Brendan was diagnosed during fetal ultrasounds with a complex congenital heart defect. There is no known reason as to why these things occur, I was told that it is not something that I did or didn’t do during my pregnancy, it was not inherited from family, and it was not necessarily a sign of a chromosomal abnormality.
They believe that the problem happens extremely early in the development of the heart and it is a very rare problem.
We were fortunate that this defect was discovered prior to his birth, so that we could be prepared to deal with symptoms and issues when he arrived. We have been working with an excellent cardiology team and they are giving him a good prognosis for a long happy life.
Surgically, he will be getting a pulmonary banding, then the Glenn Procedure at 3-6 months of age, followed by the Fontan Procedure when he is 2-4yrs old.
This link is the best description that I have found of the details of the defect and the procedures and the diagram shows exactly all of the issues in Brendan’s heart:
And a few more links on the subject: