Her echo today revealed that the Atrial Septal Defect (hole in her heart) is still there and is about 1-2 millimeters bigger than it should be. A Atrial Septal Defect is a form of a congenital heart defect that enables blood flow between two compartments of the heart called the left and right atria. Normally, the right and left atria are separated by a septum called the interatrial septum. If this septum is defective or absent, then oxygen-rich blood can flow directly from the left side of the heart to mix with the oxygen-poor blood in the right side of the heart, or vice versa.
And that her Pulmonary Valve Stenosis hasn't corrected itself. Pulmonary Valve Stenosis is when the pulmonary valve opens to let blood flow from the right ventricle to the lungs. Narrowing of the pulmonary valve causes the right ventricle to pump harder to get blood past the blockage.
Long and short her heart is working harder than mine or yours is. The positive is that both cases are considered mild to moderate on the scale. The negative is obviously that she has 2 issues with her heart that didn't correct themselves. We are now in a wait and see period. Abby will see Dr Gelatt every three months going forward to monitor. There are surgeries that could be done to correct both issues but that won't be something to consider until she is between 3-4 years old. Dr Gelatt assured us that we don't need to worry to much about either issue right now and that it won't limit her in any way. We asked if this was caused by being a multiple or being so premature and he assured us that neither was the cause its just one of those things that happen. He said the fact that she was in the nicu was probably why they caught it as soon as they did.
