Nurse Suze Lopez entered Cedars-Sinai Hospital expecting to undergo surgery to remove a massive tumor from her uterus, which had been causing her significant discomfort for years.
However, during the routine pre-operative tests, the 41-year-old from Bakersfield, California, discovered something she never anticipated—she was pregnant, despite also carrying a 22-pound tumor.
Lopez, who had previously had one child in her early 20s, had been unable to conceive again over the years and had almost given up the hope of having another. Given the large growth in her uterus, she had accepted this reality.
Yet, as medical staff prepared for her surgery, a standard pregnancy test surprisingly returned positive. At her age, the result hinted at a potentially serious underlying health issue.
The healthcare professional shared in a hospital statement: “Because of the large ovarian cyst that had been growing for years, it could have been a false positive, even ovarian cancer.”
After experiencing severe abdominal pain in the days following the unexpected test result, specialists at Cedars-Sinai conducted a scan, uncovering something truly astonishing.
John Ozimek, the hospital’s director of labor and delivery, stated: “Suze was pregnant, but her uterus was empty, and a giant benign ovarian cyst weighing over 20 pounds was taking up so much space.”
He described an extraordinary medical occurrence; Suze’s well-developed baby was surviving outside of the uterus, within her abdomen.
Ozimek explained: “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.”
In her hospital statement, Suze expressed her amazement: “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.”
Despite the remarkable nature of the pregnancy, doctors were not optimistic about the baby’s chances of survival, given the high mortality rate associated with abdominal ectopic pregnancies.
This prompted the hospital team to accelerate her treatment, involving 30 doctors and specialized equipment to both remove the enormous tumor and safely deliver the baby from her abdomen.
Anesthesiologist Michael Sanchez, MD, described how Suze began to hemorrhage significant amounts of blood as soon as the baby was delivered.
However, the team was well-prepared for such complications. Sanchez noted: “I had already powered up a special machine that delivers blood products fast because every second matters. We used 11 units of blood.”
Despite the odds, miracle baby Ryu was born, weighing eight pounds, defying all expectations.
Her husband, Andrew, expressed in a statement: “He is our gift. And Ryu and Suze are my miracles … many prayers have been answered.”
Suze added: “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.”