Playing Catch Up

My husband Rick and I decided to buy a 3-D Ultrasound to be able to get some good pictures of our baby boy, and hopefully see what he looked like. I made an appointment for when I was 31 weeks pregnant and we went in to get it. We were really excited about being about to see his little face, but the Doctor couldn't get a good view of it. Something was up in front of his face along with his umbilical cord, so the Doctor started looking into what it might be. He measured the baby's head, legs, and stomach and found that his stomach size was 2 weeks behind the other parts of his body. This led the Doctor to believe that our baby has Gastroschisis, which means his intestines are growing outside of his body. This explains why his little tummy was measuring 2 weeks smaller- there's no reason for it to grow at a normal rate when everything isn't in there forcing growth. The Doctor gave us a referral to a specialist in the area (we lived in Germany, stationed at Ramstein AB) and we went right away to the ER at our military hospital. We soon had appointments with our military Doctors and German Doctors and quickly found that the initial diagnosis was correct. Now it was time to take action. Seeing as I was already 31 weeks and Gastroschisis babies tend to deliver early, we needed to act fast. The military Doctors met with us and informed us that we'd get the best treatment back in the United States. Three days after meeting with the high risk Doctor on base, we were on a plane flying to Washington D.C. to be treated at Bethesda Naval Hospital; one of the best hospitals in the Country. Everything happened so fast, but now that we're here we feel confidant in the decision to send us here. The Doctors and Nurses are all very helpful and seem to really know the facts on Gastroschisis and what's best for us. Right now we live out of a hotel here on Temporary Orders, waiting for the military to cut orders giving us permission to move here. At that point, we can have our car and household items shipped here, and find a home for us here.