Learning about CDH

Last Friday I went in for my 19 week ultrasound and was told that baby Maxton may have CDH (congenital diaphragmatic hernia) and that I would need to see a specialist on Monday. Unfortunately, this was the second scare we had during pregnancy. At 11 weeks, we were told that Max had a cystic hygroma and we were advised to take a CVS test. The CVS came back normal, which we were very excited about. However, deep in my gut, I still felt like something was wrong. Unfortunately, I was right and Max was diagnosed with CDH yesterday. Since Friday I have been reading all I can about CDH. Basically, right now it appears that Max's stomach and possibly part of his liver are occupying his left chest, which has caused his heart to move to the right side. This is caused by a hernia or hole on the left side of his diaphragm. The main problem will be with Max's lung development, which is due to the fact that other organs are invading the lung space which doesn't allow them room to grow.

David and I are both very hopeful that our little man will do just fine and are very excited to be his parents and help him through all of this. Most likely, after Max is born, he will be placed in NICU and will be monitored until he is stable enough for surgery to fix his hernia and move the organs back to their right place. This is typically a few days or a week after birth. Max will then remain in the hospital for several weeks to give his lungs time to develop. Luckily, we found this problem early and are able to get good prenatal care. I was told that Max (and I) will likely be started on steroids to help aide his lung growth. I am meeting with a surgeon on Wed. October 29th to discuss Max's plan of care.

We appreciate your support and thoughts during this difficult time. Luckily, we are blessed to have a good team of doctors at Maternal Fetal Group and look forward to meeting some of our new doctors at Vanderbilt next week. Check here often for updates as it will be easier for me to update here than to email everyone. We appreciate you all!!!