Many preemies often face an issue with their Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA).

The PDA is a blood vessel that connects the main vessel leading to the lungs to the main vessel of the body. When babies are in the womb, this blood vessel is open because babies aren't using their lungs to breathe so it allows most of the blood to bypass the lungs and go to the rest of the body. Once babies are born, the blood vessel will gradually narrow and then close after a few hours or days. In preemies, especially those who have had respiratory distress syndrome, the blood vessel may stay open.

Doctors may suspect that a preemie has a PDA if a preemie:

If a doctor suspects a PDA, they will give your preemie an echocardiogram to determine the amount of blood flow through the PDA. The echocardiagram is pretty fast - it looks like your baby is getting an ultrasound.

The doctors have several options for how to treat a PDA. They are:

Hearing that your baby needs heart surgery can be very scary and nerve wracking. Here are some questions to ask if your preemie needs surgery:

Our experience with PDA issues
Both of our kids had PDAs. We were told our son would need surgery because he was only able to handle 1/2 dose of the indomethacin and the PDA was still open. After spending a long night worrying about the next day's transfer and surgery - we went to the NICU the next morning and after one last echo, they found that the PDA had closed on it's own. The doctors aren't sure how it happened but we were so happy and relieved. With our daughter, they came in to my hospital room on her 2nd day and told us that her PDA was very open and she was too small to receive the indomethacin so surgery was a necessity. She was the smallest patient that our heart surgeon had operated on so that added a bit of extra stress. Thankfully all went well and with the exception of a scar on her back, you would never know she had it done.