Gastroschisis(gas.tros.chi.sis) Support and Resources

• In June 1987 i married my husband and soon after we found out i was pregnant, i was 23years old and very happy and excited. At 20 weeks i had my 1st scan {which i was not allowed to see} the nurse left the room to fetch the ward sister, i was upset not to see my baby and she told me there was a problem with the baby, but not what it was. I had in the next week blood tests {AFP} & amniocentisis {amniotic fluid} taken. At 22weeks we saw a doctor in obstetrics who diagnosed gastroschisis he then proceeded to offer usa termination! No way! He offered help from another hospital 60miles away, this little baby had a chance of life, hooray! We had a luvly lady obstertrician who gave reassurance and we got the chance to see our little baby on the scan for the 1st time at 26 weeks. We had nobody we could talk to about gastroschisis and the doctors were very reluctant to answer any questions or concerns that we had, evan to the point do not prepare a nursery or buy any equipment for the baby. At 30 weeks i had a heamorrage and was taken to the local hospital, very frightening. I was told by the team of doctors that i would have a C-section if the bleeding stopped and the pregnancy progressed, i would not be allowed to go home until the baby was delivered, and they would not transfer me to the other hospital 60miles away where our baby had the best chance of survival. We cried, and cried many tears of frustration. Hope, was a telephone call from our new hospital, yes they helped us and our baby. We did something risky and not for the faint hearted, my wonderful husband had the staff to get me ready, i signed myself OUT of the hospital and he had the car waiting to drive me 60 miles across the county lines where if needed an ambulance would be waiting to take me to the hospital of our choice and in the best interests of our baby.I arrived safely at the hospital and was admitted straight away, arrangements were made that i would be a long stay patient and i was safe. I delivered our son naturally in Jan 1988 and a great team of staff were on hand to help in the delivery, i did not see him or had the chance to cuddle or hold him as the ambulance crew and peadiatric team took him to the childrens hospital straight away. I felt devestated i could not see him but wanted him to have the best chance of life.I was very poorly after delivery and could not settle, my husband was at the childrens hospital intensive care unit waiting to see if he was ok? The surgeons had seen the condition before but our baby was a what they deem to be a bad case, the hole was small, all intestine and bowel outside and the cavity space very small, which pushed his lungs upwards, which resulted in lung collapse! We shed so many tears but he was a little fighter! At 12weeks our son was discharged and he had gained sufficient weight, but we had a problem, no clothes!My late mother came to the rescue with a beautiful outfit and shawl to bring him home. Our family and friends helped with equipment and clothing as we had nothing. The one thing i missed out on was not being able to breast feed as he could not feed for the first 8weeks. We had many problems as our son grew ENT hearing/language/nose polyps and sinus problems, he was also diagnosed with Dyspraxia {balance/co-ordination/learning difficulties} also subsequent abdominal repair/belly button. At 22years of age our son is in his final year at university and living life to the full, there is never a day goes by where we do not feel proud that we gave this lad of ours the chance of life, with much love and support from us his proud parents, our families & friends.

PS We were told after our son was born there was a chance i could go on to have another baby with the same condition, they said they had seen it happen. Now i wonder if that is the case? We decided not to have anymore children.

Good morning all. I wanted to introduce myself and tell you how scared I am, even though I read a bunch of positive info. My daughter Katie is 22 wks and the baby (a girl)has gastroschisis. They said alot of the intestines were outside but no organs. The baby is super tiny and very very low. The head is already at the cervix. I am fortunate, friends of ours went through this with their granddaughter but she is an extreme case. So far I love this site and am thankful my friend told me about it. I broke down yesterday and cried very hard for about an hour. My prayers are with all of us but I know I need support so I can be there for Katie and my granddaughter to be. They are thinking of the name Hailey.

I am a bit wary of posting this find without researching it in further detail but findings published by the Cornucopia Institute via Facebook who in turn sourced their information through membership to the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine have apparently found a link between Atrazine and Gastroschisis.

“Researchers at the University of Washington (Seattle), were alerted to a higher than normal number of cases in Eastern Washington which caused them to hypothesize that the increased incidence could be due to environmental exposures in that area.”

The article continues:-

“Of the 805 cases and 3616 controls in the study, gastroschisis occurred more frequently among infants whose mothers resided less than 25 km from the site of high surface water contamination with atrazine. No risk was associated with the other chemicals reviewed in the study. The risk of gastroschisis also increased for women who conceived in the spring (March through May), when chemical use is more prevalent.”

Source

What is Atrazine?

First research via a wiki page states that it is widely used herbicide pesticide in the USA but banned in the European Union.

Quote:-

“There are also thought to be implications for human birth defects, low birth weights and menstrual problems.”

Further research on Atrazine

Delving a little deeper into how Atrazine is used i have met a few boundarys via Google Scholar but the snippets alone (Google Scholars results for that searched keyword) are pointing to a variety of uses other than a pesticide, including usage within sewage treatment.

A web search for use of Altrazine usage in the UK returned an article reproduced from Pesticide news: EU Takes Note of Atrazine Research.

A Reuters story covering the development went into further detail.

Registration to SMFM is seemingly restricted to at least entry level medical professionals, but i will attempt to contact SMFM to clarify the findings.

Hi, im 21 weeks pregnant now i found out my lil boy has gastroschisis about 5 weeks ago. i was just wondering if anyone could give me advice about delievery. At first i was told i had to have a c-section but then i went to another doctor and he told me a regular birth is better. im so confused. if anyone can help that would be great. i just want to pick the best thing for my baby.

Michelle

Hi  I am Ayde… My son was born on October 17, 2005 at Vanderbilt Medical Center n Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. with gastroschisis… I came across this website while searching for answers as to the cause of Gastoschisis…. When i searched this at wikipedia.org , many of the contribuiting/risk factors were listed as: young mothers (I was 15 when my son was concieved), previous urinary tract infection ( I suffered from a severe UTI 3 and a half months prior to conception), and although none of the other factors pertained to me (i.e. drug use, prior std, smoking, etc.) I am  worried that I could eventually end up conceiving another child with gastrochisis…

Has anyone else had “normal” childen even after having had a baby with gastroschisis??? This has really been a depressing fact to come across because I do want to have other children, but DO NOT want to have them go through what my son has experienced in his short life…