All Roxanne and Stephen Montalvo-Tsai wanted to
do was give their 2-year-old boy Jordan a baby brother for Christmas.
But they got much more than they bargained for.
"We were just trying to make one brother for
Jordan and we ended up getting two sisters with heart defects,"
Montalvo-Tsai, a 39-year-old Zumba instructor, told the Daily News. "But
they're still gorgeous."
Around Halloween last year, Montalvo-Tsai was
shocked to find out she was pregnant — and even more shocked to learn at a
second appointment that she was carrying twins.
"We just freaked out," Montalvo-Tsai
said. "First we found out there was one baby and we were happy. (When they
said it was two) we were like, 'Oh no, what are we going to do?' But then we
started embracing it and we were really excited about adding to the clan."
The Kips Bay couple eagerly anticipated their
Jan. 7, 2014 ultrasound that would tell them the babies' gender.
"And then Jan. 7 was one of the worst days
of my life," Montalvo-Tsai said.
Immediately after hearing the twins were girls,
they learned that both had Tetralogy of Fallot, a rare congenital heart disease
that produces a hole in the heart and a narrowing of the pulmonary artery,
which brings blood to the lungs. Both babies would require open-heart surgery
upon birth.
"That's when everything fell apart for
us," Montalvo-Tsai said.
They decided they wanted prenatal care from a hospital
well-versed in high-risk pregnancies like her own and chose Morgan Stanley
Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center.
They were then connected to Dr. Emile Bacha, Head of Congenital and Pediatric
Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Chrildren's Hospital.
"I was skiing with my wife on a Sunday and I
get this phone call," Bacha recalled to the News. "This woman is on
the phone upset, crying, and she's like 'I'm so glad I reached you,' and I'm
like, 'who are you?'"
She explained her case and asked the doctor if
there was any hope for her babies. She had just one or two days left to meet
the legal deadline for an abortion. Bacha was in a sticky situation.
"That's one of the biggest decisions anybody
will face in their lifetime," he said. "It's already hard enough to
counsel patients when you meet them, but then for somebody to make the decision
cold turkey is very, very difficult."
But Bacha and Montalvo-Tsai had a long
conversation and he ultimately told her that with her surgery, he was confident
her twins could have a good quality of life.
So the couple continued their pregnancy and
carried on with their lives to astounding results. Roxanne continued to attend
Zumba events, cheering from the sidelines. Stephen, who coaches high school
basketball, led his team to victory at the city championships at the Barclay's
Center.
On April 30, the mom-to-be's water broke, and
doctors learned she had preeclampsia, high blood pressure in the late stage of
pregnancy. The babies, Selena and Jasmine, were delivered via emergency
C-section the next day.
Their births went smoothly, but the journey was
far from over.
Selena was born "pink tet," meaning her
Tetralogy of Fallot was a little less severe and she had good coloring. Jasmine
was born "blue tet," meaning her condition and coloring were worse.
She was born without a pulmonary artery.
Jasmine was immediately put on medication and
breathing tubes. She was still in the hospital when Selena was discharged nine
days after birth. Selena was sent home with a Pulse Oxymeter machine to monitor
her breathing, and a visiting nurse was assigned to the family.
While Selena adjusted to life outside of the
hospital, Jasmine was being prepped for surgery. After just 15 days of life,
the tiny 5-pound baby had a four-hour operation in which Bacha implanted an
artificial pulmonary artery.
"It was insane," Montalvo-Tsai
recalled. "I was prepared for it but I was terrified, because who wants
their five-pound baby to go through open heart surgery?"
The surgery was a success and Jasmine went home
after five weeks of recovery. But two weeks later, the little girl became pale
and lifeless — she was having arrhythmia, an irregular heartbeat. She was
rushed to the hospital and put on stronger meds. She rejoined her sister at
home six days later.
But three months later, Selena's condition
worsened, and the family scheduled her surgery. It ended up being pushed up a
month due to deteriorating condition. Bacha enlarged her artery so that her
valve grows as she does. She spent seven days recovering in the hospital.
But now, the babies are seven months old and
doing great. They eat baby foods and Montalvo-Tsai said their personalities are
starting to shine.
"Jasmine is very giddy, Selena is very
smiley, they're both very happy babies," Montalvo-Tsai said. "When I
see them I'm just so thrilled."
Montalvo-Tsai attributes their good health
partially to the prayers and good wishes she received throughout their
suffering. She said she will one day tell the girls that they overcame a lot.
She also hopes their story will raise awareness of congenital heart disease,
the No. 1 cause of deaths related to birth defects.
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