Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD)

Sunday morning Juliet and I were waiting for her final check up from the pediatrician in order to be released from the hospital when the attending doc said he heard an abnormality in her heart.

He ordered up several tests and ultimately diagnosed her with a ventricular septal defect, or VSD. In layman's terms, a hole in her heart. We scheduled a follow up appointment with a cardiologist at Children's for more testing and a consultation.

While certainly not what you're hoping to hear about your sweet baby moments before taking her home, the doctor assured us it was fairly common and there is no hospital I'd rather have her treated at than Children's...

We met with the doctor on Tuesday and he seemed confident that our little lady will be just fine. After laying patiently through nearly an hour of an echocardiogram test, and of course stealing the heart of the woman conducting the exam, the doctor read the results and said she should be just fine. Apparently these VSDs are fairly common and in most cases end up closing on their own.

We'll keep an eye on her, make sure she continues to put on weight (the little pork chop is exceeding weight forecasts for her age like it's nobody's business - proving beyond just the hair that she is my daughter), and doesn't experience any problems breathing, otherwise we aren't scheduled to see him again for another year. At that point we'll get another echo and an EKG to make sure everything is operating as it should.

A major relief to be sure. After watching a colleague go through open heart surgery on her four month old, it was not something I wanted any of us to experience.

Cheers to a big, healthy heart Juliet. XO.