Baby Bear is the most recent addition to our family. This sweet, placid little guy was our Valentine's Day homebirth. He was born with a congenital heart defect (CHD) - a large perimembranous ventricular septal defect (VSD), a tiny mid-muscular VSD, and a small patent foramen ovale (PFO).
Our GP heard a loud heart murmur during a routine check shortly after birth and referred us to a cardiologist who performed an echo and discovered the CHD. We were then flown to the Royal Children's Hospital where the VSDs and PFO were diagnosed, as well as Baby Bear being in early cardiac failure and Failure To Thrive. We spent eight days at the RCH, with Baby Bear being put on frusemide and spironolactone; then the spiro was replaced with captopril. He was also put on polyjoule to increase his calories (in addition to being fully breastfed).
Baby Bear underwent open heart surgery on 27 May 2013. The large VSD was patched with his own pericardium and the PFO was sutured closed. They were unable to locate the smaller VSD during surgery but they expect that it and a small leak at the edge of the patch will close by themselves eventually. The surgery and recovery were fairly straight forward (apart from a sensitivity to pancuronium and midazolam, and a brief post-op fever). Baby Bear was discharged 5 days post-op and is recovering well.
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