WINSTON'S BELLY BUTTON HERNIA STORY

This is going back two years ago when I just had my son, I thought I would share you when Winston had belly button hernia. As a mum you naturally worry, you naturally wish and hope there is no complication during your pregnancy, during birth and after birth. Everything leading up to giving birth to my son was great, now I look back on it - at the time I thought I was suffering (me being a first time mum and a sook).

I have nephews and so I was familiar about the whole umbilical cord and it falling off naturally after a few days. I wasn't worried about anything going wrong, because I had no reason too - I was on cloud 9. When my sons umbilical cord finally fell off I noticed a lump, a sized of a peanut m&m on his belly button. Automatically I was thinking "Is this normal?" "What is that?!". I already had an appointment with my GP in a couple of days, and so we decided to wait until then. The day finally came around and by that time the lump grew, and the doctor looked at my sons belly button and told us he had a belly button hernia - for those who don't know what a belly button hernia is, it is when the intestine, fat or fluid pushes through a hole in your child's stomach muscles and causes it to bulge near or in the belly button and potentially need surgery. The doctor told us it is common and not to worry, and to monitor it BUT if he shows any discomfort or it gets any bigger he may need surgery. After the doctors appointment my mind was at ease.

A month later since our last check up Winston's hernia was slowly growing, and one day it grew to a size of a small bouncy balls. Winston is now four months old and the hernia is still there, and he started to show signs of discomfort. I automatically freaked out and we rushed to the hospital. When we arrived, checked in and explained to the doctor what was going on - he told me and my partner that our son may need to go into surgery tonight, if not sometime during this week. Three hours later - sitting there, waiting for more information on what is going to happen next, the doctor comes in and told us our son doesn't need surgery and told us to just monitor it and hope for it to go away naturally. Winston is now five months old - my sister in-law heard about Winston's hernia and gave us a cream that would help with his hernia (I can't remember what the cream was called - sorry). I would apply the cream on Winston's belly button every night, after his bath and after a couple of weeks we noticed our sons belly button was starting to shrink, and I was so happy that his belly button hernia was naturally going away and he didn't need to get surgery. Fast forward to today, his belly button is no longer a size of a small bouncy ball, it now looks like an outie and there hasn't been any complications since our hospital visit.

Winston's hernia when he was a month old