Baby conroys Gastroschisis journey

I have started up this give a little page to help support my sister and her partner in the ongoing costs of their baby boy who will be born with a birth defect - Gastroschisis.

They found out at 12 weeks that my nephew has 'Gastroschisis' which means that his abdominal walls have not formed correctly resulting in his intestines growing outside his body. Once he is born he will be taken from my sister where the care for him will be immediate. He will go into surgery and have full closure within the first week to two weeks. His recovery will be a minimum of 4 weeks in Waikato hospital in NICU (2 hour drive from where they live) where my sister will be unable to spend the nights with him and will have to stay at a near by hotel. He will be monitored closely for infection and until his intestines are working how they should she wont be able to breastfeed or feed him herself.

My sisters first specialist appointment in Auckland at 16 weeks revealed another birth defect, it was believed he had talipes (club foot) due to the position of his feet in his 12 and 16 weeks scans, she had to have a amniocetesis test done as they were concerned there was an underlying chromosome or genetic issue. Thankfully the results came back clear and the 20 week scan revealed his club foot was just purely positional! The journey through all this took quite a toll on my sister and everyone close to her, we are all thankful there is only 1 birth defect to focus on and deal with.

So during an extremely emotionally hard and challenging time to help my little unborn nephew and support Rochelle and Chris I wanted to set this page up to help them with their ongoing trips to specialist appointments at Auckland and Waikato hospitals and when the time comes (which will be pre term birth) for their accomodation and support needs while the baby has a longer stay in hospital through surgeries and growing to be healthy and strong. Chris still has to work during this time and they have Chris's 2 kids week on week off still. Chris will be away for work for some of it, so family will step in to be by her side so she doesnt do any of this alone. From watching others go through a similar journey the financial pressure of the unexpected can add more stress to an already stressful and extremely emotional time.

I can only begin to imagine how much strength and support this little baby is going to need especially for mum and dad, so if we can help support the financial stress of the costs that come with this journey then I am supporting it all the way. Any small amount will help towards this and truly appreciated.