Baby Amber recovering after robotic surgery

AMBER VAIRO has grown two inches and gained nearly a pound, and the three tiny scars on her stomach have all but vanished — along with any doubts she would survive a complex surgery to fix a life-threatening condition.

Last month, at just 5.6 pounds and six days after birth, Amber became the smallest patient in the world to undergo robotic surgery of any kind, said her doctors at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics.

She was born with a hole in her diaphragm, the abdominal muscle that is critical to breathing and forms a wall between the chest and abdomen.

The condition, called congenital diaphragmatic hernia, can be fatal because the hole allows the intestines to migrate into the chest, putting pressure on the heart, lungs and spleen that can stunt organ growth or shut them down altogether.

“All signs are that she is recovering and will be just fine,” said Amber’s mother, Nicole Hines, who took her baby home for the first time last week.