Answers to Some Heart Questions

I have received a number of the same questions regarding Ayden’s heart, so I thought that I would answer some of them here.

When Bryan and I went to the OB to find out whether or not we were having a boy or a girl, the ultrasound technician couldn’t see all of Ayden’s heart. After viewing the pictures himself, our OB then referred us to a maternal fetal specialist. Once another round of ultrasound pictures were shot (both by a technician and the specialist), the specialist confirmed what the OB’s office said and gave a name to the baby’s condition, hypoplastic left heart syndrome. The maternal fetal specialist then sent us on to Vanderbilt to meet with a pediatric cardiologist, who did her own ultrasound investigation before echoing what the previous two doctors had told us. (Bryan has written about these doctor’s visits in greater detail in previous blog posts.)

Medically speaking, Ayden’s heart is done developing (this actually happens in the first few weeks after conception), and he will come into this world with only half of his heart. As a result, he will require two surgeries in the first six months of his life; 80% survive the first surgical procedure, the Norwood procedure; 20% more don’t make it to the second procedure. Ayden will have yet another surgery at approximately two years old. The success rate for the second and third surgeries, all part of the Fontan procedure, is much higher.

Spiritually speaking, anything is possible. We are praying for a miracle.