Saint Vincent Heartbeat: Baby Audrina Goes Home
By: Jessica Ward
Updated: January 30, 2013
It's the day her moth, Ashley Cardenas, has been waiting for. She is packing up and finally taking her baby home.
"It's a very big step, it's been a blessing to finally say we're going home."
Baby Audrina was born with one third of her heart outside her body and has been hooked up to machines and surrounded by doctors for three and a half months.
At 16 weeks gestation, Audrina was diagnosed with ectopic cardis. In an MRI, you can see her hands circling her tiny heart, which was outside her body.
She was born full term on October 16 and immediately rushed to surgery at Texas Children's Hospital.
Today, her heart can actually be seen beating just under her skin and wears a pink protective shield over her chest, which will protect her heart as she grows.
One of her doctors says, "She doesn't have a sternum. She doesn't have anything over her heart. Just a little bit of skin and little muscle."
Baby Audrina has reached this milestone, but she will still have a few more surgeries when she is older and stronger.
She still need oxygen and uses a feeding tube, but she is strong and defying the odds.
Eventually, doctors will use a portion of her rib bone to build a sternum.
