pregnant and bowel growing outside tummy

Hi everyone my daughter in law has just had her 20wk scan and has been told her baby boy has a hernia and that the bowel is growing outside the tummy! could anyone tell me more about this please thank you x

[Yao Sun, MD, PhD]

Bowel outside the abdomen can be either an "omphalocele" where the bowel is contained within the membranes of the umbilical cord, or "gastroschisis" where the bowel comes through the abdomen next to the umbilical cord and is not covered with a membrane.  The 2 conditions have very different associated problems because they are actually different problems, and your daughter in law should discuss what the baby has in particular with her Obstetrician or Perinatologist.