confused!

[wendygogs]

my granddaughter is 12wks old and was hospitalised on fri 23rd oct as she is losing weight despite feeding regularly from the breast.a heart murmur has been discovered and she is now being tube fed as she is tiring so easy,a scan today revealed that she has fluid around her heart and it is enlarged.she is being taken to a larger hospital tommorrow for another scan and hspital staff explained that the doctors there are specialised and will be able to tell better what the problem is.we are so confused as they have mentioned the possibility of a faulty valve or a hole,but no one seems to know!.this is very upsetting as my son is only 20 and his partener is just 16,the baby is doing well at the moment,she has good colour,but is very tired and has laboured breathing,her heart rate drops rapidly when she cries or sleeps,can anyone help me understand a little better,please?

[grendslori]

I'm sorry for what you are all going through. I will try and answer a few of your concerns. ALL babies are born with a heart murmur; the murmurs usually disappear by the 1st birthday. Now, having said that, the SOUND of that murmur is what tells a doctor if there is a problem with the heart or whether the heart is normal in structure and because of that has a normal FUNCTIONAL heart murmur. Chances are your granddaughter has a murmur that is not normal as she has been diagnosed with fluid around the heart which is called pericarditis. This is something that can be treated. The enlarged heart is more than likely caused because it is working too hard to compensate for this fluid build-up. An enlarged heart can also be something known as a Cardiomyopathy. It's a good thing the baby is being tranported to a hospital which is better equiped to handle her care. Please come back and let us know how she is doing. Take care.