ROME ­— Italy’s only baby to be born with half a heart is now 36 years old — and the mother of newborn twins, La Repubblica reported. 

 The twins, a boy and a girl, were delivered by cesarean section at Policlinico Gemelli Hospital. They weighed 1.4 kilograms each, and made their mother the fourth half-hearted woman worldwide to give birth to twins. 

 Their mother, who has not been named in news reports, was born with no right ventricle, the muscle responsible for pumping oxygen to the lungs. 

 When she was four years old a team of Roman doctors built her a Fontan Circulation: a system which delivers blood from the veins to the lungs, bypassing the heart. 

 Since then the woman has worked with specialists at Bambino Gesù children’s hospital, where her babies spent ten days before coming home with her. 

 The woman thanked Bambino Gesù and Policlino Gemelli doctors for helping her become a mother. “I would like to tell woman who share my situation not to be afraid, and to trust in specialized clinics to realize the dream of motherhood.” 

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