Houston and Omphalocele Update

Ah, it's nice that the O has taken the back seat on this blog and life of a toddler, pregnant woman and her husband have taken the driver's seat.  But since the Squirrel is and always will be an "O baby" we might have the occasional update to share.  

We headed to Houston on Tuesday for our Wednesday morning appointment with Dr. Cass, Harper's surgeon.  We hadn't seen Dr. Cass since surgery in July and we'd put her follow up appointment off a little longer than we should have but no harm done.  With no prompts by the medical team, Jared and I just assumed that we would be released from services and back to normal life after this appointment.  Um, not so much.

Here's the long and short of it.  Dr. Cass was happy with Harper's stomach and progress she's made.  He was very pleased with her scar and bellybutton.   Harps does still have a pretty large bulge on her stomach (it almost looks like a very large hernia) when she strains or sits up from a lying down position.  The muscle wall was brought together and the fascia on each side was sewn together during her surgery.  However, the muscles at the center of her abdominal wall still seem to be pretty weak and thin.  We're hoping that with time, these muscles will build and strengthen on their own and we'll stop seeing the bulge.  We'll go back for another check up when Harps is two and then again when she's three so that Dr. Cass can keep an eye on that belly bulge.  If there doesn't seem to be an improvement, she'll need to have surgery again around 3 yrs old to adjust the ab muscles.  

So, no.  We aren't through with Houston yet.  But we are totally comfortable and confident with the team at TCH and will proceed in any way that they feel necessary.  Isn't nice to have a doctor you trust?

After driving to and from Midland for Thanksgiving and then sticking the Squirrel back in her car seat for a Houston road trip, I can say that she is OVER the car for now and we're happy to be staying put for Christmas!