Umbilical Hernia Information?

Time to go to the doctor immediately! A general surgeon is who does hernia repairs, and if it popped out and was difficult to get to go back in, it's what is called an incarcerated hernia, which can ultimately lead to part of your intestines having to be removed. I got two hernias after my first and got the same advice from my doctor (sound and practical advice) but then got EXACTLY what you are experiencing right now when I was 9 weeks pregnant with my second and had to have surgery the next week. I would just go ahead and get it repaired while you can still take pain meds! I couldn't take pain meds for obvious reasons and had to stay in the hospital 3 days to get morphine because they can't administer morphine for you to take home. Otherwise, it is an outpatient procedure that you can recover from very easily. If you need a recommendation for an excellent general surgeon, I can give you one in Dallas. (Oh, and I had the mesh repair and ended up having three--I feel like a new person even though I'm 17 weeks pregnant right now). FYI, my doc basically told me that if your intestines get "stuck" (which is what you may have experienced with the hardening and pain), you have 2 hours to get to the ER and get into surgery if it doesn't pop back out before damage can occur to your intestines--not to scare you but to just let you know...

Hello moms,

I have 2 kids my youngest is 15 months and I had a c-section and had a previous hernia repair at the same time about 5 months post pregancy I felt like I was coming apart inside, sad to say I'm no longer in tact, I haven't seen my Dr. yet about but I don't have any hardening but I do have a bit of a bulge which you can really see if I was lying on the floor trying to do a sit up. I'm not sure if I should have my OB Dr. to try it again or to see someone else about it. I've had 3 surgeries in that area and I don't really want to go under the knife again, it's really scary for me. IF anything has worked for anyone out there I'm anxious to hear about your good results. I had the mesh repair and not planning on further pregnacies

I've been there! My hernia developed from my second pregnancy but it was a minor pain/annoyance and I didn't do anything about it. But when I got pregnant with number three in 2006, I experienced that same rock hard, painful protrusion you describe. It was very scary because at first I thought something was wrong with the pregnancy (I had miscarried the year prior so was understandably paranoid). My doctor said it was possible the discomfort would get worse as my belly expanded (luckily that didn't happen).

My little girl was born in January 2007 and I finally got my hernia surgically fixed that May. Definitely happy I did it! Sure it was sore and made it a bit challenging to handle an infant (wasn't allowed to do even minor lifting for a couple of weeks). One thing to consider if you plan to breastfeed -- I couldn't breastfeed for about 24 hours after to allow for the anesthesia to get out of my system -- had to pump and dump all that milk!

Definitely speak with your doctor about the pros/cons of getting it fixed before/after pregnancy. I think the risk of getting fixed first is that the pregnancy could make it come back.

After my second child (we were done) - I had it fixed right after the birth (another c-section). There have been no problems since, although I never experienced what you did (with popping it back in). My OB/GYN did the surgery (Dr. Ted Fogwell) - and really did an awesome job. I really does make sense to wait unitl you are done (unless you have medical issues that warrant another course of action) - because you certainly don't want to undo that surgery!

Good luck - and congrats on your growing family!

S.

A. my daughter had a very very needed umbilical hernia surgery last April and she is only 4yrs old. In the beginning her Pedi said we would just watch and it may fix it self but then it started to harden and it became a very neccessary surgery that had to be done the next week, becuase it could wrapping around the intestine and become an emergency surgery. Not to scare you but better safe than sorry, go have it checked out.