A special anniversary

Two years ago today, Jacob's life was forever changed.  In an operating room at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA, I was put under anesthesia and then through my belly, he was also given an injection, putting him under anesthesia.  In a room filled with countless doctors, Dr. Wilkins-Hoag then made a small incision and placed a long needle into my uterus, through Jacob's chest and into his heart.  He weighed 1 lb 7 ounces at the time.

ultrasound the day we found out there was something wrong

While the many MDs in the room watched on ultrasound, a cardiologist then threaded an angioplasty balloon through the needle, into the aortic valve.  The balloon was expanded and Jacob's tiny valve was opened.  The doctors removed the needle from Jacob's heart and my uterus.  I woke up a few minutes later to the sound of his little heartbeat on the monitor.  Once I was a little more awake, I was wheeled down the hall to an ultrasound room, where a radiologist took the first post-fetal intervention pictures of Jacob's heart.  She showed Andy and I the big stream of blood crossing the now wide open aortic valve without any trouble.  A few hours prior, that big stream and only been a tiny trickle.  A short time later, Dr. Tworetzky, my hero, was at my bedside to tell us the the procedure was a "technical success".  The real test would come after birth, when we saw how his left ventricle and aortic valve would function.

Of course, the news that day was wonderful, too.  Jacob was a "rock" after he was born, with perfect vital signs and, while not normal, a pretty good looking echo for a kid who had the prognosis he did.  The nurses in the cardiac ICU often called him "a rock", leading his Papa to still to this day call him, "The Rock".  Plus, he was pretty cute, too!

Jacob in the ICU a couple days after he was born

But as wonderful has his birth day was, (and it was wonderful - you simply can't describe how amazing it feels to hear your baby cry after delivery when there was a very real chance that he won't), I can't stop feeling like January 26, 2010 at 26 + 5 weeks gestation, was the most important day of Jacob's little life.  He was given a second chance that day.  The course of his life was literally and drastically changed.  I am so thankful for the work and minds of the amazing doctors in Boston that had the knowledge and guts to try this procedure 10 years ago and perfect it to the point of making it a real possibility for many tiny babies.  And I am thankful for the 128 babies that underwent the procedure prior to Jacob, helping the doctors learn.  I am also thankful for my mom and sister, who sat with me the day after Jacob's diagnosis, watching the twins and making sure I wasn't alone.  That day was so important, because Andy and I, through our separate research (he had to be a work), had come to the realization that we had to give this baby this gift of a chance.  I couldn't have focused on the decision I had to make if I hadn't had the support of my sister and my mom that day.  Most of all, I am thankful for Andy.  He often has a nice way of clarifying a problem or decision and he certainly did that day.  The choice seemed hard at first: there were real risks to the procedure, getting on a plane in the next day or two to have it done seemed impossible, and moving to Boston for his birth seemed even more impossible.  But Andy saw through all that fear, and helped me see that we simply had to give him this chance.

Thank God we did!  We are so lucky to have had this little guy in our lives for the last 21 months.  I can't imagine our family without him.