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When Lucia Angell, 25, was 16 weeks pregnant, doctors discovered an anomaly with her baby during the standard ultrasound scan.
Angell’s daughter, Erin, would be born with her intestines on the outside of her body. Her birth defect, gastroschisis, meant that there was a hole near Erin’s belly button that had allowed her intestines to exit and develop outside her body.
The doctors couldn’t guarantee that Erin would survive the pregnancy – or even beyond that, if she’d survive long after birth, depending on how tricky the procedure was to sew her intestines back inside her abdomen.
Thankfully, both Lucia and Erin made it through the pregnancy, and the latter was successfully born – only to get immediately swept away to the operating room.
“It was awful. It's hard enough being a first-time mum but the pressure of not knowing if she was even going to survive was horrible,” Angell recalled. “The moment she was born she was whipped away. It was so upsetting not being able to hold her but she needed to have all her organs wrapped up before we could have contact.”
It was an agonizing wait for Erin’s parents, but the procedure was largely successful. The doctors were able to return Erin’s intestines back inside her body, and only had to remove part of her bowel that had died from exposure.
Erin’s parents, however, did have to wait another five days before they could properly hold and cuddle their daughter. “It was such a special moment. We had gone from not being able to hold her and not knowing if she'd be able to breathe on her own to getting both at the same time. It was amazing,” Angell described.
For the next two and a half months, Erin and her family remained at the hospital, monitoring her health and praying that her intestines wouldn’t fail.
There were several complications – some with Erin’s intestines and others with her heart – but at long last, in March, Erin was deemed well enough to go home. “That day we got to take her home was incredible. We didn't tell any of our family and just turned up with Erin. Everyone was so happy and relieved,” Angell said.
“There is still a long road ahead as she might have some stomach problems when she's older,” Angell acknowledged, “but it is a small price to pay to have her with us.”
