(calm music)
- I was already a high risk pregnancy
'cause my first daughter was born prematurely.
And, this pregnancy has been incredibly difficult.
It was just before 19 weeks that we went in
to do anatomy scan.
They were taking a really long time on the heart
and it was the ultrasound tech, and she said,
"You know, I can't really get a good view of the heart,
"let me bring in the doctor."
And I was like, "That's fine."
Like I'm not going to panic until I need to panic.
And my doctor came in and she was like,
"Okay, there's something wrong with this heart".
We were sent right away, they got us in right away,
in two hours we had our first echo
and we found out that she had transposition.
(serene music)
So, I turn 34 weeks tomorrow, we turn 34 weeks tomorrow.
We know that she's going to require
open heart surgery after she's born.
- I think now we've kind of gotten past the...
I mean, obviously we're still very scared,
but we've kind of gotten past the initial shock and panic.
And moved into just, okay let's find out
as much information as we can,
let's try to be as prepared as possible.
I don't wanna hear any kind of words
that I don't know what they mean
when everything starts happening.
And so, I think we're kind of approaching it
just like this is really the learning phase
to get us prepared as possible.
- 'Cause I think that there's still a piece...
I know there's a piece of denial, especially with me,
'cause I'm carrying her and I'm like,
she doesn't feel any different
than any other baby I've carried.
I mean, I've only carried one other one, but I'm like,
she doesn't feel any different.
She moves and she...
Brain's fine, her development's fine, her growth is fine.
And so you're like, oh she looks like
a regular baby on screen.
I mean, if you look, she has four chambers in her heart,
like you would never...
Unless you're a trained eye you would never know
that there was anything different about her.
I mean, we definitely looked at hospital rankings,
and we have have great hospitals in California,
it's not that.
- And the priority for us was like, number one,
get the best care possible.
And so, once we made that decision,
we knew that nothing about it was gonna be convenient.
With work, with life, we have this apartment in LA,
what are we gonna do?
We have a dog, we have another kid.
And so, I'm a lawyer and I'm Type A by nature.
So, I won't buy socks before I've heavily researched
every pair of socks and read all the reviews.
- And so, we made the decision to come here.
That was a really easy decision, I think,
out of everything that we decided.
(energetic music)
- Hi, Sqishy, hi.
Are you looking around,
you waking up?
(somber music)
- So, today Rosemary is getting her open heart surgery.
She has transposition of the great arteries.
As well as VSD, a hole between her two ventricles.
And, some narrowing in the outflow track
that will become her aortic valve.
So, today we're going to move her great vessels
so they go over the appropriate ventricle.
Move her little coronary arteries so stay with her aorta.
Remove some of that muscle underneath the valve
that can cause some obstruction.
And also close the hole between her two ventricles.
Hopefully this will be a repair
that will be a complete repair
that should last her a lifetime.
(somber music)
(happy music)
- [Allison] So, it's 2019 and we are back in Los Angeles.
Living back in LA.
Rosie is 20 months and...
- [Leanne] So, she's a little bit crazy, life is crazy.
- I would say the most surprising thing
about Rosie, I would say there's two things.
The first is how well she's done and how she
really exceeded all of the expectations.
For, like her limitations and everything.
And what a spitfire she is.
Like, her personality is--
- [Leanne] You would never know
that she had open heart surgery at 13 days,
because she's so active,
she climbs on everything,
she's a little daredevil.
If she turns out to be a stunt double-- (laughs)
- That would not surprise me at all.
Like, she-- - She's fearless.
- She is. - She's totally fearless.
- She is totally fearless and it is just so...
Even if she did have limitations, we would not be allowed
to stay within them 'cause she would not care.
When we came home, she was one six different medications.
But, by three months, she was on three,
and by six months she was off all of them.
So, and the other thing is, her heart has done so well.
Our cardiologist was like,
"We'll see you in a year."
Literally said to us, remember this?
When she was like,
"Well, you need to thank your surgeon, because she made
"an absolutely perfect heart."
And, she was like,
"I'll see you in a year."
- It informs all the decisions that we make,
but it's also not something that's constantly on our mind.
I think about her heart all the time,
I think about it every time I put her on my chest.
Hear her heartbeat, and see her breathing.
But, we treat her the same, you know?
We go through life the same, we're just
a little bit more cautious when something happens.
- [Allison] The whole point of everything
is to get them living
as full of a life as possible.
And that's what I feel like the doctors at Mott did for us,
and that's what I feel like is Rosie's outcome.
(happy music)