The heart is an extremely complicated organ. The muscle on one side of the heart differs from the muscle on the other side of the heart. There are valves that open and close allowing blood to travel to different parts of the heart, to the body and/or to the lungs. The heart has its own unique electrical system. There are structures inside the heart separating different chambers from one another. In babies with congenital heart defects, something goes wrong and there are a lot of places where something can go wrong.

We will discuss the noninvasive and invasive procedures doctors currently use to obtain a diagnosis for children with congenital heart defects. We’ll talk with the mother of a child with a very unique heart and how having that child has affected her. We’ll also meet a nurse who is working on developing a feeding protocol to help babies born with congenital heart defects survive when they are between surgeries.