Has anyone heard of Gastroschisis?

[jes]

HI,

Im just over 5 months with my first baby and having a few dramas, im 22 and would loke to talk someone who might have some good advice for me. :)

[RuthK]

Jes

I've never experienced it but when I was pregnant with my second in Ireland and addicted to the Discovery Health channel I saw numerous shows with children being born with this condition and did a bit of research as the condition intrigued me.

From what I could gather, the condition involves a caesarian. Provided the baby's vitals are ok it is operated on in the next few days. Depending upon how much of the intestines are outside the body, the doctor's may be able to fit them all back in during the surgery or fit most of them back in and then house the remaining external intestines in a sterile bag and gently push it back in every day until they are all back in. The main risk with this condition is infection, and the insides are effectively outside. The baby stays in intensive care for some weeks but should have no complications after that.

All but one of the babies I saw born with this condition made it through and the one who didn't was a triplet and was too small and weak anyway.

Best of luck as it's going to be harried time for you. Get your hospital to have a good paediatrician talk to you about it so you can put your mind at rest.

If you can, try and get a copy of one of the birth shows (many of them are American) which show the birth of a baby with this condition. That way you can see for yourself what happens.

[eks9800]

yes i know a little bit about it as i was born in the modbury hospital in south aus.in 1978 and was born with this condition ,and looking on yahoo about it and came across your thread,i was taken straight to the womans and childerns hospital for all of my surgery as modbury hospital was not set up for this kind of thing.i am 28 yrs old now and as far as i know i'm the oldest one alive in aust.
i was looking this up as i would like to know more information for myself.also as most gps don't know what they are taking about,or even know what it is.when i was born thay did not have ultrasound and did not know i had this condtion so my mother had me naturaly.i know that i'm a year to late but if you do receive this i would like to talk and also to know how it is treated now.

[Oscar's mum]

I saw all those shows on Foxtel too. My niece had a little boy about a year and a half ago with this condition.

Edited as I just realised that this post thread began in the middle of last year so my comment was probably outdated!

[jes]

Thanks for your messages!

Just an up-date~My daughter is almost 7 months old now and is just as perfect as any other baby! The only difference is she has a large belly button. It was a very emotional time when she was born and for the 3 weeks she spent in hospital BUT now every time i look at her cute pudgy cheeks and her big brown eyes i just remember how hard she fort to be here with us and it fills me with joy:smiliedance:

eks800~i have PM'd you.

[suzan666]

Hi Jes,

My daughter was born with this condition in 1997 and back then it was all in the dark with doctors then, I had to go to a city to give birth to her where the hospital where experienced with this condition and they were great the surgeon was fantastic and he managed to get all the intestine back in in one go, Sami has a scar about 6-8cm wide across her stomach right were her belly button was suppose to be and it is hard to touch and sunken in, he the surgeon made a little belly button for her which was nice, but like yourself had never heard of this Gastroschisis in my life until they picked it up when I was about 16 weeks pregnant and asked my doctor if he knew anything and he did not know much, tried about 3 years ago to try and find a support group and just see how other parents and children are after the operation if any after affects, Sami is good with hers we tell her she has a special belly button and we don't make her feel ashamed about herself and if anything she is not and we are very proud of her. Anyway just thought I would send this hopefully it might help, but there are good sites on the topic it u put it into google search Aust.

Suzan

[Hokey Pokey]

I saw a baby with this condition on foxtel, was sad :(

[jes]

Hi Suzan,

thanks for that:) im glad Sami is doing gr8!!

We found out at12 weeks at the NT scan, and thats when the rollercoaster began for us!! I was lucky i had a gr8 problem free pregnancy which helped me concentrate on being positive! Emma was born 3 weeks early by c-section, the surgeon put the bowels back inside her tummy within 2 hours of birth. They didnt need to do 'surgery' as such, they just pushed it back through the hole it came out of. When it was all in they pulled the hole together with the umbilical(SP?)cord stump and stiched it up. So basicly she has a large outie belly button, you can actually see the original belly button to the left. They said she would have had an outie anyway.:yelclap: She only spent 11 days in ICN and 11days in SCN so 3 weeks total in hospital! She BF perfect, slept well and was(and still is)the most pleasent baby girl to be around!! Overall i wouldnt change a thing about our experience! it made us really apreciate 'life' so much more than we ever had before:yes:


We were really lucky that there were no complications with the GASTROSCHISIS and she recovered so quick and without the technology we have avaliable to us these days our baby girl probably wouldnt be with us today!!

I had another women contact me, she is the oldest surviving Gastroschisis patient and she is only 28 years old! Which isnt really that long ago.


So WELL DONE to both our strong girls!!!

Can i ask how long Sami was in hospital for and has she had any other problems relating to the gastroschisis?

Thanks heaps

jes (sorry i :ecomcity: to much)

[sugar n spice]

Jes i am so glad emma is perfectly fine. Glad all is well, sorry i only just came across your post tonight.

[madvoice]

Its great to hear that she's going so well :). When I first read this thread I didn't realise it was an old one and my heart jumped to my throat. I wish your little girl the best of health and happiness :)

[elisebree]

Hello,
My name is kim.
I have two children, my youngest daughter was born with gastroschisis in 2002. She also had a condition that is rare her bowel was not connected to her bottom. At that time she was the sixth case reported world wide.

Our stay in Hospital lasted over four months. This is because the digestive system is a slow recovery process. Just remember that babies are so tough, tougher than parents most times.
We went through alot, but It bought out my true strenghts and faith.

My daughter is four now. Her pain tolerence is very high, she has no major problems. Just a few things she can't eat as it upsets her bowel.

She is an active little girl, you wouldn't even know what she went through to look at her. Trust me I will never forget it.

If you want me to tell you anything else in detail please let me know.
Main thing is to have support.

[shereejoy]

Jes and Kim what amazing stories. Thank you for sharing and so glad your children are doing well.

[jes]

Hi Kim,

thanks for your story:) it is so amazing just how strong our 'babies' can be! It must have been so hard having her in hospital for 4 months! As i have said in my earlier posts we were just SOOO lucky with Emma recovering so fast and my heart goes out to anyone it that predicament(SP?)

I will send you a PM

PS thanks Sheree for your kind words and a big GOOD LUCK for tomorrow! Try not to be afraid of a c-section, its not as bad as you think;) All the best and cant wait to see a pic!

[shereejoy]

Jess it was my pleasure and thank you for you kind words. Yes we will be fine and even better I will be a mum for the first time, can't wait!

[HM77]

Hi toni, I too was born with Gastroschesis but in '77. I was looking for info on this condition as no one knows much about it- including GPs. As a result, I have a terrible disfigured belly button scar which I am now hoping to have corrected through plastic surgery. Sounds drastic I know. I just hope the procedures for babies if more fine tuned than in 77.