I’m bringing back the blog! This is an easier way to keep everyone updated about our baby girl.
For those of you who don’t know, at our 20-week ultrasound last Friday, a rare heart defect was detected in our baby girl called Double Outlet Right Ventricle with VSD. It occurs in the first 8 weeks of gestation for no real reason or cause.
Today we had the ultrasound and echocardiogram. Her pulmonary vessel is in the correct spot on her heart, connected to the right ventricle, but the aorta is not. Both are inserted on the right ventricle of her heart; her aorta needs to be connected to the left ventricle. There is also a significant hole (the VSD) between her two lower chambers that shouldn’t be there. This hole is allowing her blood to mix, so she can circulate mixed-blood throughout her body (not oxygen-rich), but it can’t stay that way. If not fixed, she would quickly develop lung disease or her heart would just get too worn out.
So! The good news is she likely won’t need immediate surgery, but she will need it corrected. They estimate now that they’ll operate when she is 1-2 months old (this could change depending on how she’s doing). It is open heart surgery, so they will stop her heart while connected to the bypass machine. They will run a bunch of tests and do CT scans/etc in the 24 hours after she’s born and will keep a close eye on her. They can only see things so clearly right now through ultrasound, and the surgeon will need to see the exact location of the aorta and the hole to know how he will fix it. She could have several more open heart surgeries in the future. We won’t know that until she’s born and he can see her heart.
I’m so thankful it’s not immediate surgery: we can bring her home, get nursing established, and snuggle and bond with her in her first days of life. I’m also in awe of what these surgeons can do. It’s amazing. She’s already a fighter and super wiggly; it took them over an hour to get a good view of her heart because she wouldn’t stop flipping around.
Everything else looks just fine. Her valves and arteries look strong and have good circulation.
She just has some faulty wiring:)
