Congenital Heart Defect

Congenital heart defects are the most common kind of fatal birth defect in newborns and affect 1 out of every 120 live births.

Approximately 35,000 babies are born with some form of a heart defect every year and more babies will die during their first year of life from a heart defect than any other reason. The heart begins forming and developing very early in fetal development, usually before a woman realizes that she has conceived.

A congenital heart defect is a problem within the heart that is present at birth. Congenital heart defects occur early on in pregnancy when the heart is forming. A heart defect can sometimes be diagnosed on a prenatal ultrasound. However, some children are not diagnosed with it until other symptoms arise.

Treatment involves medication and surgery.

Comments: Congenital-Heart-Defect

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dore - 1123 days ago.
Hello , my daughter was born Jan 7 and the 3-th day they discovered tetrology of falot with pulminary artresia. Could somebody PLEASE e-mail me at astridwst@verizon.net who has /had the same happen ??? We are so scared , but thankful with our sweet girl !!

maybeagirl - 1147 days ago.
hello mums. i got my baby girl on 23.12.2008 by c.section. am so happy to have her. she is still in hospital because of prematurity and low birth weight. i hope you gonna pray for me . enjoy the rest of your preggo and stay healthy.

jduve - 1158 days ago.
I didn't realize this page was on this website but am so happy to hear others out there in my situation. At 20 weeks gestation I was sent to the hospital to have a fetal echo done and it was found that our daughter has Double Outlet Right Ventricle and a hole between the right and left ventricles. Does anyone have experience with this or advice? They are recommending an amnio but I am uncertain due to the risks.

tink21 - 1160 days ago.
My son was born with transposition of the great artheries and I strongly advise any parents dealing with a baby w/ heart deffects to have you baby threated at childrens hospital in L.A. The place is amazing, the nurses are great, they look after their little patients as if they were their own. Dr. Starnes is the main surgeon and he is AMAZING!!! Goggle this guy, he has ALOT of experience with little hearts. I hope this helps if u have any questions please feel free to comment.

marley76 - 1180 days ago.
Im having aproblem and figured I would share it with all of you. I had another ultrasound done on Thursday and the doctor told me that they found a 'bright spot' on my baby's heart. He told me that it is very common and usually doesn't mean thats anything is wrong but he scheduled me to have a fetal echocardiogram done tomorrow (Tuesday) just to be sure that everything was fine. Obviously I am terrified but I am trying not to make too big a deal about it until I know for sure what is going on. Have any of you had any expirence with this or know anything about it that you could share with me? I would really appericiate any information that anyone has. Thank you!

RobinG - 1199 days ago.
Has anyone ever heard of two vents coming from one chamber and going to the appropriate places and being a 'variation of the norm' and non life threatening? My 13 year old has it plus a pin hole murmur and I cant find anything on it ~ TX!

seguin - 1210 days ago.
My daughter is now 17 months old. I wrote earlier this year (April 2008). My daughter was born full term. They told us she had a heart murmur (which almost every baby is born with half my family included). They told us it would heal itself which most do in the first 6 months to 1 year of age. At 9 weeks I had to rush my daughter into our local ER as she was going limp and wasnt breathing right. We found out then that it wasnt a heart murmur but CHD!!! She underwent heart surgery at The Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They fixed her COA (coarctation of the aorta). She now needs more surgery as they found more wrong with her heart. They thought it would fix itself but instead it has gotten worse. She has Mitral Stenosis. It is all under my BLOG Page. For those mommies who havent had their babies yet that have CHD if you want to talk please add me to your page. (VIP NAME SEGUIN)

M3G4N - 1222 days ago.
Hi Ladies! I have been a member since I found out I was pregnant with my son, who is now 11 weeks old. I have a two year old daughter who was born with CHD. The issue was found 27 weeks gestation. When she was first born, the doctors were more than sure she had Williams Syndrome. Well, after blood work it was confirmed that infact she did not have William Syndrom, but was born with the 'heart' of a WS child. The doctor was very surprised by this, because he had never came across a patient with the 'heart' of a WS child without having the actual syndrome. Since my daughter was born with CHD I had multiple ultrasounds with my son to check his heart and make sure everything was going well. At our 28 weeks ultrasound it was thumbs up! Everything looked to be doing great. When he was born, the doctor came and told us he had a tiny heart mumur. Because of his sister having CHD, we were referred to the pediactric cardiologist. The doctor came into the room and told me, he believe he had WS because he had the heart of a WS child. Once again, he doesn't have WS but the heart of a WS child. This is not a common thing. To have the heart of a WS child, but not the syndrome. I would like to know if there are any other mothers out there that have children with this type of CHD?

pelle8 - 1223 days ago.
I TOOK A SONOGRAM ON 10/10/2008, AND WS TOLD MY SON IS HEART PROBLEMS. I'M NOT SURE HOW SEVER IT IS WON'T FIND OUT UNTIL 10/20/2008. I HAVE A HEART MUMUR, AND I'M WONDERING IF HE TAKING AFTER ME. NONE OF MY OTHER KIDS HAAAVE ANY PROBLEMS, SO I'M WORRIED OF WHAT THIS OUTCOME IS GONNA BE.

webb211 - 1237 days ago.
Natty 1982 - my 6 year old son has Tricuspid Atresia with a few other major heart defects thrown in the mix. He is doing really great so far and just recently had his 3rd open heart surgery. I am part of a support group specifically for tricuspid and pulmonary atresia (right sided defects). It is an incredible group from all over the world. Please join us there for the specific support you need. The details are: www.hypoplasticrighthearts.org You will need to fill in the membership screen to join - but it wont take long. God Bless Dawn

natty1982 - 1239 days ago.
My son with just diagnosed with Tricuspid Atresia. Anyone know anything about that?

megam - 1328 days ago.
my son was born with a stenosis of the left aortic valve. He is 6 months and so far, they have not had to do anything for him. He is wonderful, developing just as he should be. Does anyone else's baby have this?

RobinG - 1334 days ago.
There is a risk of a misscarriage with an amnio, ~ even if it is only 1 % that is still a risk and being only 19 weeks if you did go into labor your baby is at risk. I know some who do want it but wait til the baby could survive should labor occur ~ I think in your heart you need to ask yourself if there are more defects and the baby can survive will you terminate, if there are more defects and baby will not survive will you allow your baby to be born when labor occurs and see what happens ~ whether to have an amnio really depends on what you will do with the information they give you ~ I care for a specials needs boy who has Velo Cardio Facial Syndrome ~ he has had two major openheart surgeries and lung surgery and therapy ~ he was given a 30% chance of success in surgery and only 9 months to live ~ he is 4 years old now and such a blessing :) I talked to many about why some consider terminating when there is a problem and many say they would still let nature take its course which ever direction it went ~ Only you can answer that question. If you dont want to terminate and do want to know I'd ask to wait til at least 28 weeks. And consider more involved scans with a specialist ~ ((())) hugs ~ my doc wanted me to have an amnio ~ I was 40 when Hunter was born I refused. I wouldnt terminate even if there was a concern so I saw no reason for it ~ I just insisted on the best scans I could get and the papp-a test which looks for chromosome abnormalities :).

LEESAB - 1335 days ago.
Hi all, Im 19 weeks and have just found out my baby girl has a heart defect, my doctor suggested that I should have an amniocentisis to see if there are and other defects, Im not sure wether to have this or not. Has anyone has one and could you let me know what happened. I really need some advice.

Ethansmom08 - 1335 days ago.
I gave birth to a full term baby boy who had HLHS in February of this year. If anyone has any questions about HLHS, I would love to talk. I am still trying to get over the shock and horror of what we went through. Please send me a message if I can be of help to anyone.

2wonderfulgirls - 1339 days ago.
HI everyone , we have a baby due in August that has multiple heart ploblems. Two VSD's , hypoplastic left heart syndrome, coarctation of the aorta, and possible valve problems. Would love someone to talk too.

RobinG - 1364 days ago.
((((((())))))) My hugs and prayers to you ~ let us know how things go.

My is 12.5 he had an echo and EKG ~ they were ruling out Marfan Syndrome ~ We know he has a pin hole in his heart (murmur) but we were also told that instead of one ventrical coming from each chamber there are two coming from one but they go to the appropriate place and it is considered a 'variation of the norm' Just for my own peace of mind I wondered if anyone else had this told to them and if doc is right that he is fine with it ~

ashleighr - 1367 days ago.
i just found out that my baby girl is going to be born with CHD and i am so sccared and i didnt get the amnio test done but i am soo scared this is my first baby and i dont want to loose her i love her soo much already my husban is soo sad about the whole thing and i just want her to be okay if anyone has any storys to help me out let me know cause i am 23 weeks pregnant and soo scared about looseing her

carmanashley - 1369 days ago.
Hello all! My son Xander was born with multiple chd's, Ventricular septal defect, Atrial septal defect, Trasposition of the great arteries, double outlet right ventrical, pulmonory valve stinosis, sub pulmonory stinosis. He had his first heart surgery at 4weeks old for a bt shunt and then his OHS (Bi-directional Glenn) November 14, 2007, he went back into the hospital in Feb 08 for Chylothorax and was there for 2 more weeks with chest tubes. He is now home and 18 months old, he is 19lb and almost 30in, he is doing well and only has to be on oxygen at night, he is on a ton of diuretics and other meds for his heart but doing really well! If you have any questions feel free to pm me, we still have to go through the fontain surgery in another 18-24months but for now we are done with surgeries.

isaiahsmommy+1 - 1381 days ago.
i am 28.5 weeks pregnant and just found out that my baby girl will be born with half a heart. it is called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. anyone with info please let me know, i am so scared

justkelly1976 - 1381 days ago.
I have 2 sons, both were born with CHD. My eight-year old has Tetralogy of Fallot, my 5 year old has Pulmonary Atresia. Both were repaired with open heart surgeries and are fine now. Any questions please feel free to contact me.

carlybarleyx - 1395 days ago.
Hi I just thought I'd say hi! My 4 year old was born with Tetrallogy of fallots which is a rare COD, she had to have open heart surgery at 6 weeks, 1 year and 3 years old but she is absolutley fine now. Her heart condition doesnt hold her back doing anything. I hope your little girl is doing just as well. xxx

seguin - 1401 days ago.
My daughter was born a day before her due date and we were told she had a heart murmur and that she'd grow out of it. When she was 9 weeks old she was rushed into the ER due to she kept going limp and not breathing right. They brought her in with me by her side and her heart rate they told me was deadly to and adult at 260. Her rapid heart rate and continuing attacks sent us to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. At 9 weeks old she had heart surgery to repair her closing arotic valve. She still has heart issues but they said she is doing great now (everything is almost healed) and she must stay on medications due to she has hypertension (high blood pressure). She is now almost 11 months old and doing great. She is my little angel. (My VIP name is Seguin)