Mom and baby together brave open-heart surgery

As Sudhina's heart was drained of blood and surgeons got to work repairing a large hole in one of its walls, her unborn child's heart kept beating, monitored by a cardiotocograph, by the second. Five hours later, her heart was back in working condition, and her foetus was safe.
A week after the open-heart surgery , Sudhina, 35, a resident of Vasco in Goa, is doing well.Doctors are positive about the woman in the fifth month of her pregnancy having a complications-free childbirth, the surgery not withstanding.
Since childhood, Sudhina had a large hole in the heart connecting the left and right chambers, but it had created no problem. Last year, the hole suddenly caused an increased blood flow into her lungs, which in turn caused pressure in her blood vessels to rise.
She underwent the surgery on October 8 at Manipal Hospitals in Panaji, Goa. "A person with a heart aliment is usually advised to avoid pregnancy . Some consultants had suggested Sudhina too terminate her pregnancy , given the high risk. The condition may have led to pulmonary hypertension, if it wasn't for the right intervention. I personally feel a woman has a right to have a child. I consulted cardiac surgeons and they examined her, and it's a happy story now," said Dr Sophia Rodrigues, obstetrician who was part of the team that operated on Sudhina.
Dr Bala Murali Srinivasan, cardiac surgeon, and Dr Amar Prabhudesai, cardiologist, who operated on Sudhina, said success in such a high-risk case is one in a million.
"Had she been operated on in the first trimester, there would have been a chance of miscarriage as that's when the vital organs of the foetus are formed. Operating on her in the second trimester was the best," said Dr Bala, who has earlier operated on a pregnant women for cardiac valve replacement surgeries, but has performed his first such open-heart surgery .
Sudhina, who has recovered without any complications, is looking at a new life ahead."I had lost hope after many doctors in different hospitals refused to operate on me," she said.