This is my little survivor...
Erin Alissa was born January 19, 2007...
She weighed 6 lbs.5 oz. and was 19 in. long...
When Erin was 10 days old we took her for her first office visit with her doctor...
That is when he heard a murmur.
Because I have a faint murmur that has never been treated with any medication I was not worried when he referred us to see a Pediatric Cardiologist. We visited Dr. Rotondo on a Monday 3 days later...
After careful testing, observation and an echocardiogram we learned that Erin had a congenital heart defect.
"Approximately 40,000 babies are born each year in the United States with a CHD. There are 35 different types of CHD's."
Erin was diagnosed with a Ventricular Septal Defect and an Atrial Septal Defect
Often, VSD's close on their own. This would not be the case with Erin.
We decided that it would be best to put a call in to Children's Hospital Boston and start the process of scheduling open heart surgery. In the meantime Erin needed to gain weight for her upcoming surgery...
We had Erin baptized on February 4, 2007 with only a few close family members present. We had to keep Erin as healthy as possible.
On February 7, 2007 Erin was taken by ambulance to our local children's hospital. She had an episode of shallow breathing. She was admitted, treated and then released 4 days later. She would be taking daily doses of the medications Digoxin and Lasix.
We waited for the call from Boston and in the meantime Erin lost weight due to her lack of eating. She would fall asleep during feedings. She wouldn't wake during the night like typical infants when they are hungry. Erin had no energy and was frail. We were very worried as we leaned on family for support...
Erin was admitted to our children's hospital again on February 17th. She was in heart failure.
We stayed at the hospital until February 19th and then were transported by ambulance to Boston for pre-op testing.
On Wednesday, February 21st, Erin underwent open heart surgery.
A week and a half later we were on our way back home. Erin still required daily dosed of Lasix to rid her body of excess fluid and we had to be very careful when holding her but you could tell only 2 days after her surgery that she was on a fast track to recovery.
Today Erin is a happy, healthy 3 year old! She will visit her cardiologist once a year for some time but requires no medication and has no physical limitations. The sky is the limit for Erin...
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and somehow, I think she knows it!!
***UPDATE***
Erin just celebrated her 5th birthday in January and will not visit her cardiologist (knock wood) until she turns 8!!!
This is our story and sadly most stories of babies born with a CHD don't have as happy an ending.
Congenital heart defects are the #1 birth defect in the United States. Nearly one of every 100 babies is born with a CHD. Heart defects begin in the early stages of pregnancy, usually in the first 8 weeks. Most women don't even know they are pregnant. In most cases there is no known genetic causes of CHD's and there are 35 kinds. One out of 125 babies will be born with a CHD. There are prenatal tests that can be done to detect heart defects.An echocardiogram can accurately detect many heart defects and are performed by a specialized doctor and not an obstetrician. Some heart defects can be detected by ultrasound. Most heart defects can be corrected or helped with surgery, medicine or devices such as artificial valves or pacemakers. In the last 25 years, advances in treatments of heart defects have enabled half a million children U.S. children with significant heart defects to survive into adulthood.
For more information, visit www.littlehearts.org. If you are pregnant, talk to your doctor about your prenatal testing options.
Happy "Heart" week!
