A recent operation in Tennessee on a baby born in Utah is being called nothing short of "miraculous." Doctors at Vanderbilt University have successfully repaired the spine of a baby with spina bifida, while the infant was still inside her mother's womb. Science Specialist Ed Yeates has a special report.

29 weeks into the pregnancy, while Mackenzie Lots was still inside her mother's womb, doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center did a c-section. They took out the uterus, removed the aminotic fluid, turned the unborn baby on its back - and repaired the lesion on her spine. The surgeons then sutured the uterus, returned the amniotic fluid, and closed up the c-section.

CAMILLE LOTS, MOTHER: "AT SIXTEEN WEEKS WE DID THE ULTRASOUND AND WE FOUND OUT SHE HAD SPINA BIFIDA. AND WE WERE TOLD THAT SHE WOULD NEVER WALK. SHE WOULDN'T HAVE BOWEL OR BLADDER CONTROL. BUT WE'RE JUST THRILLED THE WAY SHE'S TURNED OUT."

Now, 3-months old, Mackenzie is doing remarkably well - showing very few symptoms of a birth defect which normally cripples children.

"SHE'S BASICALLY NORMAL. HER BOWEL AND BLADDER FUNCTION IS JUST FINE. SHE DOES HAVE A CLUB FOOT THAT CAN BE REPAIRED WHEN SHE IS ABOUT ONE."

Mackenzie does have a shunt in the head to treat hydrocephalis - another side effect of spina bifida. But chances are good this child will walk. And it was an earlier surgery on another boy at Vanderbilt which convinced the Lots' they should do the same for their own daughter.

PHILLIP LOTS/FATHER: "A LITTLE BOY WHERE HIS WAS AT THE T-12 SPINAL CORD AREA WHICH IS FAIRLY HIGH AND YOU KNOW THEY'RE NOT GOING TO WALK WITH A LESION THAT HIGH - AND THAT KID IS A YEAR OLD AND HE'S WALKING NOW."

Camille was the eighth mother out of 23 which have had the experimental procedure in Nashville. The Lots' knew it was risky. Any time doctors enter the womb for surgery on an unborn fetus, chances are high they'll lose the infant then - or sometime after during a premature birth.

But the Lots knew a repair on their daughter's spine before 32 weeks into the pregnancy would lessen the damage and hasten the healing process. Mackenzie was born five weeks early - but the repair on her spine has paid off.