*Kate and Avi talk about their new son and his heart defect. Please send suggestions on what you wanna see in this book! I need ideas ASAP! Love • Bree 💙*

The Kaplan Krew ~ 105K subscribers
*The Kaplan's are a family of almost 11! Avi, Kate, Dakota, Tobias, Israel, Abigail, Ezra, Kaiya, Wren, Jasper and baby Micah, who is due to arrive in October! Avi was in the 3x Grammy winning Acapella group - Pentatonix. Avi now makes his own music with his new group Avriel and the Sequoias! Kate was a pastry chef from England and is now a stay at home mom. We met online nine years and fell in love. We got married almost six years ago and were blessed with eight children - 4 adopted and 4 biological. Dakota, 10, Tobias, almost 8, Israel, almost 7, Abigail, almost 6, Ezra, 5, Kaiya, 4, Wren, 2 and Jasper, 1. Kate is currently pregnant with baby #9, a baby boy named Micah! Please subscribe and join The Kaplan Krew!
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Video Title: Micah Has A Heart Defect

The YouTube video starts off showing Kate and Avi sitting on the couch together.

Kate and Avi smile at each other and they hold each other's hands. Avi softly kisses Kate's hand and rubs it, making Kate's cheeks blush.

"Hi, guys!" Kate says as she waves happily to the camera.

"Hello, everyone!" Avi says with a grin.

"Today's video is going to be a serious one. This video is going to be about baby Micah and something that is wrong with him. I am sure all of you have seen the title of this video and yes you are reading the title right.

"Kate and I will explain everything about Micah and about what is wrong with him so please watch the whole video." Avi says and Kate nods in agreement.

"A few weeks ago during my twenty week anatomy scan, we found out that Micah has something wrong with his heart. At first, I was terrified and devastated. I was afraid that our son was going to die because I know a few people back in England who had children who had a heart defect and they passed away during birth, right after birth, after their heart surgery or just suddenly when they were home and healthy. But I know God is with me and my family at all times and I know God made Micah just the way he is for a reason. Micah is our surprise baby and he is so loved already." Kate says to the camera, trying to not cry from reliving the traumatic memory.

"The ultrasound tech doing the anatomy scan ultrasound was very sweet and reassured Kate and I that Micah was going to be okay and to remain positive. She said she has seen Micah's heart defect a lot and she knows a lot of babies who thrived after being born with it." Avi says as he kisses Kate's cheek, comforting his wife.

"Yeah, when the ultrasound tech said that I was relieved some. I was so afraid Micah had some rare heart defect with no cure or treatment or even worse, death." Kate says as she wipes away a few tears from her eyes.

Avi tenderly rubs Kate's shoulders, comforting her some more.

"We haven't spoken about Micah's heart defect on our YouTube channel until now, because Avi and I wanted to tell all of our family and friends before we told all of you. We also wanted to talk with my doctors and Micah's future cardiologist. Everyone in our life now knows about Micah's heart defect and they are all so supportive and loving." Kate says to the camera.

"I also wanna say this before we even start talking about Micah's heart defect. Micah's heart defect is very common, very treatable and he can live a very normal active life after his heart surgery." Avi says to the camera.

"Obviously heart surgery is very scary for everybody, especially on a little newborn baby but with the heart defect Micah has, the probability of Micah being completely fine and do well afterwards is very high. Which makes me feel very relieved however I am still nervous about it." Kate says to the camera.

"Micah has a congenital heart defect called Atrial Septal Defect or ASD for short. An ASD is a hole in the wall between the two upper chambers of your heart. The condition is present at birth." Avi explains to the camera as a picture of an Atrial Septal Defect is shown on the screen.

"Most people with this defect don't even know they have it, because the hole closes up before they are born or close when they are a young child. Even if they have it as an adult, it usually doesn't effect them. Micah's ASD hole is a little bigger then the average ASD hole, but Micah's cardiologist is very confident he can fix it with just one heart surgery and that Micah will be just fine and thrive afterwards. For the few years of Micah's life will be filled with many heart ultrasounds, echocardiogram and EKGS. I will do anything to make sure Micah is healthy and well." Kate says to the camera as Avi smiles at her.

"Micah is currently having a dance party in Kate's belly right now." Avi says as Kate chuckles.

"Micah is very active which is something all of the doctor really like! It shows how strong Micah is! Anyway, my doctor asked Avi and I if there was any congenital heart defects in our families." Kate says to the camera.

"There were no heart defects on both sides of my family." Avi says to the camera as he rubs Kate's back.

"At first I thought there were none on both sides of my family as well. My dad confirmed to me a few weeks ago that there are no heart defect on his side of the family. But after talking with my mom and grandma, I found out that my grandfather had a heart defect. My mom's dad, who I called papa. He passed away when I was a teenager due to aggressive brain cancer. However, my grandma told me that my grandfather had the same heart defect as Micah, but he didn't need heart surgery. So my doctors believe that Micah's heart defect came from my side of the family." Kate says as she tries to not cry again.

"Kate feels like this is her fault. She blames herself for Micah's heart defect. I reassured to her that things like this happen to a lot of people and their families. They happen to families with history of heart defects and they happen to families with no history what so ever. The doctors even confirmed that fact to Kate and I. They all say that most heart defects happen randomly. We have four biological children with no heart defects at all. Actually Tobias was born with the same heart defect but his hole was very small and closed up a month after he was born." Avi says to the camera.

"Micah will most likely need his heart surgery a few days after he is born, depending on how well he does. Micah's cardiologist wants to do the surgery as soon as possible after Micah is born. He doesn't want the defect to interfere with Micah's breathing and feeding. Which Avi and I want the same thing. We just want the surgery done so Micah can recover and begin his life healthy." Kate says to the camera as Avi nods in agreement.

"Micah's cardiologist is one of the best in California, so we are so lucky to have him taking care of our Micah." Avi says to the camera making Kate smile.

"I know a lot of you will be asking what my birth plan will be with Micah. I won't be having a home birth sadly. As much as I would want one, the hospital is a place that Micah needs to be when he is born, just so he has people there just in case something bad happens. Also, I will have a c-section. I am terrified to have a c-section but I know a lot of people who have had one! Mitch, Tara, Jake, Mark, Kirstie and Avi's sister Esther have all had a c-section and they have been telling me all of their tips and tricks to have the best c-section and recovery! So blessed to have them for help! A c-section will make the delivery process, stress free on Micah and his heart. Also, Micah's cardiologist can see Micah's right after he is born and to make sure he is stable and doing well." Kate says to the camera.

"Everything will be fine. God has a plan for all of us and we cannot worry about things that have not happened yet." Avi says as Kate nods in agreement.

"They will be, I'm just anxious as always about everything but I will be fine." Kate says as she kisses Avi softly and Avi smiles

"Thank you guys for watching this video. It was a hard one for Avi and I to make, but I'm glad we did it. We are going to help a lot of people." Kate says to Avi and Avi nods in agreement.

"Me too. Kate and I wanna help a lot of people, specifically families dealing with congenital heart defects." Avi says as he rubs Kate's baby bump.

"We love you all and we will see you all in our next one! Peace out Kaplan Krew!" Kate and Avi say in unison as they end the video.

Kate posts a picture of an 3D ultrasound picture of Micah smiling. She writes the caption as: "Micah Joshua Kaplan ❤️ Such a surprise to us but such a blessing to our family. Micah means "Who is like God" 🌈 and he sure is! I know Micah is a very strong boy already and I know he will overcome anything and everything! This heart defect will not stop him! God is on our side and God makes us a certain way for a reason! I truly believe that our medical team will do anything and everything to give Micah a long and beautiful life! @avikaplan and I appreciate all of the love and prayers for our family and for Micah! We 💙 all of you so much!"

Avi posts a picture of an ultrasound picture of Micah. Micah is doing the rock on sign. He writes the caption as: "We saw Baby Nine Kaplan today! Baby Micah Joshua is looking great and is very active! He loves to do flips and splits in Kate's belly. Only a few more months until we get to meet him and I am so ready! 👶🏼"