Thursday, December 9, 2010

Heart Talk

Isaac's echo went well this morning. There were 4 issues they were concerned about from his first echo at 3 days old.
1. Mild Peripheral Pulmonary Stenosis. This is the 2 valves that go from the heart to each lung. They should form a "Y" shape or even a right angle, but Isaac's are at an acute angle. It's fairly common in infants because everything is so squished up in there. More than likely he will outgrow this by the time he's one. It isn't causing any problems, so no cause for concern. We'll do another echo in three months to check on it.
2. At birth, he had a moderate Atrial Septal Defect-a hole in the right atrium that babies have in-utero. Usually closes up by birth, but Isaac's hasn't. However, it's already shrunk quite a bit so the cardiologist was very encouraged by that. Again, no cause to worry-check it again in 3 months.
3. He also had small Patent Ductus Arteriosis. Basically a hole in a valve above his left atrium. That is gone!
4. He also has an acceleration of blood flow in his aortic artery. It isn't significant enough to cause concern, so we'll follow up on that in 3 months as well.
I really like both the cardiologist & his nurse practitioner. He said there is no reason to worry about any of these issues. They are all common in babies and they usually outgrow them by a year, sometimes five. So, praise the Lord! Thank you for praying for us!
Oh yes, he weighs over 9 lbs already!!! Big sister loves to walk around holding him (she's not allowed off the carpet!) And Isaac loves it when she sits in front of the Christmas tree so he can see the lights!

Sent from Jennifer's BlackBerry

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