Note: we are republishing this story, which originally made the news in June 2012.<\/p>\n
A routine ultrasound led to a startling discovery no mother wants or expects.<\/p>\n
Tammy Gonzalez, of Miami, Florida, was undergoing the routine procedure when doctors reportedly spotted what appeared to be a giant bubble being blown just above the baby\u2019s mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that on me or the baby?\u201d Gonzalez asked the doctor.<\/p>\n
After further inspection, the doctors realized the amorphous bubble was something called a teratoma. Teratomas are extremely rare and usually fatal tumors that affect roughly 1 in every 100,000 births, Diply notes. Gonzalez\u2019s doctors reportedly recommended she terminate the pregnancy lest she face a potential miscarriage.<\/p>\n
But Gonzalez refused, insisting that something could be done to save her baby.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey told me that type of tumor can grow so fast,\u201d Gonzalez told ABC News. \u201cI said, \u2018There must be something we can do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Fortunately, she came across something called endoscopic surgery, a procedure that had never been previously attempted. Her response when faced with that risky procedure was simply, \u201cLet\u2019s do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Ruben Quintero, director of the Fetal Therapy Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, performed the surgery for the first time. He snaked a tiny camera and surgical tools through a quarter-inch incision in Gonzalez\u2019s abdomen and into the amniotic sac.<\/p>\n
Gonzalez was awake during the entire procedure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t feel the incision because of the local anesthetic, but I could feel the tube going into the sac,\u201d she said. \u201cIt felt like a popping balloon.\u201d<\/p>\n
The camera reportedly allowed Quintero to view the tumor in close-up and estimate the risk of cutting it off.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a decisive moment,\u201d the doctor said. \u201cWe went ahead and cut the stem, and sure enough the tumor fell right out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gonzalez said she was relieved as she watched the tumor glide away from her baby\u2019s face on the ultrasound.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was amazing,\u201d she added. \u201cIt was like a 500-ton weight lifted off of me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tumor was too big to remove through the amniotic cell sac, so it remained floating in the womb until the actual birth four months later. By that time it had shrunk significantly.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s perfectly fine,\u201d Gonzalez said of her daughter Leyna. \u201cShe has a tiny scar on the roof of her mouth. She talks, she drinks. She is my little miracle child.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Note: we are republishing this story, which originally made the news in June 2012. A routine ultrasound led to a startling discovery no mother wants or expects…. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n