I've allways thought being a parent would be the greatest feeling in the world. and at times it was. My wife wanted to start School again. so we desided to wait to have children. I can remember it was late afternoon when my wife went to the Dr to get the Pill. she slammed the door when she came home, threw a baby rattle and a bottle at my head and yelled " I hope your happy" the Dr wont give me the Birth control pills! I simply asked why? DUUU! your gonna be a Dad!

May 8th 1992  8:13am

My beautiful Daughter was born, she was a tiny little thing (6lbs 7oz) Somehow I was talked out of being in the room when she was born. my sister in law was a nursing student and the family thought it would be good for her to be there. So I played the typical nervous  father. We named her Blakee Jazmine Lee Federspiel. when she was born we joked about her name being longer than she was, But 6 hours after she was born the  Dr urgently gathered up the Family to drop a Bomb. Blakee's Heartbeat wasent normal. I broke down and cryed, and prayed to God to let her live.  after a few tests it was determined that she wasent getting enough oxygen in her Blood.  Dominican Hospital is by far a small town Hospital. after all its in the heart of Santa Cruz Ca. Well the Dr's where not that skilled when it came to problems of this nature so my 6 hr old child was Air lifted to The Childrens Hospital in Oakland . A 3 hour drive from home. my wife was in no condition to travel the 3 hrs, so I had to make arangements to get  to Oakland sence I had no car, Call my employer and ask for some time off, and console my wife and mother in law assuring them things would be ok.

I dident have time to fall apart. 10:00pm, I arrived at the Childrens Hospital and was taken to NICU. my poor child looked so bad, wires and monitors around her, I had no Idea what was wrong. by 10:30 my room at the Ronald McDonald was ready. I crawled into bed, prayed again and fell asleep.

I met with Dr Dodd, the head of the Pulminary Cadiology Team in the morning. he told me Blakee had Truncus Arteriosus. I had no Idea what that was.

Normally there are two main blood vessels leaving the heart: the aorta carrying blood to the body and the

pulmonary artery that branches immediately to carry blood to each lung.

Instead of having a separate pulmonary artery and aorta, each with their own three-leafed valves, a baby with

truncus arteriosus has only one great blood vessel or trunk leaving the heart, which then branches into blood

vessels that go to the lungs and the body.

This great vessel usually has one large valve which may have between two and five leaflets. Usually this

great vessel sits over both the left and right ventricle. The upper portion of the wall between these two chambers

is missing resulting in what is known as a ventricular septal defect (VSD). In rare cases, the ventricular septal defect is absent.

while in the Hospital Blakee lost 1lbs and became out of breath when trying to eat.

2oz of Formula at a time I did my best every 4 hours or so to get her to eat. on or about the 10th day my wife was able to come to the Hospital. by that time Blakee had a feeding tube. 

day 15- by this time Blakee's medical chart was as thick as Websters Dictionary. I know this because they gave us a copy of it when we where discharged. along with 1/2 a pharmacy worth of Heart Meds, Diuretics, antibiotics, and a list of instructions as long as my arm. the Bad news was that Blakee needed to have Open Heart Surgery. it took us 6 months to be able to have the Operation. at first it was weekly visits to the Dr, then bi weekly, then monthly, then finally yearly. each week of her life was a milestone, then each month. Celabrating her first Birthday was a HUGE Success for us.  Having Truncus Arteriosus was just the tip of the Iceburg.