written by Tony, Baby Superman’s Dad

So here begins the miracle story of Antonio Tomas Vasquez, AKA Baby Superman. At our 20 week appointment we found out that our son had some very serious heart defects. So serious that the doctor told Shelby that she should just terminate. Told us that it was unlikely that he survives birth. Then told us that even if he survived, our quality of life would be “really poor” dealing with the severity of his issues. We decided to let God be God and rely on our faith to carry our son and his heart through this pregnancy. At 26 weeks, they found another “defect” which from here on out I will call uniqueness because I hate that other word.

Due to the severity of his uniquenesses, we were referred to Children’s Hospital in Colorado where they specialize in these kinds of cases. There we met Dr Lisa Howley and her team who reassured us that they would do everything in their power to save our son despite what we had been told. Yes, his condition was severe but there was hope. The next day at his appointment, Dr Howley found another uniqueness. So to this point we knew that our son had Dextrocardia, Heterotaxy, Asplenia, Right Dominant Unbalanced AVSD, Double Outlet Right Ventricle with Subpulmonic Stenosis, Left-sided Aortic Arch, Right Atrial Isomerism, Pulmonary Venous Confluences to the Right-sided Atrium, and Left SVC to Left-sided Atrium with IAA and Azygous Continuation. You want to know what scared like hell feels like? Read that last part 3 times and imagine any one of your children being born with all of that. Or even wondering if he’ll survive birth. Begging God to please let your baby live and give you the chance to love him for more than 5 minutes.

Well, our prayers were answered. On October the 4th, 2017, God (and Dr.Chow) delivered us the most beautiful, loving, smiley faced, chunky little piece of heaven that anyone could ask for. He’s our little miracle Baby Superman with quite the unique heart. There were 14 people in the room the night he was delivered. All of them were manning a different station whether it be heart, lungs, or something else that was there to defend and immediately take care of him if something went wrong when he was delivered. When they saw how well he was doing, they started shutting down the other machines. We actually got a few minutes of “normal delivery” things. Mom got to hold him. Dad got to cut the umbilical cord. About 5 minutes of pure love and joy, and then they had to take him. Check his heart. Check his lungs. Immediate testing of everything. Hours of poking, prodding, scanning, and multiple people coming into the room to see what they saw. Then, for the first time we heard, “He’s doing great. You guys might be able to hold him in an hour or so.” Tears. Uncontrollable tears. Someone finally said he’s doing great. I spent hours holding his tiny hand and stroking his baby soft hair. Talking to him. Making sure he knew Daddy was there. All while terrified what they were about to tell me. Maybe that’s why I didn’t ask. I just loved on him.

When they finally brought Shelby downstairs, we got to hold him. They tried explaining how everything about his heart and anatomy was so backwards and wrong but somehow he was doing just fine. “Perfectly imbalanced.” I do not remember who said it, but I will never forget those two words. My tears of sadness and fear became tears of joy. He’s doing it. He’s beating the odds. A few hours later we were told he was doing so well that there was no need for immediate intervention or surgery. Let’s see how he does. He did so well for five days straight that they told us they were going to release us from the hospital, but release us locally to the Ronald McDonald House. If he did good for two weeks, then we’re coming back home to Albuquerque. He did fantastic for those whole two weeks and that last day we went to the hospital for a check up to come home.

Unfortunately during that visit, his pulmonary artery had started to close. They admitted him immediately and told us he had to have open heart surgery right away. So at 27 days old, our son his first open-heart surgery. A new journey. He recovered great after that surgery and within three weeks we were back home in Albuquerque. On April 5, 2018, his little heart crashed where they had put in the shunt. We were airlifted back to the Children’s Hospital in Colorado where he had another procedure done. But this was a temporary fix. June 21, 2018, our doctors were prepared to do a full double ventricle repair on his heart. It was terrifying but we knew our son needed it in order to survive. About 4 1/2 hours into his surgery we got the phone call that our son would not survive if they continued on the full repair route. They were switching to life saving mode and they could not tell us what all had to be done. The longest six hours of our life passed after that and then our savior surgeon Dr Jaggers came out and told us that he did survive. They had to switch to something similar to the Glenn procedure that is common in heart babies with HLHS, but he was doing fine.

During his recovery he crashed a couple of times. Bad. I’m talking bag on the face please step out of the room bad. Twice he did this. For the first time in my life, having my Mother there did not fix it. It was horrible. He stayed lethargic for days. It made me and Shelby so sad to see him like this. His sister flew into town and that day she stayed with him. All day. Talking to him, holding his tiny fingers, and stroking his little soft head. Nothing but love. The next day, he woke up. Stronger than ever. All smiles. Just eating and laughing. He had a small setback about a week later when his superior vena cava was closing. It measured at 1.5 mm when it should have been about 9 or 10 mm. They did another little procedure on his heart and inserted a stent. He recovered within 24 hours. After that, he never looked back. He’s eating great, he’s growing great, he’s standing on his own and he’s just about ready to walk.

Baby Superman’s new journey of survival has started.

You see, when you find out you’re pregnant, you’re not supposed to be praying for your child to just live. Just survive birth, please. That’s not normal. You’re not supposed to go into delivery hoping and begging that your child lives longer than five or ten minutes. Daddy should not have to hold Mommy, the night before she is induced and assure her that whether our son be alive for five minutes, five hours, or five days, he will feel the utmost of all the love we have in our hearts. The only thing he will know is love. You’re not supposed to call a funeral home and have plans in place “just in case.” That’s not normal. But unfortunately for parents of severe heart babies, it is. 

That being said, it is with the utmost joy that I tell you that Antonio (Tony) Vasquez aka Baby Superman is turning ONE on October the 4th! The happiest, most beautiful, smiley faced, chunky little bundle from God is conquering this world one day at a time. And filling my heart with a little more pride each day. Thank you so much for hearing our story. -Daddy