For years, Suze Lopez believed her chance to have another child had quietly slipped away.
The Bakersfield, California, nurse had lived with a massive ovarian cyst that kept growing, altering her body and convincing her that pregnancy was no longer possible. After 17 years of praying and trying for a second child, she had made peace with the idea that it simply wasn’t meant to be.
Then a routine test changed everything.
According to a press release from Cedars-Sinai obtained by The Bright Story, Lopez, 41, was preparing for surgery to remove a 22-pound ovarian cyst when a standard preoperative pregnancy test came back positive — delivering what doctors called “the shock of a lifetime.”
“Because of the large ovarian cyst that had been growing for years, it could have been a false positive, even ovarian cancer,” Lopez said. “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, I was actually pregnant.”
A Celebration Interrupted
Just three days after learning the news, Lopez shared the surprise with her husband, Andrew, during a date night at a Los Angeles Dodgers game. But the joy was short-lived. During the trip, she began experiencing abdominal pain, and the couple headed straight to Cedars-Sinai.
When Lopez arrived, her blood pressure was dangerously high. Doctors immediately ordered imaging tests, including an MRI and ultrasound. What they discovered stunned even the most seasoned specialists.
“Suze was pregnant, but her uterus was empty, and a giant benign ovarian cyst weighing more than 20 pounds was taking up so much space,” said Dr. John Ozimek, medical director of labor and delivery at Cedars-Sinai. “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.”
Lopez was diagnosed with an abdominal ectopic pregnancy — an exceptionally rare and dangerous condition in which the fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, often near vital organs and major blood vessels. Survival for both mother and baby is extraordinarily rare.
As the baby grew, Ozimek explained, he pushed the massive cyst forward — masking the pregnancy entirely.
“It makes sense that she just thought the tumor was getting bigger again, not that she could be pregnant,” he said.
A Medical Rarity No One Expected to See
For the specialists called in to help, the case was unlike anything they had encountered.
“It was profound to see this full-term baby sitting behind a very large ovarian tumor, not in the uterus,” said Dr. Michael Manuel, a gynecologic oncologist brought in to help remove the cyst. “In my entire career, I’ve never even heard of one making it this far into the pregnancy.”
The challenge ahead was daunting: deliver the baby safely, manage the placenta and blood vessels attached inside the abdomen, remove the enormous cyst — and save the mother’s life.
“We had to figure out how to deliver the baby with a placenta and its blood vessels attached in the abdomen, remove the very large ovarian mass and do everything we could to save the mom and this child,” Manuel said.
Thirty Experts, One Chance
A team of roughly 30 specialists filled the operating room — maternal-fetal medicine doctors, gynecologic oncologists, anesthesiologists, nurses and surgical technicians — working in a highly coordinated effort.
Manuel first lifted the massive cyst out of the way so Ozimek and his team could quickly deliver the baby and pass him to the NICU staff. Then the focus shifted back to Lopez.
“As soon as the baby was delivered, Lopez started hemorrhaging badly,” said Dr. Michael Sanchez, an anesthesiologist. “We were a specially trained team of obstetric anesthesiologists and well prepared, but it was still intense. I had already powered up a special machine that delivers blood products fast because every second matters. We used 11 units of blood.”
Cedars-Sinai is the only Level IV maternal care hospital in California, a designation that allows it to handle the most complex and high-risk cases.
“The ability to provide this level of highly trained, coordinated and multidisciplinary care for extremely high-risk patients can make a critical difference in the health of both mother and baby, as we saw in this extraordinary case of Suze and Ryu Lopez,” said Dr. Sarah J. Kilpatrick, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
A Baby Who Defied the Odds
Against nearly every expectation, the baby — named Ryu — entered the world weighing 8 pounds, with a full head of hair and remarkably few health problems.
Doctors closely monitored his lungs, unsure whether they had developed properly outside the uterus.
“We were very prepared to handle any lung problems the baby might have. But he came out of anesthesia pretty quickly, and he was feisty,” said neonatologist Dr. Sara Dayanim. “The following day we were able to remove the breathing tube, and over the course of his two weeks with us, Ryu quickly reached all of the important benchmarks for surviving well. He defied all the odds.”
The Angel Who Stayed Close
While Ryu fought his way forward in the NICU, Lopez focused on healing — determined to be by his side. She credits one nurse in particular with helping her through the darkest moments.
“She checked on me so often,” Lopez said of Carmen Chavez, assistant manager of the Maternal-Fetal Care Unit. “She sat in on the consults with doctors to make sure we understood everything I was facing at a difficult time. She even helped us tell my daughter about the pregnancy. I’m a nurse myself, but what Carmen did was above and beyond. It meant everything.”
Chavez said staying close felt essential.
“This was an exceptionally high-risk case, and we had to plan every detail,” she said. “Knowing the complexities of Suze’s situation, knowing the challenges she and her baby were about to face, I wanted to stay close.”
“Our Miracles”
The Lopezes believe Ryu is the answer to years of prayer. They chose “Jesse” as his middle name — meaning “gift from God.”
“He is our gift. And Ryu and Suze are my miracles,” Andrew Lopez said. “They let me in the operating room, and it was tough to watch what she was going through and amazing to see Ryu delivered. So yes, many prayers have been answered.”
For Suze, the experience reshaped everything.
“I appreciate every little thing — everything,” she said. “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.”
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