Danielle Wiebusch was surprised to find out she was pregnant just two months after marrying her high school sweetheart Hunter in June 2022. But the couple from Williston, North Dakota, soon warmed to the idea of becoming parents sooner than expected.
Their excitement turned to concern when a 10-week ultrasound revealed that their baby girl — later named Hallie — had a build-up of fluid in her tissues and organs, a condition called hydrops. Danielle was told she would probably miscarry. From that moment on, she had to go for an ultrasound every week to check the baby’s heartbeat.
“It was nerve-wracking,” says Danielle, 26. “They were very confident she wasn’t going to make it.”
Hunter and Danielle Wiebusch with their newborn daughter Hallie at Children’s Minnesota in April 2023.
Danielle Wiebusch
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The couple didn’t have a baby shower, decorate the nursery or celebrate the pregnancy because they were too worried about losing their daughter. Instead, they were given information about abortion clinics in nearby states. But they decided not to terminate the pregnancy.
“If she couldn’t be here with us, then a higher power would be in control of that decision — I didn’t want to be the one to make that decision for her,” Danielle says.
The baby was soon diagnosed with a giant omphalocele, a congenital defect of the abdominal wall in which abdominal contents protrude into a thin-walled pouch outside the abdominal cavity, according to the NIH.
In Hallie’s case, her small intestine, liver, colon, stomach and part of her bladder were wrapped in a grapefruit-sized balloon lined with a thin membrane, right above where her belly button should be.
Hallie was first referred to specialists in Bismarck before ending up at Children’s Hospital of Minnesota in Minneapolis, nearly 600 miles from home.
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Hallie Wiebusch.
Danielle Wiebusch
About one in 4,000 to one in 6,000 babies are born with a giant omphalocele, says the baby’s surgeon, Dr. James Fisher, a pediatric and fetal surgeon at Midwest Fetal Care Center and Children’s Minnesota.
“There are very serious consequences,” says Dr. Fisher.
Giant ompaloceles can cause breathing and heart problems, he says. Also, normal delivery can cause damage to the baby’s liver, causing massive bleeding, which can be fatal for the baby, Fisher explains.
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Hallie Wiebusch at Children’s Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Danielle Wiebusch
On April 25, 2023, Hallie Mae Wiebusch was born by extended caesarean section, so as not to damage the giant omphalocele. 8-lb. a girl was born at The Mother Baby Center within Children’s Minnesota in Minneapolis. The Mother Baby Center is a partnership between Allina Health and Children’s Minnesota.
Moments after Hallie was born, Fisher and a team of experts examined her in the next room. Her organs were in a bubble that protruded outside her body and were covered by a thin membrane. But Hallie was breathing and her lungs were working, Fisher says. The omphalocele was intact and her liver was not damaged, she recalls. Hallie was then transferred to the NICU at Children’s Hospital of Minnesota.
When she was just three days old, Hallie had a 3.5-hour operation to put all of her organs back in their proper places without injuring or damaging her lungs. “Everything went well,” says Dr. Fisher. Because Hallie’s umbilical cord was attached to the omphalocele, Fisher had to surgically reconstruct her belly button.
“At the end of the surgery, everything was where it was supposed to be,” says Dr. Fisher. Her intestines, her liver, everything. And her lungs were fine.”
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Hallie Wiebusch left the NICU on July 19, 2023.
Danielle Wiebusch
Baby Hallie spent 124 days at Children’s Minnesota. Every other week, Hunter returned home – a 10-hour drive – to work in the oil fields. Danielle stayed with Hallie.
“Being alone was very difficult,” she says. “Every time he left I was so scared.”
Hallie was finally discharged on August 25, 2023 to continue her recovery at home.
“She’s doing very, very well,” says Dr. Fisher. “She’s making progress.”
These days, Hallie loves bubbles and splashes in the tub. “She’s a spitter,” says her mother. Learn to talk and kiss.
Weighing about 17 lbs., Hallie still has a feeding tube, but is learning to eat purees and will eventually eat by mouth. dr. Fisher says she expects a “relatively normal childhood.”
She jokingly adds, “She’ll be able to run around and have fun and be mean and do all the fun things that little kids do to their parents.”
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Danielle and Hunter Wiebusch with their daughter Hallie.
Danielle Wiebusch
And he will enjoy every moment.
“I still can’t believe she’s here with us and she’s doing great,” Danielle says. “I just want him to have the most normal life he can have.”
Hunter adds, “And just to do everything she ever wants.”
Her parents are sharing Hallie’s story to encourage other parents not to lose hope.
“Miracles do happen,” says Danielle. “I’m so happy we didn’t give up on her.”
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Source: HIS Education