Cayden is our second son, who will be born sometime in October. Cayden has Gastroschisis (pronounced gastro-ski-sis), which they classify as an abdominal wall birth defect. His small intestines have developed outside of his abdomen due to this defect in his abdominal wall. This happened when he was just an embryo and the intestines and abdomen were developing. The intestines actually push out of the abdomen, do a flip, then come back in to lay the correct way. Normally when this happens the intestines lay where the need to be and the abdomen closes normally. When this was happening for Cayden, the abdominal wall started to close around the intestines before they got all the way back inside, leaving part of his intestines outside. There is no known cause for this birth defect, but the good thing is that there is a procedure to fix it right after he is born. Luckily there is nothing else that Cayden will have to battle or deal with besides this birth defect. Most likely Cayden will not have any lasting effects from this, as long as he does not get any blockages or have damage to his intestines. Cayden will have to be born at University of Washington Medical Center, and all of his care once is born will be at Seattle Children's Hospital. Lance and I will be in the hospital with him for most likely 1 1/2 - 2 months as long as there are no complications. We will use Caring Bridge to keep family and friends updated so we don't accidentally forget to update someone, but please feel free to call or text either of us anytime!
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