A family in California is enjoying their first festive season with a new baby, whose arrival defied extraordinary medical odds. The child was born following an ectopic pregnancy, a condition almost never carried to term.
A Startling Discovery Days Before Birth
Suze Lopez, a 41-year-old emergency room nurse from Bakersfield, California, only learned she was pregnant mere days before she gave birth. For months, doctors had been monitoring a massive 22lb ovarian cyst on her abdomen. When she sought treatment for increasing pain and pressure, a routine pregnancy test delivered shocking news.
Lopez, who had her right ovary removed years prior due to cysts, experienced no typical pregnancy symptoms. "I could not believe that after 17 years of praying, and trying, for a second child, that I was actually pregnant," she said in a statement from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
'Essentially Unheard Of' Medical Case
Days after the positive test, Lopez returned to hospital with severe abdominal pain and dangerously high blood pressure. Scans revealed a startling truth: her uterus was empty, but a fetus was growing in her abdomen, concealed behind the enormous cyst.
Dr John Ozimek, who leads the hospital's labour and delivery ward, told the Associated Press that a pregnancy outside the uterus reaching full term is "essentially unheard of – far, far less than one in a million". He described the case as "really insane". Medics classify such pregnancies as occurring in roughly one in 30,000 instances, but viable births are exceptionally rarer.
Successful Delivery and Recovery
On 18 August 2025, a team of 30 doctors at Cedars-Sinai performed surgery to deliver baby Ryu and remove the large cyst simultaneously. The procedure was complex; Lopez lost a significant amount of blood, and newborn Ryu required a two-week stay in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Both mother and baby have since made a full recovery. A hospital spokesperson confirmed, "The family is doing great. Mom and baby [are] all thriving." The medical team plans to document this exceptional case in professional journals.
Lopez, celebrating her son's first Christmas, shared a holiday update on Facebook, writing: "Praise the Lord. Our family has a very special and surprising Christmas gift this year."
