What we know...

When I was 13 weeks pregnant, I went to the doctor for a routine ultrasound. That day kicked off a roller coaster ride of a pregnancy in which Bill and I learned so much about each other, the kindness of others and just how much worry and responsibility goes along with our new title as Parents.
That day, my amazing OB, Dr. Zacher, explained that Baby had what was called an omphalocele. It was obviously something we had never heard of and took at least three days to learn how to pronounce. I avoided the Internet that night out of fear and also since we had an appointment the very next day with a specialist. The following is a good website though explaining the basic facts.
http://www.chw.org/display/PPF/DocID/34370/Nav/1/router.asp
Dr. Wheeler (specialist) explained there are different sizes of omphaloceles. Our baby has a very large one due to his intestines and liver being outside of the abdomen. He also explained that a high percentage of babies with omphaloceles have some sort of other birth defect...e.g. heart, chromosomal, etc. That statistic scared us, but from what they could see/measure on the ultrasound at that time, he seemed to think we would just be dealing with the omphalocele as an isolated issue. Actually, for reasons unknown, having a giant omphalocele lessens the chances of having other birth defects. We opted out of an amniocentesis at that time due to the risk of having one so early in pregnancy, but recently had one at 30 weeks with normal results. We also had a fetal echo on the same day to check the heart and everything looked good there as well.

So, what we know...
Mid-October we took a trip to Indianapolis' IU Medical Center and Riley Children's Hospital for a second opinion visit and were just blown away by all the information we received there. Due to the elevated risk of having a vaginal delivery, I am having a C-section on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 9am. We decided to deliver at IU Med Center so the baby could go straight to the NICU at Riley (the hospitals are conveniently next door to each other, connected by a covered bridge). We had a great meeting with Dr. West, the pediatric surgeon who will ultimately be doing surgery on Baby sometime following his birth. We know the doctors start to gently push/massage the sac back into the abdominal cavity in the days following Baby's delivery.  When all the organs are back in then the baby will have surgery to close up the abdomen.  He'll have a little scar and they even make him a belly button!

What we don't know...
How long will it take to push everything back in. It could be days to weeks. This is something that will be determined in the days that follow the birth and why we have this blog. They really need to see just how big the omphalocele is and how small Baby's little abdominal cavity is having formed without these major organs inside it.

We feel so lucky for several reasons. First of all, we can fix it! Babies with omphaloceles go on to live completely normal lives with little to no long term effects. Also, we have had lots of time to wrap our minds around the situation and prepare emotionally for things to come. Ever since that day of my 13 week appointment and receiving the "bad" news, everything to follow has been positive and encouraging. We realize many people have not been as lucky with similar situations and for that we are thankful everyday.
Stay tuned for updates, especially for all the fun initial details like Baby Law's much anticipated name. Feel free to ask any questions and leave comments on the blog. If you are reading this, it means you are concerned in some way for our family and for that we will forever be grateful. We truly have the most amazing families and friends that have surrounded us with their words of encouragement, support, advice and prayers. All we can say is thank you and we love you.