Ethan was diagnosed with Truncus Arteriosis with an Interrupted Aortic Arch at 20 weeks gestation. His due date was October 24th. He was originally diagnosed at the Sacramento Maternal Fetal Center by Dr. Hans Hesslein and further confirmed by Dr. Stanley Wright at Sacramento Heart.

We were referred to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford as Ethan would need heart surgery shortly after birth. After Stanford confirmed Ethan's heart defect, we scheduled a date for us to give birth. Since Ethan was sitting breach and not showing much growth, we set a date for October 6th. Ethan would be born caesarian.

It's not unusual that babies with heart defects lack the size of a healthy baby. According to Ethan's measurements in utero, he would be born a little more than 4 pounds.

Heather's c-section was scheduled for 10am October 6th. However, there were other emergency surgeries that day and we were pushed back to Wednesday morning(October 8th). We were set to stay the next couple nights at Stanford until Ethan's birth. On the night of October 6th, Ethan's heart rate dropped extremely low on more than one occasion and Heather was having contractions due to dehydration. This prompted the c-section for the morning of October 7th.

Ethan was born on October 7th at 12:36pm. He was 4 pounds 8 ounces and 17 inches long. I was able to watch the surgeons pull Ethan from the incision below Heather's naval. Heather and I were waiting for Ethan's first cry and it seemed like an eternity. After about a full minute, the doctor's were able to stimulate Ethan and we were able to here is voice for the first time. I was directed to the table that Ethan was laying on and I was able to pick him up and walk him over to Heather. It was the most amazing experience and one we'll never forget.

I was then directed to take Ethan to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit(NICU) where he would be observed. It wasn't clear when Ethan would have surgery. After a couple of hours, it was apparent that Ethan was retracting and was working hard to breathe. He was then intubated so he would not have to work so hard to breathe.

By October 9th, the doctors and surgeons were finalizing their plan for surgery on Ethan. They decided to correct Ethan's heart on October 10th. Surgery began at 8am and was not complete until 3pm. That 7 hours seemed to take an eternity!!! Ethan has been recovering well ever since.

The Home, News Archive, and Pictures sections will explain how Ethan has been doing since birth.