Gastroschisis.....

We found out about a month ago our baby has gastroschisis. Can anybody who has gone through this tell me what to expect? I find conflicting info on the internet. How long is typical recovery for the baby? are there any long term issues he will have? my ob and the specialist im seeing both say a c-section is likely, but everything ive read says there is no reason for that if everything else is going fine. Im just curious because, of course, my mind jumps to worst case scenarios. and looking at pictures of what it actually looks REALLY doesnt help!

I don't have any personal experience with it, but the treatment has come a long way. They use the 'silo' method, which allows the abdominal cavity to slowly accommodate to the intestines, instead of forcing them all in at once. It reduces complications. I wish you and your little one the best.

thank you!

My son was born with this  

I have 2 pixs on my profile if u want to see him, none with his silo   I didn't want to take pixs of that, I regret it now...

Sorry I got excited I replied before reading haha,

I had a vag delivery,

My son was in nicu for 2 months,

It really depends how much bowel is out and if there's any damage to the bowel, he had all his organs and intestine out,

We were very lucky, he was bf for 6 months then went on formula no problems, then we had some issues with cows milk he was on soy for a year then we were able to switch to cows...

He had to drink apple juice as an infant diluted just to keep him regular...

He's 6 1/2 now... completely healthy I'm on my phone but I can't try and post a link of his scar...

how long did it take for him to recover ? were you able to have him naturally or did you have to go by c-section? when i think about it c-section seems like it would be better for the baby, but everythink ive read says vaginal is still possible.

lol thats ok....i cant stand it thinking he might have to be there for such a long time. thank you, this helps. i was wondering whether there could be issues with the intestines later on and if that would affect how he is fed, what he is fed, etc....

My brother was born in 1982 with Exomphalos (omphalocele) which is a similar condition but generally a higher rate of things going wrong.

He had surgery when he was about 6 months old.
He has no belly button and a giant scare on his stomach that's the size of like a football, but back then it wasn't as common of a condition and babies didn't normally make it.

At almost 31 years old he is perfectly healthy and suffers no complications.
Even though he has put on weight, he can't get fat.. if that makes sense.. He doesn't have fat rolls as such.. His belly kinda just turns into a pregnant belly.

Also my brother wasn't diagnosed until after he was born.. Side ways... naturally with a HUGE bubble on his belly.

<blockquote><b>Quoting Holly Drew:</b>" how long did it take for him to recover ? were you able to have him naturally or did you have to go by ... [snip!] ... i think about it c-section seems like it would be better for the baby, but everythink ive read says vaginal is still possible."</blockquote>




He was *ok* by 6 weeks, he had to take in 60mls of milk and keep it down for so many days, after 2 weeks of keeping it down and going from 4lbs 15ozs to 6lbs even he did great...

I was told from begining I was able to have him naturally, when he came out she flipped him up real fast holding his insides together that's when they saw all the organs out, they didn't know that was all out too, till he was actually born...

well im glad he is doing good. that does sound alot more complicated than what ive been told he has.....i would prefer to have him naturally than have a c-section. and im definately gonna ask the docs why they feel its so necessary, when im reading and hearing everything the total opposite.

<blockquote><b>Quoting Holly Drew:</b>" lol thats ok....i cant stand it thinking he might have to be there for such a long time. thank you, this ... [snip!] ... whether there could be issues with the intestines later on and if that would affect how he is fed, what he is fed, etc...."</blockquote>



It sucks they told me to prepare for 6 months... when I was preg, they like to over shoot I guess lol
It really just depends on how baby does after surgery, with learning how to eat and how baby digests ur milk, if ur breast feeding u have to exclusively pump at least till he comes home but even then they want to know around how much-ish babys taking in, so I pumped the whole time because I'm anal  

The only prob we had was cows milk, he started dumping *diarrhea* real bad, so we had him on soy, the gradually dr had us switch him back to cows and it went a lot better..

I know some gastro mommas who had their babys intestines in on the 1st surgery, and home in 2 weeks, if the bowel isn't too damaged they dnt have to remove any some babies have a lot of damage, maybe from water exposure or whatever, thts why they like to induce between 36-38 weeks, I was induced at 38 weeks they were waiting for his lungs to mature a lil more but it wasn't worth it to my dr. He gave steroid shot and got him out,

If baby does have some bowel removed they can have short bowel syndrome which is a lil more difficult, I know 1 baby who eats with g tube, but he's pretty good otherwise...