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A mother has praised surgeons who performed open-heart surgery on her when she was pregnant, saving the life of both her and her unborn baby.
Rachael Prince, 27, conceived without knowing she was on the brink of heart failure.
Medics were shocked that she was still alive when a scan four months into her pregnancy showed she was at immediate risk of sudden death.
Rachael Prince, 27, had to have open heart surgery while she was pregnant with Jack, now one
In fact, it was only because she had been taking it easy since become pregnant that she was still alive as any exercise or exertion would have caused her heart to fail killing her and her baby.
Doctors told Mrs Prince, her only chance of survival was open-heart surgery to replace her heart valve.
Delaying the operation until after delivery was not an option as both mother and baby could die.
But performing open-heart surgery on a pregnant woman was so risky that Mrs Prince was offered the option of terminating her pregnancy before the operation.
She refused but was warned that if she continued with the pregnancy there was a high chance she would miscarry or her baby would suffer brain damage.
But to her sheer delight, five months after the open-heart surgery Jack was born fit and well and has now turned one with a clean bill of health.
When she was four months pregnant, Mrs Prince was told that she was in danger of sudden death because her heart was on the brink of failing and she needed a valve replaced
Mrs Prince was told she needed six hours of open-heart surgery and the risk to Jack was so great that she was offered a termination before the operation. She was told that he might die or suffer brain damage
Mrs Prince, from the Isle of Man, said: ‘I feel like the luckiest mum alive. To both survive feels like a miracle. I can’t praise the surgeons enough. They were amazing.
‘I was terrified about losing my baby but without the surgery we both would have died anyway. We’ve been through so much together.’
Her terrifying ordeal started when the insurance broker found out she was expecting a baby with her husband, William, in March 2012.
Mrs Prince had been born with a condition called aortic stenosis - tightening of the aortic valve.
She had undergone heart surgery as a baby and the condition was thought to be under control.
But when she learned she was expecting, she immediately contacted her GP who arranged a scan.
Mrs Prince refused to have an abortion and, amazingly, Jack was born completely healthy a few months later
Initial tests did not raise concerns and her pregnancy progressed well until the four month mark when medics arranged for a more in depth echo scan at St Mary’s Hospital in Manchester.
Mrs Prince explains: ‘I felt glowing, absolutely fine, so when I sat down with the cardiologist after the scan I was smiling because I was sure everything was perfect.’
But things were far from well and Mrs Prince was told in no uncertain terms she was not leaving hospital.
She said: ‘The consultant basically said I was at immediate risk of sudden death. I was not leaving the hospital.
‘I couldn’t believe it because I felt great. I burst into tears of shock.’
Mrs Prince was admitted immediately and told she would need surgery the following day.
The heart valve needed replacing but because of the serious risk that posed to her unborn baby’s life, medics hoped to be able to stretch it – delaying surgery until after the birth.
Mrs Prince said: 'I feel like the luckiest mum alive. To both survive feels like a miracle. I can't praise the surgeons enough. They were amazing'
But it was not successful.
It meant her only chance of survival was dangerous open-heart surgery to replace the valve using a heart bypass machine.
The risk to her unborn child was so severe that Mrs Prince was offered a termination.
She refused, but was warned it meant her baby had a one in three chance of death during the operation. If he did survive there was a one in three chance of brain damage.
Mrs Prince said: ‘The odds were awful but I had to believe we’d been lucky so far for a reason, and that we would both be ok.’
Two days before the operation she found out she was having a boy.
She said: ‘In one way it made it harder but in another way I felt stronger because I knew.’
Mrs Prince was wheeled into theatre for the six-hour operation on May 30, 2012.
Jack (pictured shortly after his birth) has been given a clean bill of health despite being put at risk of brain damage during the operation
She said: ‘My thoughts were for my baby but my family were also worried sick about me. I had been told there was still a one in 20 chance that I might die.’
After the operation she was relieved to hear her baby was still alive – but faced an anxious wait to know if he’d suffered brain damage.
She spent a further six weeks in hospital for both her and baby to be closely monitored for any signs of distress.
Finally on June 10 she was discharged.
‘It was lovely to go home but we still had a shadow hanging over us. Nobody knew if our baby had been brain damaged,' she added.
But medics arranged for a scan six weeks later when she was six months pregnant, which gave the couple some hope that their son had escaped unscathed.
Mrs Prince said: ‘There were no obvious signs of brain damage on the scan but we were told we wouldn’t really know until he was born.’
![Mrs Prince said: 'The relief [when he was born] was indescribable. To know he was finally safe was amazing'](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vTbomcaN8R-WUxNGooa_axwDOeTfg83dOa9eyMv4xw_7mYabjpJTqWiY3EnV4loxSQmz4mRTSUpZ7xdOQx1fFhCwiSUXPEa0Dt1r08Jc5xNr5v5zFEOijbUrE2ue-ip29ZhuNjeWNw57BgSV4LfaH1c5yfQpfh2gLGXnBT=s0-d)
Mrs Prince said: 'The relief [when he was born] was indescribable. To know he was finally safe was amazing'
Doctors arranged her labour to be induced at 37 weeks so she could give birth with a heart surgeon on standby just in case.
Finally, Jack was delivered on October 19, 2012 weighing 7lb 3oz and placed in his mother’s arms.
She said: ‘The relief was indescribable. To hold him and know he was finally safe was amazing. I didn’t care at that point if he was brain damaged or not. He was alive.’
Thankfully, regular checks have shown Jack is meeting all his milestones and he celebrated his first birthday with a clean bill of health.
Mrs Prince’s consultant, Dr Sarah Vause, said: ‘When Rachael attended the clinic she had an echo scan of her heart and we realised that the problem with the aortic valve was much more severe that had previously been thought and she was at sudden risk of death.
‘Rachael has proved inspirational to many women who have been having serious heart problems in pregnancy.
‘She’s a truly amazing woman and mother.’
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