Help Us Create a Brighter Future for Carlos Jr.

I am creating this on behalf of my niece and her fiance in hopes of raising funds to relieve the financial burdens they will soon encounter.

Message from Momma: We are incredibly blessed to have welcomed our baby boy, Carlos Jr. However, since the very beginning, there have been complications we never expected as parents. At 20 weeks, Carlos was diagnosed with Encephalocele, a condition where there is an opening in the skull, causing fluid to form in a sac, resulting in a bump on the back of his head. Initially, doctors told us that there were brain particles inside the sac, and his chances of survival were very low. We were even asked if we wanted to terminate the pregnancy due to the various risks involved. But Carlos and I were determined to carry our little blessing and do everything in our power for him.

Later, we met with the neuro team. After extensive tests and imaging, we received better news—baby Carlos did not have brain particles in the opening. It was just a fluid-filled sac at the back of his skull. From that point, I needed an ultrasound every four weeks to monitor the fluid for any changes. For a while, everything seemed stable, until I was 36 weeks along. During a routine appointment, I was suddenly pulled in for another ultrasound because a picture had been "mislabeled." It was then we learned that our son's stomach had developed on the right side, instead of the left, as expected.

A week later, more complications arose. I was informed that I had excess amniotic fluid, which could lead to fluid in his lungs when he was born. When Carlos Jr. arrived, we discovered that he has *Total Situs Inversus*—a condition where all of his organs are mirrored on the opposite side of his body, not just his stomach, as we were initially told.

Because his heart is on the right side, Carlos has also been diagnosed with *Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return* (TAPVR), a rare congenital heart defect where the pulmonary veins connect to the heart abnormally. He will soon undergo open-heart surgery in San Diego to correct this.

Today, due to the PICC line doctors needed to insert to draw labs and administer medication without constantly poking him—since he’s difficult to draw blood from—it irritated his heart and put him into an abnormal heart rhythm. The doctors had to shock his heart to restore the rhythm. Thankfully, he is now stable.

Although Carlos has faced many challenges during his two weeks in the NICU, he is making incredible progress, and we continue to hold on to hope and faith every day.