Hernia

Delphianraven

I was wondering if any of you have had to deal with a hernia? DS was born at 34 weeks at 5 lbs, spent three days in NICU and four days in NSCU. He's been home for awhile and about three days ago I noticed a lump above his groin. I took him to the doctor on Friday and she told me to just keep an eye on it. (It comes and goes at different times) She thought it might be testicles or a hernia and showed me how to check to make sure both testes are in the scrotum (I've never seen DH look so nervous with the boy!) and when it came back of course after we got home, both were still in place. I'm just nervous about what to expect with this. If your lil one had a hernia did you wait to have surgery or did they want to fix it immediately?

njdcgirl

DS has a hernia.  He probably got it at about 30 weeks back in Aug (he was born 23w5d).  We haven't had it fixed yet - they wanted him to get bigger and spend more time off oxygen before they do the surgery.  At first, they said they'd do it around 9 - 10 pounds, but it looks like he is going to be between 14 - 15 pounds before we have it done (probably next month.)

It doesn't bother him at all, but we do need to watch out for it, because if it gets strangluated/incarcerated (stuck down in the groin) it does become an emergency situation and he would need surgery right away.  We check it every diaper change.

If it is a hernia, I believe they will need to fix it, it won't go away on it's own (belly button hernias will often fix themselves, but not inguianal hernias).  Good luck!

Kate621

My ds had an inguinal hernia that was repaired before he was discharged from the NICU. Hernias are very common in preemies, especially in boys. He did great with the surgery. They used spinal anestesia rather than doing general anestesia and needing to put him back on the ventilator. The entire surgery lasted about 45 minutes and recovery was pretty easy.