Monday, January 21, 2013

Hernia

I remember that day like it was yesterday. Mango was just 5 weeks old and it was time for a nappy change. As I pulled the flaps of the nappy off, lo and behold there was a HUGE lump sticking out of Mango's inguinal area! I remember standing there jaw dropped while bubba was crying his lungs out. Well ofcourse he was crying, he hated nappy changes. As soon as I lay him down on his back and take his pants off, the entire neighbourhood could hear him.

Lucky for us we have a GP in the family and he was obviously the first person we called. Mango was then diagnosed with an inguinal hernia. Im not a doctor or anyone special so what did I do? Something called the internet. Boy did I learn something.

A hernia is when the muscle tissue is not strong enough. When a person strains, the intestines push through the weak muscle causing it to stretch. Sometimes the intestines push through the hole and gets stuck causing a blockage and sometimes it just stretches the muscle leaving a hole.

Call me a drama queen or over reacting. A mum who has never in her life heard of a hernia and changes her bubba's nappy 10 times a day, then one day is surprised by a huge lump. It was quite scary. If hubby hadn't calm me down, I'm pretty sure I would have run into the emergency room screaming my lungs out. Any mum's out there experience the same thing? Please let me know. I'd like to know i'm not the only crazy Mamma out there... Or am I? 0_0

It had been two weeks since we found his hernia and during that time he wouldn't straighten his legs or lie on his belly, crying all the time. We had booked and appointment to see a paediatric surgeon and fix the hernia. Very easy procedure. Easy for bub and hard for Mum. Then one night Mango wouldn't stop crying. He refused to do anything and everything except cry. So off to emergency we went. We stayed the night in the hospital and the next morning we the nurses prepared him for his surgery.

We met the paediatric surgeon who was to operate on him. He explained that he was going to push the intestines back into the hole in the muscle and stitch it up. Done! Healing time? Just a few days... then everything should be back to normal.

Thank god that was over. All the doctors that we met and all the medical websites we went on said that an inguinal hernia (unless it's a blocked hernia) does not effect the baby in any way and it does not hurt. Trust me when I say this though, after the hernia was fixed, Mango was a CHANGED little boy. Whether it was the hernia (which im sure it was) or that he just had a massive mood swing. He was just so settled. Im sure many Mamma's who have gone through the same situation could agree with me?


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