Morse went in for an 18-week sonogram last June, they were excited to learn the sex of their second child.
“When we had [our first child] Emma, it was a lot of fun,” Hannah said. “The nurse announced, ‘Congratulations, it’s a girl!’ and showed us the feet and hands, and made a big deal out of it.”
But when the Morses first saw their son, Andrew, on the sonogram, there wasn’t as much excitement—at least not the cheering kind.
The sonogram operator said, “It’s a boy,” Hannah recalled, followed by a phrase that all expecting parents fear: “I’m going to get the doctor.”
What the Morses then found out changed their lives forever.
Baby Andrew, the doctor said, was suffering from a potentially life-threatening “blockage” in his bladder, and the Morses needed to drive to Los Angeles to see a fetal specialist. Not long after, the couple drove to the Institute for Maternal Fetal Health, where they met fetal surgeon Dr. Ramen Chmait.
Chmait told the worried Morses that their baby had a lower urinary tract obstruction (LUTO)—a rare but serious condition that prevents fetuses from urinating, and thus developing properly.
In cases of LUTO, a tiny piece of tissue blocking the urethra causes urine to get trapped in the baby’s bladder, which then becomes distended.
“In some cases, the bladder can be bigger than the baby’s head,” Hannah later said, adding that, in a matter of weeks, Andrew’s bladder went from being the size of a marble to the size of an orange.
A lack of amniotic fluid due to the baby’s retention can cause the bag of water surrounding the baby to dry up, which can potentially lead to a litany of secondary problems, such as kidney and lung damage.
“The lungs will not develop normally because the baby is compressed. It’s as if the baby is in a very tight sleeping bag,” Chmait later explained to the Sun.
The Morses allowed Chmait to extract some of Andrew’s blood through the umbilical cord. In order to be a candidate for surgery, Andrew’s blood had to meet specific parameters.
When the test results came back, things didn’t look good for baby Morse.
“His kidneys were pretty much shot,” Hannah said.
The results meant the Morses had three options: They could wait until the baby was born, after which pediatric specialists would offer potential treatments. They could let Chmait attempt neonatal surgery. Or they could terminate the pregnancy.
The Morses chose the surgery.
“I decided I’d rather have him and give him a chance to fight than give up,” Hannah said.
The procedure would require Chmait to insert a shunt through Hannah’s uterus and into Andrew’s bladder. If successfully placed, it would enable Andrew to urinate regularly, thus preventing potential further damage to his developing organs.
News of the upcoming surgery—and the Morses’ unique story—attracted the attention of medical professionals and members of the public, including the Discovery Channel.
For several weeks, a television crew documented the Morses for the popular medical show, Babies 911. The show captured on film the initially successful first surgery, and then a second surgery, which had to be performed after Andrew pulled his shunt out—a common complication.
“Even though we became really good friends with the crew, it’s still really hard to be emotional in front of people who are relatively strangers,” Hannah later said of the experience.
The episode, which aired earlier this month, also documented Andrew’s birth on Sept. 15.
“Days before the birth, I asked Dr. Chmait, ‘What should we be looking for to know that Andrew is healthy?’” Hannah said. “And he kept saying, ‘You just want to hear that baby cry.’”
Hannah said Andrew was quiet when he was first born. But then came two little coughs, followed by a robust wail.
“It was awesome,” she said.
That first breath was a very important hurdle for Andrew, Chmait added, because it showed that his lungs worked.
“That solved a lot of potential health problems for him right there,” the doctor explained.
But the Morse “miracle baby” would still have many hurdles to clear.
Today, Andrew has to take a handful of daily medications, including iron supplements and a steady flow of amoxicillin to prevent infection. He has a catheter, which the Morses affectionately call his “tail,” because his bladder still can’t fully empty itself. He also has to undergo seven hours of kidney dialysis six days a week, and the Morses have to make monthly trips to Los Angeles for check-ups.
The treatments take their toll.
“This has been the most taxing, stressful six months of our marriage. You have to be rock solid to go through something like this,” Hannah said. “We really had to fine-tune our communication skills.”
The Morses said they’ve also received a lot of support from their family and friends, as well as their doctors and Vandenberg Air Force Base, where Josh is a staff sergeant. The base even put Josh on paid leave for a month and a half so he could stay with Hannah during her surgeries and when she gave birth.
The next step for the Morses will come in about a year, when Andrew is big enough to receive a kidney transplant. If successful, the surgery could put a stop to many of his health problems.
“Hopefully my kidneys are A-OK to give to him,” said Josh, who has the same blood type as his son. “Hannah has already been through two surgeries. I can go through one.”
Contact Staff Writer Amy Asman at aasman@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 25, 2008 – Jan 1, 2009.