Miracle Baby Grown Outside The Womb

Photo from Lopez family via AP.

Suze Lopez

What began as a long-standing medical concern turned into something no one expected. Suze Lopez’s experience defied nearly every assumption she had about her own body.

An Unexpected Diagnosis

41-year-old Suze Lopez experienced what can only be described as a miracle. And her little miracle is her baby boy Ryu.

The baby grew outside of her womb and presented as an ovarian cyst. The “cyst” grew to the size of a basketball.

Lopez has always dealt with an irregular menstrual cycle, sometimes going a year without getting her period. This is why she was not concerned with missing periods.

Going back in time, about 20 years, she was diagnosed with a pair of ovarian cysts. One was removed quickly, while the other remained.

Then in early 2025, she noticed swelling in her abdomen. She immediately assumed that it was the cyst that had not been removed.

It was a very different experience from pregnancy. She never felt little Ryu kick and never got morning sickness or any other symptoms related to pregnancy.

After several days, she experienced more pressure and more pain in her abdomen. While Lopez had delayed removing the cyst because it could mean she would not be able to conceive again, she was ready to have it removed due to the pain and discomfort.

The cyst had actually grown to be 22 pounds. In preparation for the surgery to remove the cyst, Lopez needed a CT scan.

To get the scan, she was required to take a pregnancy test. Surprisingly, it was positive.

Naturally, Lopez was overjoyed at the news. She shared the happy news with her husband Andrew Lopez at a Dodgers baseball game with a onesie and a note.

He recalls, “I just saw her face and she just looked like she wanted to weep and smile and cry at the same time.”

Suze Lopez spoke of her desire to have a second child and the hopelessness that struck her and her husband, “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.”

Surgery

The joy of the positive pregnancy test was quickly overshadowed by serious medical concerns. What doctors discovered next made the situation even more dangerous.

A High-Risk Operation

The couple’s joy was short-lived. Unfortunately, the pain and discomfort persisted and soon after, she was hospitalized.

She ended up at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. It was then that the medical team discovered a fetus that was close to be fully-developed in an amniotic sack lodged against her pelvis.

Dr. John Ozimek, medical director of labor and delivery at Cedars-Sinai, said, “It did not look like it was directly invading any organs.

It looked like it was mostly implanted on the sidewall of the pelvis, which is also very dangerous but more manageable than being implanted in the liver.”

There is a term for this type of pregnancy in which a fetus develops outside of the womb, “ectopic pregnancy.”

Almost every case of ectopic pregnancy leads to rupture of hemorrhage. Fetal mortality in these cases is almost as high as 90%.

Not to mention, the babies that survive ectopic pregnancy are more likely to have birth defects. This happens in about 1 out of 5 surviving babies from ectopic pregnancy.

Ryu must have picked the perfect place to grow. Due to the fact that he implanted against the pelvic wall and not against the liver, Lopez did not have more pain earlier on in the pregnancy.

Then it was time to remove the cyst as well as deliver the baby in a dangerous operation while Lopez was under full anesthesia.

Lopez lost half of her blood during the procedure and had to receive continuous transfusions. At the time of his delivery, Ryu weighed 8 pounds.

Family Life

What followed the surgery was a period of recovery, relief, and overwhelming gratitude. The family emerged changed, but together.

A Miracle at Home

Suze Lopez, her husband Andrew Lopez, and their 18-year-old daughter Kaila were all over the moon with the newest addition to their family.

Andrew Lopez commented on the terror-inducing procedure that gave him a son but almost cost the life of his wife, “The whole time, I might have seemed calm on the outside, but I was doing nothing but praying on the inside.

It was just something that scared me half to death, knowing that at any point I could lose my wife or my child.”

Luckily, mom and baby recovered well. Dr. Ozimek said of the miracle delivery, “It was really, really remarkable.”

Ryu was named after a baseball player and a character in the Street Fighter video games and is healthy and thriving.

Suze Lopez said, “I do believe in miracles. God gave us this gift—the best gift ever.”

The family celebrated Ryu’s first Christmas this past December and could not be happier.