A New York City couple is thrilled to celebrate their first Christmas with their twin baby girls after the children both survived seperate surgeries for a rare heart condition, the New York Daily News reported.
Roxanne Montalvo-Tsai, 29, went from being a happy expectant mother to a terrified parent when she found out the both twins had a congenital heart disease known as Tetralogy of Fallot, which causes a hole in the heart and a narrowing of the heart's pulmonary artery.
"Jan. 7 was one of the worst days of my life," Montalvo-Tsai, of Manhattan, told the Daily News. "That's when everything fell apart for us."
Roxanne and her husband Stephen considered their options- even abortion- but ultimately decided to keep the babies. They sought help from high-risk pregnancy experts at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Center, who told her the twins have a shot at a normal life with open-heart surgery.
Roxanne gave birth via C-section to Selena and Jasmine on April 31, 2013. Selena was born in relatively good condition, but Jasmine's Tetralogy of Fallot was worse- she had no pulmonary artery- and was immediately placed on medication and breathing aides, the Daily News reported.
Doctors sent Selena home with a machine to monitor her breathing while Jasmine remained in the hospital. Fifteen days after she was born, Jasmine underwent the four-hour surgery to have an artificial pulmonary artery placed in her heart.
"It was insane," the mother, a Zumba instructor, told the newspaper. "I was prepared for it but I was terrified, because who wants their five-pound baby to go through open heart surgery?"
Jasmine survived the surgery and her recovery at home was smooth except for a brief stint in the hospital with an irregular heartbeat.
But while Jasmine recovered, her twin sister got sicker, and Selena was prepped for surgery a month ahead of schedule, the Daily News reported. Doctors were able to save her by making her artery bigger so her valve grows as she gets older.
After seven months of surgeries, hospitals stays and recovery, Jasmine and Selena are home and are doing fine, which Montalvo-Tsai said is thanks to prayers and support from others.
"Jasmine is very giddy, Selena is very smiley, they're both very happy babies," said Montalvo-Tsai, who can barely wait to spend Christmas with the twins and her 2-year-old son Jordan.
"After what we've been through, having these babies is, to me, the best gift."
