See A baby Born with Conjoined Twin from Buttocks

The Zambian baby, who was born in April last year, is set to undergo the five-hour operation at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka next Thursday.

Her mother Mercy Lenganji, 18, faces an anxious wait as ten specialist doctors, led by Prof Lupando Munkonge, will try to remove the feet.

The baby has already spent the past 26 days undergoing tests ahead of the risky operation.

Mercy had known from scans that she was expecting twins, but during her caesarian section at the Malcolm Mine Hospital in the Zambian town of Mufilira, doctors discovered one of the babies had not developed.

"The doctors kept my child away from me for two days after she was born because they said the sight of her would have put me in shock," said Mercy.

"They put Faith in an incubator as is the procedure with all babies born with deformities in Zambia, and only then was I allowed to see my child. They told me that I would have to wait six months for any operation to help her."

One of four children, 18-year-old Mercy's close family have helped her with the stress of the problems.

"My parents have been so supportive of me throughout this," she said.

"We have also received financial backing from the Zambian Government to help with the surgery. Without my parents and family I do not know what I would have done.

"Faith's father Martin Mwape took one look at his daughter and has never come back and I am sure this is because of her deformity

.

"My friends laughed at me when they saw my child. But that does not bother me now because I love my child and I am so hopeful of this operation that I am not going to think about their opinion.

"My family's strong Christian faith will see us through this."

Prof Mukonge said: "Once we operate on the child we expect her to make a complete recovery. This surgery is to improve the quality of Faith's life as she ages and of course, even though it carries risks, we expect full success.

"We anticipate that this will be the only major surgery that the child will ever need and even though the operation is long and complex, there will hopefully be no complications.

"As soon as Faith has recovered from the operation we will put her into a rehabilitation programme and that is where the real work will begin."

See A Baby born with foot in His brain

A baby who was born with a foot in his brain has been declared fit and healthy three months after shocking doctors with the "once in a lifetime finding in the operating room"

A Colorado Springs family is part of one of the strangest cases in medical history.

Dr. Paul Grabb, a pediatric brain surgeon, said he discovered a small foot growing inside the brain of 3-day-old Sam Esquibel, reported KMGH-TV in Denver.

The appendage threatened the newborn's life.

When Grabb performed the life-saving surgery at Memorial Hospital for Children in Colorado Springs, he was in for another surprise: he also found what appeared to be parts of an intestine in the folds of the infant's tiny brain, in addition to another developing foot, hand and thigh.

A Baby Born With three Arms - Amazing

SHANGHAI, China — Doctors in Shanghai on Tuesday were considering surgery options for a 2-month-old boy born with an unusually well-formed third arm.
Neither of the boy’s two left arms is fully functional and tests have so far been unable to determine which was more developed, said Dr. Chen Bochang, head of the orthopedics department at Shanghai Children’s Medical Center.
“His case is quite peculiar. We have no record of any child with such a complete third arm,” Chen said in a telephone interview.
The boy, identified only as “Jie-jie,” also was born with just one kidney and may have problems that could lead to curvature of the spine, local media reports said. Jie-jie cried when either of his left arms was touched, but smiled and responded normally to other stimuli, the reports said.
Chen said doctors hoped to work out a plan for surgery, but the boy’s small size made it impossible to perform certain tests that would help them prepare.
Media reports said other children have been reported born with additional arms and legs, but in those cases it was clear what limb was more developed. Chen’s hospital is one of China’s most experienced in dealing with unusual birth defects, including separating conjoined twins.