Finley was born on August 1st at 3:05 PM, 5 lbs / 7 oz / 18 in long. Mommy was admitted to the hospital a week prior for preeclampsia so we had the chance to make ourselves right at home before Fin made his appearance. He was delivered via c-section at 37 weeks 5 days. Upon delivery, a couple of things happened. First, the sac surrounding his omphalocele ruptured. Second, he wasn't breathing, but the docs were able to get him going in under a minute and a ventilator was placed. Due to the rupture, surgery was the only option and it needed to happen quickly. Thankfully, his lungs were looking good so he went into surgery within 5 hours of birth.
He was in surgery for 3 hours and made it through with no complications. Great start! A silo bag was placed around the omphalocele. Basically, this bag enables the docs to slowly push the organs back into the abdomen. There are MANY details surrounding his daily care but I'll just give the basics as it stands today.
So far, he had had 4 "reductions". This is when the docs move a bit of his organs into his abdomen. This is very touchy as his abdomen is not quite big enough to accommodate his very large omphalocele. Simply put, the more they push in, the more pressure is put on his lungs and so his ventilator settings are adjusted in order to help him breathe. He is able to breathe on his own, but the ventilator is necessary in order to help him along. At this point, the surgeons feel strongly that they need to move fairly quickly over the next week to get the organs into the abdomen and perform a closure surgery. As of today, it looks like they will probably not be able to get it all the way in within that time frame and so they will do a sort of "patch" closure where they use some type of mesh to cover it. This just means that he will require an additional surgery at a later date. Amazingly, they have moved all of his liver back in and it's just some bowel that remains outside. It's about the size of half of an orange sitting on his belly. HIs little abdomen is pretty tight, but he is tolerating the reductions well. He does this really cute thing where he stretches and kicks his legs straight out and throws his arms back behind his head like he is lounging on a beach! The docs say this is him stretching his belly out to make room and it is so cute to watch!
Some other details:
- He is pretty heavily sedated for obvious reasons, but he is alert and opens his eyes and looks around regularly.
- He has a moderate size VSD (a hole in his heart between the two ventricles), but it's not causing too much of a problem at this point.
- We are not able to hold him as he has to be kept on his back and very still. They have taught us a method of "holding" using our hands on his head and feet which he really likes. He knows we are there and responds to our voices.
There is so much more to tell, but these are the main points. Rick and I are taking everything day to day as new things come up and adjustments are made. The team at UCLA is AMAZING and Rick and I feel very confident about the care he is receiving. Finley still has a ways to go, but his first week has been good overall. He is already charming the nurses and we are so in love with our baby boy it is beyond our comprehension!
I will send out regular updates on his condition and I apologize in advance if I don't get back to people right away. I am at the hospital all day and Rick takes over after work in the evening....everyone has been so loving and kind and so very supportive of our little man and we appreciate it more than words can say. Finley's journey has begun! More news soon.
Love to everyone!!!
xoxoxoxo Daria & Rick
I just found your blog. My O baby was also born on August 1st! It was too much of a coincidence not to say "hi"...I hope you guys are doing great!
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