We hope to see you at 2:00pm EST on Sunday, February 2nd for our monthly support group: Ask a New O Mom!

Please join us as we host Ashleigh, Heather, Falecia, and Karen, all O Moms to amazing little O Warriors. Our moms will each share about their own omphalocele journey and how their O warriors are doing today.

As always, everyone from the omphalocele community is welcome (parents of new O babies, experienced parents with older O children, pregnant mothers and expectant family members, grandparents, friends, adult omphalocele survivors) and you are all an important part of our group.

Meet the Panelists!
Ashleigh
Ashleigh is mom to Audrey, who is now 18 months old. She found out at her 20 week anatomy scan that her baby had a giant O. Audrey was born at 35 weeks and spent 67 days in the NICU. She had full closure on day 8 of life using the silo method. She came home with a feeding tube, which she had for 11.5 months. Audrey is thriving and enjoying life to the fullest! Ashleigh and her family live in Canada.

Heather
Heather Hunsicker is 41 years old and has been happily married to her husband, Jason, for 14 years! She is an academic advisor for 11th grade students and works remotely for a cyber charter school based out of West Chester! She and her husband tried for 15 years to have a baby, and after 2 miscarriages they finally were blessed with their son, Oliver Flynn! He is almost a year old and was born with a giant omphalocele containing 5 organs. In March, Heather’s family will be scheduling Oliver’s closure surgery!

Falecia
Falecia is a 29 year old homesteader and mother of giant O baby Evelyn. She has been married to her devoted husband for 10 years. After a long fertility journey they were so excited to be having their wished for child. At their 20 week anatomy scan, the doctor gave them the news of their daughter’s omphalocele. The weight of the news was initially very difficult to process, but they were determined to rediscover excitement and joy. Evelyn was born with her omphalocele containing liver and bowel. At 1 week old, Evelyn’s omphalocele ruptured, putting her in critical condition with pulmonary hypertension. Evelyn had several attempts to be repaired through several methods and re-ruptured 3 times before needing to be paralyzed in order to promote healing. At 4 months old, Evelyn was extubated, and she was sent home partially repaired at 6 months old. Evelyn was getting her nutrition via NG tube until she was 10 months old. Now, at 2 years old they spend most of their days living a very uncomplicated toddler lifestyle!

Karen
Karen is the mother of a 20 month old O Warrior named Liam. She also has a 15 year old stepson named Jacob. She is a New Jersey native and resides in Pennsylvania with her husband Jon. Karen is currently at home with Liam, but she was a teacher for 15 years. Liam’s omphalocele was discovered around 20 months gestation during an anatomy scan. As many O moms have experienced, her OB suggested termination. This was devastating, especially after a miscarriage. They decided to consult CHOP in Philadelphia and were given a much more optimistic diagnosis. Liam had a giant omphalocele containing his liver. He was delivered by planned C-section at 37+5 and spent two months at CHOP. He had closure surgery at 9 months old and is thriving. He is an active boy with a loving disposition. He loves food, his stuffed animal puppies, his dog Georgie, anything with wheels, and his dada. Karen suffered from perinatal and postpartum depression. During pregnancy, her coping mechanism was to dissociate. Karen has healed after working with her therapist. Liam is her best friend and she can’t imagine life without him.