Jessica McLaren was like any other expecting mum heading into her 20 week pregnancy scan, excited and nervous. But nothing could have prepared her for what was to come.

The 31-year-old Queensland mum says a follow-up after the scan left her devastated.

“At our scan we left leaving thinking everything was OK,” she explained. “It was a couple of days later my GP requested to speak to me urgently and delivered the news over the phone that our baby boy had gastroschisis,” she said.

Jessica and her husband Christopher, 34, were told their baby boy had a rare defect – his stomach and bowels were outside of his body, coming through a hold in his abdominal wall.

“After the phone call, I started researching the birth defect and this is when the panic and fear truly set in,” Jessica said.

“The images online of gastroschisis are very confronting. I immediately called my husband and we both took the next couple of days off work to process the news. All you want and wish for is a healthy baby and to be delivered such news was devastating.”

The couple was also told there was nothing that could be done to help their baby, until after he was born.

“As Harrison’s bowels and stomach were dilated, surgeons were not able to perform surgery until they were able to fit his organs back inside his body,” she said.

“Surgery happened three days after he was born and was very successful. From here the journey ahead was getting his organs functioning properly and to be able to tolerate milk.”

Doctors at Mater Mother’s Hospital told the couple that the survival rate for a child with gastroschisis is more than 90 per cent – but to be prepared for the possibility of losing baby Harrison as the defect could lead to further complications in life.

“All you want and wish for is a healthy baby and to be delivered such news was devastating,” Jessica said.

Harrison remained in hospital for almost a month after his birth, recovery and gaining strength.

“Having to leave the hospital without Harrison was extremely taxing on my mental health – walking out of those hospital doors without Harry in my arms was an emptiness I have never experienced,” Jessica said.

Harrison is now a thriving eight-month-old, thanks to the incredible work of the multidisciplinary neonatal intensive care team at Mater Mothers’ and the paediatric surgical team from Queensland Children’s Hospital.

“He is most definitely our miracle. He made the most incredible recovery. To say that Harrison is strong and resilient would be an understatement.”