Hi, this is Niki and Michele and we are work family and friends of Joel and Amber. We are reaching out to family, fellow co-workers, friends and anyone that loves Joel and Amber to help support them and the birth of baby Denmark down at UCSF on September 22, 2023. Here is their story….

MAGICAL BABY DENMARK BIRTH @ UCSF

 

Amber and Joel are excited for the birth of their son. Some of you may have seen the reveal video of Amber and Joel, having a boy. The following week was the 20 week UltraSound where Dr.Holst and team saw a shadow on the heart, he referred them to Maternal Specialists in Medford who also did a ultrasound of the baby and a Fetal Echo US which confirmed there was a heart defect.

 

Pulmonary Atresia – Intact Ventricular Septum is what Baby Denmark will be born with.

 

Specifically, what this means is that his Pulmonary Artery is occluded, meaning that after birth and cord cut, he will be unable to get blood into his lungs to get oxygen.

 

Within the first few days of life, Baby Denmark will go to the Cardiac Cath Lab for a balloon stent through the femoral artery. Baby will then need to be monitored in the NICU for 4 weeks at UCSF in case of further complications.

 

Here is their plan…

 

They go to SF this week then at 38 weeks the Magical C-Section Delivery, and the plan begins on 9/22/23.

They will be in SF for approximately 5 weeks. They rented a AirBNB. They have a few fantastic friends watching the farm and furry friends.

 

They will be expected to bring baby down to UCSF every 2 weeks thereafter to monitor the remodeling of the right ventricle.

 

They are grateful that they are able to pull this off, but have a long road ahead of them. This pregnancy has been rough on Amber as you can imagine, and Joel. We will continue to post updates throughout this process.