Meet Georgia

Georgia is a special little girl. At 16 months old, her favorite thing is picking tomatoes from the garden and kissing each one before she puts them in a bowl. She loves pretzels and ducks. And she’s overcoming the challenges of a unique congenital condition.

During an ultrasound at 19 weeks of development, Georgia was diagnosed with omphalocele, a rare birth defect in which a baby’s abdominal organs develop outside of the body. Normally, between six and 10 weeks of development, the intestines and abdominal organs protrude into the umbilical cord. Typically, the organs then recede back into the abdomen during week 11. If they don’t, an omphalocele develops, covered by a translucent membrane.

As soon as she was diagnosed, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Fetal team stepped in. After more detailed ultrasounds and MRIs, Georgia’s parents, Samantha and Mason, consulted with the fetal surgeon to develop a care plan.

 “From the very beginning, even before she was born, the doctors, nurses and staff were there to put us at ease,” Mason says. “They gave us the strength to replace fear with optimism and to look toward the future with hope.”

Since Georgia’s omphalocele contained her entire liver as well as the majority of her intestines, it was classified as a “giant” omphalocele. She would eventually need surgery, but at birth, the care team and family began wrapping Georgia’s abdomen with medicated gauze to gently compress her organs back into her body and allow new skin to grow.

There were some challenges at first. Georgia spent two weeks in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) being fed through a nasogastric tube to help her gain weight. She was also diagnosed with respiratory insufficiency, a common issue in babies with giant omphalocele, and required supportive oxygen. After six months, she finally graduated from oxygen and was cord-free.

Since the omphalocele compromised her abdominal muscles, Georgia had to work harder than other babies to roll over, crawl and pull herself up. But she’s accomplished it all. Her omphalocele responded well to the compression and is nearly flat, which means she can have surgery soon to repair her abdominal wall. Her family is excited to see her grow up into whoever she wants to be. Samantha says, “The care team provided us the courage to believe in tomorrow.”

When you give to Light Up the Lawn, Light up a Life, you support Nationwide Children’s cutting-edge Fetal Medicine program that gave Georgia her tomorrow.