California woman delivers healthy baby after ‘essentially unheard of’ ectopic pregnancy | California
A California family is celebrating their first holiday since the birth of their last child growing outside the womb.
Suze Lopez, a 41-year-old emergency room nurse in Bakersfield, California, surgically delivered baby Ryu in August, so the newborn is celebrating his first Christmas. It was an ectopic pregnancy in which a fertilized egg implanted and grew outside the uterus, hidden behind a large ovarian cyst.
Doctors at Ceder-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles said the dangerous pregnancy is extremely rare (occurring in only one in 30,000 pregnancies) and they plan to document the case in medical journals.
Dr John Ozimek, who oversees the hospital’s labor and delivery ward, said pregnancies reaching full term outside the womb were “essentially unheard of, very few in one in a million”. in question to the Associated Press. “I mean, it’s really crazy,” he added.
Lopez found out she was pregnant just days before giving birth. She had been dealing with ovarian cysts since her 20s. Her right ovary, along with another cyst, had previously been removed.
Doctors had been monitoring the 22-lb cyst in Lopez’s abdomen for months. Dealing with increasing abdominal pain and pressure, Lopez visited doctors to have the abdominal area removed. But after taking a routine pregnancy test during her appointment, Lopez discovered she was pregnant.
Although the test was positive, Lopez did not show any signs of pregnancy. “It could have been a false positive or even ovarian cancer because of the large ovarian cyst that had been growing for years,” Lopez said. Cedars-Sinai press release. “And I’m used to very irregular periods and some abdominal discomfort. After 17 years of praying and trying for a second child, I couldn’t believe I was actually pregnant.”
But days later, Lopez returned to the hospital complaining of abdominal pain and dangerously high blood pressure. Doctors discovered that while Lopez’s uterus was empty, a fetus was hidden in her abdomen.
Baby Ryu was born on August 18, when the team of 30 doctors also removed Lopez’s cyst during the same procedure. Lopez reportedly lost a lot of blood during the surgery and Ryu spent two weeks in the SFGate neonatal intensive care unit. reported. Both mother and baby made a full recovery.
A spokesperson from Cedars-Sinai confirmed that Lopez and baby Ryu are in good health: “The family is doing very well. Mother and baby [are] They are all improving.
The Guardian could not reach Lopez for comment, but the mother of two shared a holiday update on Facebook“Thank God. Our family has a very special and surprising Christmas gift this year,” she writes.
