Hank's Heart: (Fetal PAC) Premature Atrial Contraction

We went to have a visit with Arizona Pediatric Cardiology Consultants today and our doctor, Dr. Jedeikin gave us actually some pretty good news. Come to find out after a pretty lengthy sonogram of Hank's heart, the doctor analyzed the video and was able to tell us right there what was going on.

Hank has irregular heart beats, as of today. They call this Premature Atrial Contraction, or PAC, and this occurs in babies from 1%-2% of every pregnancy. So that is 1-2 babies out of every 100 that will have a case of PAC. "Premature beats or extra beats most often cause irregular heart rhythms. Those that start in the upper chambers are PACs. In reality, the heart doesn't skip a beat (like a murmur). Instead an extra beat comes sooner than normal. Then there's a pause that can cause the next beat to be more forceful." 99.6% of these PAC cases will not progress to tachycardia and eventually go away, associated with good outcome.

The doctor says that this is very normal, and that it is not anything major to worry over. A good majority of the time, once the baby is born, the irregularity PAC goes away. The only thing we would ever have to worry over is if it continues on after he is born, then we would have to visit with a pediatric cardiologist. So far on the worry scale, we are only at a 1 out of 10. We are thankful that this is minor issue, and that Hank is healthy. We will still be allowed to deliver at Tyler's Hospital after all with all of our Banner Health Family close by. :)

P.S. Prayer works!!! And Riley probably goes home tomorrow instead of Sunday!