So my son Grayson was born with 2 holes in his heart. The doctor told us that 1 of the holes will close up on it's own.. How they know that I am not sure.. however they don't know about the 2nd and want us to have our son have open heart surgery to close it up! Now we don't have to, we can see if both will close up on their own, but i don't know if I should risk him getting the surgery done or risk the hole closing up! What will happen if he doesn't get the surgery and the whole doesn't close up???


P.S there is a picture of him on my profile page in case anyone wants to see!

That's scary... well, what are the chances of the hole closing up, the chances of it being fatal if it doesn't, and the chances of the surgery being fatal? I would weigh it that way. I hope everything works out for you, and he's adorable BTW!

What you do depends on how he is doing. Doe the holes seem to be having an effect on his breathing, eating, or playing? Do his lips have a slight bluish tint? Does he see out of breath when he cries? Does he just seem to sleep all the time (it's hard to tell if it's more than your average new baby)?

Do the doctors say there is a chance the second hole will close? I know that a small hole in the heart is fairly common and docs usually wait to let it close on it's own (which sometimes it does, some times it doesn't), but that all depends on the location of the hole. For atrial defects, smack dab center in the septum is best, and usually resolves itself. Too close to the bottom or top, and it requires surgery. With ventricle defects the words you want to hear are membranous or muscular, as those are the most likely to close on their own.

When I was born, and until I was about 10, the doctors were convinced (due to my rather odd heart murmur) I had a ventricle septum defect. Every time a new doctor would listen to my heart, they would schedule a battery of tests. After a while, we convinced them that they should run an EKG first, which always revealed that my murmur was innocuous. Funny thing is, as I got older, my murmur mysteriously disappeared, almost as if the cause closed up or something.

A friend of mine had open-heart surgery 4 years ago and now he's a fit and healthy 16 year old.
Back 35 years ago, my uncle died from a hole in his heart as the doctors didn't have the technology to do anything about it.

ReenaC - Heart murmers usually go away as you become older. I have to go for a echocardiogram in a couple of weeks for mine; mine developed in my teens instead of as a young child.

Thanks for the replies!
@Celianne he is quite adorable yes.. until he gets grumpy! Every night around 8 he starts screaming his little head off! lol.

So many questions! The doctor said he couldn't give the me the chances of his hole closing up, he said he didn't know for sure. he said the 1st one will definitely close up on it's own.. And either way it could be fatal for him (which is what scares the hell out of me!) He does wheeze every now and then when breathing, but he eats fine! His lips don't seem blue at all, but when he cries for longer then 15 minutes (every night at 8) he starts to wheeze in air. The one hole the doctor said he has is right in the middle of his heart the other one is off to the side and up. I don't know if he sleeps more then the average newborn, he is my first! He wakes up every 4 hours...


Thanks for the advice is really is appreciated!


I added 2 more pictures.. One of him in his carseat and the other asleep in his carseat!

my cousin was born with the same thing-two wholes in his heart. one closed on its own and he had open heart surgery on the second when he was 2 years old. he is 25 now and perfectly healthy. he played football and wrestled all throughout high school and college. being born with a whole in your heart is more common than you think so i don't think there would be much risk to having the surgery done if you feel safer knowing the problem is fixed. i would feel better knowing things were fixed rather than wonder what might happen in the middle of the night. course risk or not a lot of risk, the surgery would scare me too. i guess you have to decide if you want to trust nature or an experienced surgeon. hope your son is healthy and well.