Baby born with heart outside her chest is beating odds
A Texas woman received tragic news 16 weeks into her pregnancy: An ultrasound showed that her fetus was developing with a rare heart malformation that almost always proves fatal.
"I was devastated, Ashley Cardenas told TODAYs Janet Shamlian. I didnt really understand what they meant by her heart was on the outside of her body.
Rather than terminate her pregnancy, Cardenas opted for a risky operation once she gave birth. Her daughter, Audrina, was born in October with ectopia cordis, a condition in which all or part of the heart is outside of the chest.
On Audrinas second day of life, a team of 11 doctors at Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston spent six hours performing a life-saving, open-heart surgery to make room in her chest for the one-third of her heart that was outside of her body.
http://todayhealth.today.com/_news/2013/03/05/17034738-baby-born-with-heart-outside-her-chest-is-beating-odds?lite