Well, today was our 22 week check up and we were having another ultrasound done. Last time they were not able to get good pictures of her heart and couldn't see her upper lip. Today we saw all four chambers of the heart and her cute little profile. However, she has a ventricular septal defect also known as VSD.
The heart has four chambers: The two lower pumping chambers of the heart are called the ventricles, and the two upper filling chambers are the atria.
In a typical healthy heart, blood that returns from the body to the right-sided filling chamber (right atrium) is low in oxygen. This blood passes to the right-sided pumping chamber (right ventricle), and then travels to the lungs to receive oxygen. The blood that has been enriched with oxygen returns to the left atrium, and then to the left ventricle. It's then pumped out to the body through the aorta, a large blood vessel that carries the blood to the smaller blood vessels in the body.
The right and left-sided pumping chambers (ventricles) are separated by shared wall, called the ventricular septum.
Kids with a VSD have an opening in this wall. As a result, when the heart beats, some of the blood in the left ventricle (which has been enriched by oxygen from the lungs) is able to flow through the hole in the septum into the right ventricle. In the right ventricle, this oxygen-rich blood mixes with the oxygen-poor blood and goes back to the lungs. The blood flowing through the hole creates an extra noise, which is known as a heart murmur. The heart murmur, can be heard when a doctor listens to the heart beat with a stethoscope.
Ventricular septal defects occur during fetal heart development and are present at birth. During the first weeks after conception, the heart develops from a large tube, dividing into sections that will eventually become the walls and chambers. If a problem occurs during this process, it can create a hole in the ventricular septum.
We are now going to have a level 2 ultra sound and we are hoping to get in by the weekend. Luckily the doctor says it is small and we should not worry too much, but how can you not?!?! It is scary, but it sounds like the worse case scenario is she would have a heart murmur, which since it is small she should still live an active, healthy life. Lets just pray for this little girl it is nothing worse. :(
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