My inside-out babies
My children were saved by clingfilm
My mum Melanie, 50, held my hand as I was digesting everything the consultant was saying.
‘Your baby has gastroschisis,’ I was told.
The consultant explained it’s a birth defect meaning my baby’s intestines were outside his body.
‘We’ll have to operate after the baby is born,’ the consultant added. It was overwhelming. I already had a 6-monthold daughter Angel.
My pregnancy with her had been plain sailing. This time, I was petrified. ‘Be brave,’ Mum told me.
My partner Royston was worried, too.
After I gave birth to 5lb 5oz Owen in June 2008, a doctor held him up to show me.
He had Owen in one hand and my boy’s intestines in the other! It was an alarming sight. But I was so exhausted from labour, I didn’t really take it in. Then Owen was rushed away. His intestines were covered in clingfilm to keep them warm and protect them from infection.
‘Clingfilm?’ I repeated, when doctors told me.
My poor baby was wrapped up like a sandwich!
He was hours old when he had an op to reinsert his intestines into his tiny body.
He spent the next few months in hospital recovering.
At home, Owen started losing weight, so Royston and I took him back and forth to hospital. Eventually, he got stronger so I could bottle-feed him. Then, at a year old, he needed another op to move his testicles down into place.
They’d been pushed up due to the gastroschisis.
As time passed, Owen continued to thrive.
Then, last August, I fell pregnant again.
Royston and I took Owen, then 8, to the 16-week scan.
He was so excited to hear the baby’s heartbeat.
But suddenly the midwife ushered Owen out of the room.
‘Your baby is fine,’ she told me. ‘But her intestines are outside of her body.’ ‘Gastroschisis,’ I cried. I said Owen had it, too, and the midwife was stunned.
‘It isn’t hereditary,’ she said. ‘Gastroschisis only affects around one in 3,000 babies.’
It was just unfortunate that I’d had two babies with the same, rare condition.
I knew what to expect, but I was concerned about my baby having an op after birth.
And I was worried she’d have bowel problems in future.
Owen had been lucky, but Petal might not be…
Over the next few months, I had regular checkups.
Then, this April, Petal was born at St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol, weighing 5lb 8oz.
I caught a glimpse of her as she was whisked away.
And her intestines were wrapped in clingfilm, just like Owen’s had been.
Within an hour, Petal’s bowels were reinserted.
Just three weeks later, she was allowed home.
Owen, now 9, and Angel, 10, doted on their little sis, helping me change her nappy and give her a bottle.
Amazingly, Petal fed well and went from strength to strength.
Only time will tell how her bowels are affected.
But fingers crossed she’s lucky like her big brother.
Doctors have told me that having two babies with gastroschisis is almost unheard of.
That just makes my little troupers even more special.
To me, they’re perfect – inside and out!
He was all wrapped up like a sandwich!