The Good, The Bad & The Maybe

It turns out that our perfectly healthy baby isn't quite as healthy as Jake and I thought she was. On Addy's second day of life, the pediatrician on call heard a heart murmur. She ordered an ECHO for the same day -- not because she was concerned, but because the next day was the 4th of July and she wasn't sure how efficient the hospital would be. We weren't concerned; Addy certainly was active enough and heart murmurs are pretty common in babies. The pediatrician called that evening to tell us that Addy has a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), a hole in her heart.

VSD's often don't require treatment. The hole can close up on it's own as the baby grows. The pediatrician told us that it is a large hole, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. This is the best kind of heart defect in that it is rarely fatal and if it does need to be treated with surgery there are rarely lasting effects and the quality of life is not decreased. An appointment was set up with a pediatric cardiologist. We checked in with the pediatrician between our hospital discharge and that appointment to make sure Addy was doing well. She was.

Today Jake and I met with the cardiologist. She told us that the hole is on the large side of moderate and because of where it is located, Addy will most likely require open heart surgery. She checked her pulse and breathing and wasn't too happy with either. We had a sonogram done. The doctor was concerned that something was blocking the aorta and she couldn't let us leave with Addy if that were the case. There were a lot of words in between that and the actual sonogram, but I was too busy trying not to get hysterical. Jake heard most of it, but he was also busy trying to keep me from getting hysterical.

The good news: there is nothing wrong with the aorta. And the hole is a little smaller than originally thought.

The bad news: Addy's breathing is slightly labored and we have to give her medication. The possibility of surgery is still at a very high percentage.

The maybe news: there is still a sliver of hope that surgery will not be required. The optimal time to do the surgery is in about 6 months, when Addy is strong enough to recover well but before the hole enlarges or causes other problems.

We will go to Children's Memorial Hospital in a few weeks to have a battery of tests performed and see how things are going.

We're in a bit of a haze. It's a lot of information mixed with unknowns and we're trying to process everything. However, life goes on at the Fray household: Josie brought home a science experiment that we can't figure out but is all over our kitchen counter and Rambler has learned that if he gets his cup and the juice out and brings it to me, I'll pour him some even after I originally said no.