Hayden Hoskins, Baby Born With Omphalocele, Survives Despite Organs Outside His Body (VIDEO)

Baby Born With Organs Outside Body

Andy Hoskins gushed on his blog Wednesday that his newborn son, Hayden, had gained weight.

Small milestones for many infants are big ones for Hayden, who was born with his liver and intestine outside his body. "I think Hayden is going to surprise everybody," the father wrote.

Andy's wife, Kelsea Hoskins, delivered Hayden into uncertainty this February. The infant has Omphalocele, a birth defect in which part of the internal organs grow externally in a sac that protrudes through the belly button. Doctors didn't know before the C-section whether Hayden's lungs -- which are often weakened by the condition -- would adapt. But as video from Fox's St. Louis, Mo., affiliate KTVI shows below, he cried as he entered the world. Relief all around.

Doctors will insert Hayden's organs in about a year, according to KTVI. "We have every expectation he'll be the little boy we are soon to discover," said Dr. Alison Cahill, an obstetrician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. "No anticipated downside."

The moving segment has focused attention on Omphalocele, which affects 1 out of every 5,386 newborns in the United States annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC says potential complications can arise if the sac were broken or twisted. But Hayden is on track to go home soon to the family's house in Quincy, Ill., his dad wrote in his blog.

Hayden has good company among so-called "O babies." In another case that captured media attention, Hayes Davis of Texas had successful surgery to reinsert his organs in January 2012, ABC News reported. Hayes, now nearly 2 years old, has "more than surpassed" developmental milestones for his age group, his mom, Kelly, notes on her blog.

"To say that we are proud of Hayes and all that he has overcome is a complete understatement," she wrote. "We are amazed...we are ecstatic...we are honored to be his parents."

Hayden's mom and dad are getting to know that feeling.

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