Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler's newborn survives typically fatal condition

Inside her two pound and 12 ounce body, she doesn't have kidneys. But after being diagnosed with a usually fatal kidney condition, it's a "miracle" Abigail Rose Beutler is alive, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., said.

Weeks after Beutler announced her unborn child lacked any amniotic fluid in the womb, her daughter was born on July 15, three months early.

It's typical for children with this condition, Potter's Sequence, to suffocate within days of birth - if not beforehand - and die. Yet in each of her 14 days of life, Abigail has breathed on her own.

"She is every bit a miracle," Herrera Beutler wrote on her Facebook page Monday.

Two doctors told Herrera Beutler she had two options before Abigail's birth: Terminate her pregnancy or wait for the unborn child to die. Instead, Herrera Beutler found a pediatrician at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore who injected saline into the womb - a previously "unproven" treatment - that ultimately restored the fetus' lung function.

After five injections, Herrera Beutler went into labor and gave birth at an Oregon hospital two weeks ago. Abigail's first cry, moments after birth, was momentous for Herrera Beutler and her husband - no child with this condition has breathed on their own before, according to the family's doctors.

But the medical obstacles weren't over.

Without kidneys, Abigail required dialysis - a procedure that local hospitals weren't willing to preform on a premature baby born hours earlier. The family found solace at a California hospital with 16-hour-old Abigail in tow.

"We feel called to share with you the details of this wonderful story of God's work and the remarkable doctors who helped us in the near future," Herrera Beutler wrote. "At the moment, our focus is, of course, on our beautiful fourteen day old daughter."

While she'll require "ongoing care" after she goes home, Abigail is expected to have a "full and healthy life," Herrera Beutler said.