Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Happy Birthday

Willem decided that he couldn't wait until July. We had an emergency C-section on June 27th. He was 4 lbs 12 oz and 17 inches. We delivered at Utah Valley Hospital in Provo.

I realized by about 10:30am Saturday morning that I hadn't felt the baby move at all. I did everything I could to be sure that I hadn't just been ignoring him. I drank some juice and laid down for about 10 minutes to see if I could feel him. I even pushed and poked him a bit but he didn't react at all. I started praying that the Lord would let me feel him move so that I could know that he was okay. On previous scary days like this I had received answers to those prayers within minutes, but today there was nothing. I called Blaise who was over at the church and we headed over to the hospital to get on the heart monitor. When we got there and hooked up to the monitors Will's heart rate was in the 170's whereas it should be in the 150's. He was definitely under some sort of stress. I felt so glad that I had come in and not brushed this off as a first-time-mom anxiety attack.

The nurses and the anesthesiologist started prepping me and Blaise for the C-section while we waited for my OB's on-call partner to arrive. Blaise got into the one-size-fits-all white jumpsoot and goofy cap for the OR while I got my epidural. It didn't hurt nearly as bad as I thought it would. We just looked at each other in amazement. We were going to have the baby today!

The C-section was over before we knew it and I have few memories of when Will was actually born becuase they had me on so much medication for the surgery. Blaise went with the baby up to the NICU there at Utah Valley to get him all wrapped up and stabalized. The doctor told Blaise that the bowel had a section that looked really discolored and thinks that this was likely the source of the baby's stress. It seems that it may have been twisted on itself and cut off circulation. It is this sort of thing that causes the big scary problems for gastroschisis babies. Lucky for us, the bowel was not damaged after all and soon regained its color. Again, I am so grateful that we went in when we did; it seems to me that time was definitely of the essence.

While Will and Blaise went up to the NICU, the nurses wheeled me back to my hospital room to make sure I was good and stable. Blaise came back down soon after and we decided that there was just enough time for me to be wheeled up there on my bed to see Willem before the Primary Children's transport team arrived to take him up to Salt Lake. I was still pretty out of it, and Will had that beanie cap over his eyes, but I got to touch his little leg and be there for Blaise and his Dad to administer a blessing.

Blaise and Gary went up to Salt Lake to be there when Will's transport arrived. My mother-in-law, Linda and her daughter Holly came with me down to my hospital room. I had my emotional moments, but overall I was at peace knowing that we got Will here safe and sound and that he was in good hands.


Posted by Picasa
Posted by at

1 comment:

  1. Ali SnowJuly 2, 2009 at 8:40 AM

    I'm so happy to know that things are going well. Your whole family is in our prayers. Please let us know if we can do anything.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

About Gastroschisis

I have posted some links for your information and research, but here's the run down on gastroschisis.

What is it?
Gastroschisis is a birth anomaly in which the baby's abdominal wall does not close all the way during early development. These abdominal defects can result in several problems, the least of which is gastroschisis. This is when some of the intestines escape through the small opening in the abdomen and are now outside the baby's body. During pregnancy these organs are exposed to the amniotic fluid for some time which makes the once maliable and functional bowel stiff and swolen.

How is it treated?
Since gastroschisis is not as serious as other similar defects, it is not dangerous to still deliver the baby vaginally. Upon delivery the baby will go to the NICU and be examined by the pediatric surgeons. At this point of evaluation, there are several courses of action. What needs to happen eventually is that the bowel needs to be surgically put back into the abdomen of the baby.

Option 1: If the bowel has little damage, is quite maliable and healthy, and the baby's belly seems to have the room to accept all of the intestine at once, the surgeons will perform a "primary closure". The surgery is fairly simple. They will make an incision to enlarge the opening enough to push the bowel back inside and sew it up once it is finished.

Option 2: If the bowel is stiff and swolen and or the baby's belly does not have the room to accept it all at once, they will perform a "staged closure". This is more complicated and takes some time. This invloves placing a "silo" over the bowel (this is basically a bag that holds the bowel suspended above the opening). This silo will be somewhat inserted into the baby's belly so as to allow the abdominal fluids to enter and thus healing the bowel by bringing the swelling down and making it malleable again. As the bowel heals and with a little assistance from the doctors the bowel will slowly but surely re-enter the baby's abdomen.

Recovery
A staged closure can take up to a week or two. So you may ask why does he have to be in the hospital for 5 to 6 weeks. Since the baby's system is not used to the pressure introduced by this bowel that is now inside the abdomen, and the bowel has been exposed to the amniotic fluid for so long, it simply takes time for the baby's digestive system to normalize. Aside from the digestive system, other things may be affected such as breathing due to the increased pressure inside the body. The baby's recovery can be broken down into three distinct stages. Pre-Surgery, Post-Surgery/Pre-Feedings, and Post-Feedings.

The first is simply the waiting period before the baby's bowel can be put back inside.

The next period is after surgery, the baby's system is still very fragile and can only be fed interveinously. During this time the amount of nutrients is slowly increased until the baby is ready for the final stage, when his body can accept real food.

Once on breast milk feedings from a bottle, the baby is closely monitored. The process is slow as the baby must phase into these feedings from the IV. Once the baby is up to full feedings and is gaining weight, we can all go home!

Long term effects
Once the baby has fully recovered and is ready to go home, he should be fit as a fiddle and have little or no related complications thereafter. The main thing that he may experience is a case of acid reflux, but this can be treated with medication and it usually will go away as he grows and gets older.