Hi Boychuck,
Words cannot express how happy I am for you and your little girl Brianna. Wow 14 days in NICU must be a record for a gastroschisis! I can only hope things will go half as well for us. My little boy is doing great. Growing well and there is no obvious dialation of the bowel. I only have about 5 weeks to go and we are really excited. How did you give birth vag or c-s? Did Brianna have a primary or a staged repair? Did you see the bowel and what colour was it? Any tips on how to get through those days in NICU?

Hi August,
Just want to say thank you. I apoligize for not getting back to you sooner. With my two girls it's very difficult getting a free moment to myself.
Over here in the states the average for a gastro babies stay in the NICU is 3 weeks. My baby girl did very well so she came home in 2. But I didn't set the record. There was a couple whom had a gastro baby 2 or 3 years ago in the hospital where I had Brianna, and there baby was only in the hospital 8 days. I had my baby in one of the best hospitals in the country though, the presidents hospital. Hopefully your baby boy won't have a long stay neither.
I delivered Vaginally, they wouldn't allow me to have a c-s unless there was an emergency. After the baby was born the took her so quickly to clean her up to get her down to the NICU, it was hard to see her bowel. But to me it looked brownish maybe a little pink. But it's hard to tell she was covered in blood. (sorry don't mean to gross u out) They did let me see the baby for about 5-10 secs, long enough to let me see what she looked like and give her a kiss, and then they rushed her to the NICU.
Primary repair, they would have done the procedure within minutes after getting her stable but we had to wait on the surgern to get to the hospital. So he came and talked to after seeing her, He told me she looked great, so he decided no surgery, he just pushed all the bowel and the stomach back in her belly and then took the umbilical cord over the open wound so that they didnt need to be any stiches. They actually did it right in the NICU. He came back to tell me everything was good to go about 30 minutes later, and that I could go see her. She was 2 days old when I finally got to hold her. It was harder seeing them take her to the NICU then not being able to hold her, because I still got to touch her. LIke I said everyday we had good news that she was doing better and everything was going on track. They started her feedings at 1 weeks, slowly increased and a week later she was home. She had a 3 bowel movents, from what was left in her from me after puttin gthe bowel back in. Then she didnt have anymore until they started to feed her. I think she had a bowel movement within 24 hours of feeding. That was the best news besides when they told me she was coming home.
I wouldn't know what to tell you to make it easy to get threw the days at the nicu, yes we always had good new, but some days everything stayed the same, and i would asked when they would think she would come home and some nurses would tell me several weeks. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, I think just about everyday I broke down and cried my eyes out. But what help me is looking forward to the next step, taking it from day to day. After the first week, and she started eating It was harder for me not to have her home because she was doing so good and wasnt home. But before I had her, I thought things would be alot harder, and I didnt think I would be able to handle it as weel as I did. But I did alot of praying, probably the most I ever did in the 2 weeks she was in the hospital, then in my whole life. I put all my faith in god, and he help me threw it, and I'm sure he help you to. I know you'll do find and so will your little boy, I'll be praying for you. Befor eyou know it he'll be home and you wont be getting any sleep, lol. Well goodluck. Please keep me posted,I hope I answered what you needed, if you have any more ?'s please ask. Take care of yourself and your little one!