‘Myracle' Baby Goes Home After Risky Surgery

Take one look at Myracle in her mother's arms or holding her brother's hand and it's almost hard to believe she almost never made it to their New Britain home. 

Myracle's brain was growing outside her skull.

"About four months into the pregnancy, they told me the hole in her head wasn't closing," Shovan Martires, Myracle's mother, said.

Doctors recommended that Martires terminate the pregnancy because the baby's chance of survival was slim, but Martires couldn't do it. 

"I heard her heartbeat and I just couldn't," Martires said.  "I couldn't let her go."

Martires carried the baby to full term. On Oct. 21, she gave birth to an eight-pound baby girl. Even with her brain clearly visible, she survived. Four days later, doctors at Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford performed a risky surgery to put her brain where it belongs.

"They didn't want to do the operation," Martires said.  "They said they would do it for us to be able to hold her because there was a 40 percent chance of survival."  But soon, Martires was holding her baby girl for the first time. Then she started feeding her, just like any other baby.

On Halloween, Martires got the news she was longing to hear.

"When they told me I could take her home, I couldn't thank God enough," Martires said.

Myracle has a deep scar on her skull and a long road of recovery ahead.

"She did pass her hearing test, but with her sight, they're not sure yet what she can see and what she can't," Martires said. "They tell us that there are some complications and that when she gets bigger, she may not be able to walk."

"We'll work through it," Elliot Lawson, Myracle's grandfather, said. "We are a big family, a strong family. We're all united, so we'll just do what we have to do."

"Every day, every time I look at her, I know I made the right decision," Martires said.

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