Ten Fingers, Ten Toes, and a Congenital Defect. (Part One)
1 in every 33 babies is born with a birth defect.
Every 4 1/2 minutes, a baby is born with a birth defect.
From March of Dimes…
“If your baby is born with a birth defect or other health condition, he may need special care at birth and later in life.
You may be worried and have lots of questions. It’s OK to feel this way.
Birth defects are health conditions that are present at birth. They change the shape or function of one or more parts of the body. Birth defects can cause problems in overall health, how the body develops or how the body works”
DEFECT is such an ugly word: a shortcoming, an imperfection, a deficiency.
A congenital disorder.
In other words, NOT perfect.
I failed as a mom, even before my baby was born.
Or at least that’s how I felt when I discovered that my son suffered from a Meckel’s diverticulum.
I didn’t learn this when I was pregnant during a regular office visit or ultrasound; he was thirty-three years-old and being rolled into emergency surgery all the way across the country when the surgeon revealed the reason why my son was writhing in such horrific pain that morphine couldn’t dull and why his belly was distended.
At first they thought it was appendicitis, but it wasn’t.
It was far worse and if we had not had such an amazing surgeon; there’s a strong possibility that he would not be here now, having his own baby boy.
Apparently he had been born with Meckel’s diverticulum, a true congenital diverticulum, which is a slight bulge in the small intestine present at birth and a vestigial remnant of the omphalomesenteric duct (also called the vitelline duct or yolk stalk).
Meckel’s diverticulum is the most common congenital abnormality of the small intestine; it is caused by an incomplete obliteration of the vitelline duct (ie, omphalomesenteric duct). Although originally described by Fabricius Hildanus in 1598, it is named after Johann Friedrich Meckel, who established its embryonic origin in 1809.
In 1981, there was nothing like the sort of sophisticated diagnostic tools we have today. I think I had a doppler to hear the heartbeat and that’s it. There was no need to subject me or my baby to amniocentesis and I was all about natural and organic, so the less invasive, the better.
Even now, despite being one of the most common congenital anomalies of the gastrointestinal tract, Meckel diverticulum has rarely been diagnosed in utero, although there is the potential to see it if it exists at the end of the third trimester.
What I learned from the doctors is that it either causes no problem at all or it causes a problem when the child is about two years old, or it causes the kind of complications my son endured as an adult, which can be life threatening.
Which it was.
If this condition is left untreated, it leads to strangulation and ischemic necrosis of the wall of the bowel loop.
- Most patients with intestinal obstruction present with abdominal pain, bilious vomiting, abdominal tenderness, distention, and hyperactive bowel sounds upon examination.
- Patients may develop a palpable abdominal mass.
From the moment my DIL brought my son to the emergency room and called us at 3 a.m., the whirlwind that brought me and tugboat man rushing from SoCal to the east coast — his intestines were dying and had become so necrotic that two feet (24 inches!) of small intestine would be resected, along with the removal of the inflamed and burst Meckel’s diverticulum, his appendix, eight inches of ascending colon, and various other bits and pieces that were also affected and infected.
I can’t even describe the fear and guilt that washed over me in waves while I didn’t leave his side for the two weeks he was in the hospital.
Why didn’t I know?
What could I have done to have prevented it?
How could I be such a horrible mother?
How come my baby wasn’t perfect?
What if…he didn’t survive?
I know those are the kind of irrational thoughts that have no basis in reality, but a mother’s heart is so fierce, I would have died for him.
And with him.
I’m so grateful to the surgeon and the great nursing care at Rhode Island Hospital; because of them, my Angel Boy is here today.
Here’s the complete story of that almost tragedy on my other blog, Enchanted Seashells, Confessions of a Tugboat Captain’s Wife:
POSTS ABOUT THE SURGERY:
1. That Dreaded Call at 3:00 A.M.
https://enchantedseashells.com/2014/05/01/that-dreaded-call-at-300-a-m/
2. Time To Exhale
https://enchantedseashells.com/2014/05/06/time-to-exhale-hospital-update/
3. Full Circle From Hell to Happiness
https://enchantedseashells.com/2014/05/10/full-circle-from-hell-to-happiness/
4. What Does a Cosmo, the Trauma, Unit, and Mother’s Day Have in Common
https://enchantedseashells.com/2014/05/11/what-does-a-cosmo-the-trauma-unit-and-mothers-day-have-in-common/
As you know my old dear is a midwife think “Call the Midwife” & like many of her era saw some tragedies but is very grateful that so many (not all) now have access to the best possible care available
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Love Call the Midwife except for wishing they all had access to birth control lol, but there’s so much we didn’t know when we couldn’t see inside there. My mom wasn’t a midwife but she was charge nurse of women’s surgical and did her share of delivering!
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My son was born with two club feet. As was his father, and eventually, my granddaughter. I didn’t know it ran in my family too because no one ever mentioned it until AFTER O was born. Then suddenly everyone told me that Uncle Herman and his kids and their kids were all born with mildly clubbed feet. My granddaughter has had a very hard time with it and for her, there has not been a perfect ending. But she has learned to live with the feet that don’t work, changing the work she is doing to accommodate her handicap. Sometimes, life just throws you a curve.
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Nowadays, as I saw with my own two eyes, pregnancy is very much medicalized, there’s a lot of risk management with all of the ultrasounds, etc. I’ll be talking about this on part two…
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Oh and a very late addition to my original reply, I had no idea that club feet work that way; is there a genetic marker for it? I think you could probably see it in the ultrasounds they have now; I could count each and every vertebrae.
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I’m just so glad he was ok in the end 🙂
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Yes, and I am too for SURE! How are you??????
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I’m. In between all the things. Lots of things. In a place of dichotomy and juxtaposition and beautiful glitter and utter shit. But I’m powering through and have my course set for adventure, at least.
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Ah, adventure, that’s somewhere I’ve hardly ever gone! Life is an adventure? My life is all about waiting. Waiting, and more waiting. It’s kind of annoying.
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Well…you have time to change that 🙂
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I have one life with tugboat man and the other is waiting for him.
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*hugs* There must be some way to fill the waiting life with adventure…
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I’m not sure I want an adventure per se…I’m still figuring it all out!
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I tried it. I liked it 🙂 I loved it. Love made it.
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You are a brave sparkly previously and presently adventurous spirit!
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Heheh Love made me strong. And definitely demanded that I attend the call of adventure. After all, what have I got here to hold me back, really
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You have the entire world at your feet!!!
I’m glad you’ve found love, you have a lot of love to give!
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I have, and yet…and yet…I just really REALLY hope LoveWins, because some people are justifiably a little bit butt-hurt about what I’m doing. Even though they support me.
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You are emerging as YOU, whatever that is. And your journey is beautiful. So I support you!
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I am Becoming. I just wrote that ❤ I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so. I ❤ you, my Previous Princess.
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That is so cool.
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❤
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I can’t believe how terrified you must have been when your son was rushed to hospital. Glad it turned out OK. 🙂
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Thank you and yes, I was so terrified my hub had to tell me what to pack and basically led me around because I couldn’t function. All I could think about was how to get to my baby 3000 miles away before something happened. It STILL is upsetting to think about but yes, he’s doing really great.
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