Suze Lopez was preparing for surgery to remove a large tumor in her uterus when the routine pregnancy test before the procedure came back positive.
Being a nurse herself, the 41-year-old Lopez knew the test may not be accurate, explaining in a statement to Cedars Sinai Hospital,
Because of the large ovarian cyst that had been growing for years, it could have been a false positive, even ovarian cancer. And I was used to very irregular periods and some abdominal discomfort. I could not believe that after 17 years of praying, and trying, for a second child, that I was actually pregnant.
Not only was she pregnant despite the large tumor, but doctors soon discovered that she was carrying a near full-term ectopic pregnancy.
Medical Director of Labor and Delivery at Cedars Sinai, John Ozimek, DO, explained the rare case, saying,
Suze was pregnant, but her uterus was empty, and a giant benign ovarian cyst weighing over 20 pounds was taking up so much space. We then discovered a nearly full-term baby boy in a small space in the abdomen, near the liver, with his butt resting on the uterus. A pregnancy this far outside the uterus that continues to develop is almost unheard of.
Once the surprise pregnancy was discovered, the medical team had their job cut out for them, determining how to safely deliver the baby, remove the tumor, and care for the mom and baby who would likely be born with complications.
Gynecological oncologist Michael Manuel, MD, laid out what had to happen next , saying,
We had to figure out how to deliver the baby with a placenta and its blood vessels attached in the abdomen, remove the very large ovarian mass and do everything we could to save mom and this child.
With the coordination of around 30 doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, and technicians, the extremely rare and risky delivery resulted in a healthy 8-pound baby boy.
After only two weeks in the NICU, baby Ryu had reached all the necessary benchmarks and was able to join his teenage sister at home.
His parents named him Ryu Jesse Lopez, with the middle name Jesse meaning "gift from God."
The mom told Cedars-Sinai,
I appreciate every little thing. Everything. Every day is a gift and I'm never going to waste it. God gave me this baby so that he could be an example to the world that God exists — that miracles, modern-day miracles, do happen.
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