to intimidate/coerce/dismiss/belittle a patient’s decisions or views/basis for their own care?) when I’ve refused to immediately comply with the “standard” recommended treatment.
A good example was a cardiologist I saw two years ago, when it seemed the benign palpitations I’ve had since college (that I periodically have checked) were feeling different.
I wore a 48-hour home monitor, and during the first day, the leads came off (I was sweating outdoors). I had to Google myself where to tape them back on, and I assume my test had about 10 hours+ missing time/data and it was possible I didn’t affix them properly back on. A detail that the office didn’t want to consider, apparently). When the report came back that it was showing “some” episodes that could be more concerning (but not a lot, and, I was wondering if it was somehow covid exposure related, which is a valid question) a nurse called and wanted me BY PHONE to start taking a beta blocker. I refused, as I had not yet even had the echo-cardiogram nor met with the cardiologist to discuss. (My echo-cardiogram was completely normal).
It was simply “protocol” and I was spoken to strongly by the nurse. In fact, I recall being told that the doctor was phoning in a beta blocker for me (again, before all tests were finished and I had a follow-up appointment).
My reasoning was that my 2nd husband worked on the batteries for defibrillators and once we discussed beta blockers and he said along the lines that once you go on them, you can’t go off. Now, he was not a medical doctor, but had some basis to say this. Also, my neighbor is a retired CARDIAC NURSE, and when I told her about the palpitations and tests, she stated the same, to be careful of beta-blockers because once you start you can’t stop.
I’ve since read/learned there is a general amount of truth to this, but, technically, one can wean off. The issue is that the medical community never wants you to wean off any drug; if you have a side effect (and the potential side effects of beta blockers are very real and significant) they tend to want to just give you another drug.
Years ago my family doctor, when I was in my 30’s and got worried about the feeling of palpitations, told me after getting tests that showed them as “benign” irregularities: “DON’T EVER COMPLAIN TO A DOCTOR ABOUT THIS AGAIN! BECAUSE THEY MIGHT NOT KNOW BETTER AND PUT YOU ON A BETA BLOCKER WHICH COULD STOP YOUR HEART!”
Also in Alabama, my doctor didn’t consider beta blockers the first course for high blood pressure, and he said something like, “We don’t like to give you anything that slows your heart….” (as I recall).
(Please, if your doctor has you on a beta blocker I am not telling you to stop!)
I hope I’m making a point here. Which expert was right? The cardiologist two years ago who put in her notes “Patient refuses beta blockers” and “Patient says her neighbor told her she couldn’t stop them if she started” (yes, I read that!) and warned me that if I didn’t do that I’d “probably end up in the ER” sooner or later…or, was my family doctor years back just as much an expert, meaning, “don’t keep complaining about this…you are YOUNG and beta blockers are for older people with serious heart conditions and might be risky for you with no benefits.”
So, now I’m older. So it’s reasonable that I do have the sense to check out changes that may be age-related, but, I can also make decisions based on information and knowing multiple perspectives. Too often the medical community dislikes patients who question. The system seems to want/require abject compliance.
I actually notice those palpiations far less now; they seem connected with anxiety. Oh, I suppose there are drugs for that, too…that would present their own set of issues.
The tone of many medical people, and their insistence on carelessly following protocols (sometimes to a patient’s harm) rather than treating me (and others) as intelligent and capable of dialogue, is quite annoying.
Never have we witnessed such propaganda, censorship and medical mis/dis-information as we have since the covid pandemic. As the truth of matters slowly is revealed, there are no apologies nor retractions. “We were only following orders” mentality seems to be the best defense those on the wrong side of data/protocol/propaganda can muster. Meanwhile, the whole world and so many individuals have been harmed and needlessly impacted.
I knew something was really wrong when I read that people in the south were being given free donuts by Krispy Kreme if they showed they had been “vaxxed.”
Which leads me to my next points. Though this particular issue of Group B strep was based on a false understanding, let’s not neglect that Candace generally makes valid points.
Let’s especially consider her assertion of the profit motive dictating medical standards and protocols that are named to “keep us all safe” as it applies to the current, ongoing pandemic issues but especially, the so-called “Gender Affirming” Healthcare.
It’s an absolutely horrific situation that the average person does not know the half of, including me, though I think I know more about what’s going on than many. I’ve been thrust against my choice into the topic, since my life has been affected by many aspects of this gender queer cult theology in past years, with continuing repercussions.
For those interested in further resources, I would also suggest this interview with a pediatrician called Saving Child Medicine from Gender Ideology | with Julia Mason concerning the American Academy of Pediatrics, and a listen to this peek into the monetary incentives for medical sterilization/mutations of children and adults, too.
And now, the YouTube video which prompted this writing:
Here is the original podcast with full context/episode.
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1My pre-eclampsia was significant enough that my first husband was told that if I hadn’t been taken from the Birth Center in Wilmington (midwives) to the Christiana Hospital ER that I would have likely gone into seizures. This is a somewhat rare complication but when it happens, woman and child can die. My blood pressure was around 180/120 as I recall and because the condition was affecting my liver counts (HELPS Syndrome) one medical person told me essentially it was not “pre-eclampsia” but full blown “eclampsia.” Surely I’m not using the proper terms but toxemia/pre-eclampsia is always always watched for. For me, it came on rapidly and was more rare since I was 31 years old and it was not my first pregnancy. I was told that typically it affects younger (especially teenage) mothers.
2My commissioned artwork as gift for Candace Owens.
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