For those of you who don't know, at our 20-week ultrasound last Friday, a rare heart defect was detected in our baby girl called Transposition of the Great Arteries, or TGA (see below). It occurs in the first 8 weeks of gestation for no real reason or cause.
Today we had the ultrasound and echocardiogram. She does have TGA, but with a slight twist. First, instead of having both arteries incorrectly inserted, her pulmonary vessel is in the right spot, but the aorta is not. Both are inserted on the right chamber of her heart; her aorta needs to be connected to the left side of her heart. Second, there is also a hole between her two lower chambers that shouldn't be there. This hole is allowing her blood to mix, so she can circulate mixed-blood throughout her body (not oxygen-rich), but it can't stay that way. If not fixed, she would quickly develop lung disease or her heart would just get too worn out.
So! The good news is she likely won't need immediate surgery, but she will need it corrected. They estimate now that they'll operate when she is 1-2 months old (this could change depending on how she's doing). It is open heart surgery, so they will stop her heart while connected to the bypass machine. I'll deliver up in Minneapolis so they can monitor her closely after she's born. They will also run a bunch of tests and do CT scans/etc in the 24 hours after she's born. They can only see things so clearly right now through ultrasound, and the surgeon will need to see the exact location of the aorta and the hole to know how he will fix it. She could have several more open heart surgeries in the future. We won't know that until she's born and he can see her heart.
I'm so thankful it's not immediate surgery: we can bring her home, get nursing established, and snuggle and bond with her in her first days of life. I'm also in awe of what these surgeons can do. It's amazing. She's already a fighter and super wiggly; it took them over an hour to get a good view of her heart because she wouldn't stop flipping around.
Everything else looks just fine. Her valves and arteries look strong and have good circulation.
She just has some faulty wiring:)
