Pietro

Pietro "Peter" George was born August 6, 2004 in New York by c-section. The day before he was born I went for a routine post-due-date sonogram to see the size of the baby and that is when they discovered that he had a heart condition.

After a trip to a cardiologist in Manhattan we discovered that not only did he have tricuspid regurgitation but also something was wrong with his pulmonary valve. They were not sure but they thought that maybe there was not enough blood flow. Plans were made quickly to have me delivered the next day and then Pietro would be transported to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.

After a 30 second visit with Pietro he was quickly transported. I spent the next three days at the hospital and then quickly went to meet my son for the second time. Pietro spent two weeks in the hospital. The first procedure was a catheterization where they punctured a hole in his pulmonary membrane since he had no valve. That however was not enough and they had to put in a B-T shunt.

We were told repeatedly by the doctors that he is going to need the Fontan procedure. However after a few trips to the cardiologist and another echo we were told that his RV is large enough and all he would need for now was a stent in his pulmonary artery. What a SURPRISE!

Pietro is just about 6 months old and is growing well. I will keep you updated with details about his next surgery.