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\nTammy Gonzalez, from Miami, Florida, was undergoing a routine ultrasound when doctors noticed something startling: a giant bubble appearing above her baby\u2019s mouth.<\/p>\n
\nTammy Gonzalez, from Miami, Florida, was undergoing a routine ultrasound when doctors noticed something startling: a giant bubble appearing above her baby\u2019s mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that on me or the baby?\u201d Gonzalez asked, alarmed.<\/p>\n
Upon closer examination, doctors identified the bubble as a teratoma\u2014a rare and typically fatal tumor that affects about 1 in every 100,000 births. The prognosis was grim, and Gonzalez was advised to terminate the pregnancy to avoid a potential miscarriage.<\/p>\n
Refusing to give up, Gonzalez was determined to find a solution to save her baby.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey told me that type of tumor can grow so fast,\u201d Gonzalez recalled to ABC News. \u201cI said, \u2018There must be something we can do.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Gonzalez learned about endoscopic surgery, a procedure that had never been attempted for this condition. With courage and hope, she decided to go ahead with the surgery.<\/p>\n
Dr. Ruben Quintero, director of the Fetal Therapy Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, performed the pioneering surgery. He inserted 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 throughout the 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 described. \u201cIt felt like a popping balloon.\u201d<\/p>\n
The camera allowed Dr. Quintero to examine the tumor closely and assess the risk of removing it.<\/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 was overwhelmed with relief as she watched the tumor detach from her baby\u2019s face on the ultrasound screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was amazing,\u201d she said. \u201cIt felt like a 500-ton weight lifted off of me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tumor, too large to be removed immediately, remained floating in the womb until the birth four months later, by which time it had shrunk significantly.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s perfectly fine,\u201d Gonzalez proudly 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":"
Tammy Gonzalez, from Miami, Florida, was undergoing a routine ultrasound when doctors noticed something startling: a giant bubble appearing above her baby\u2019s mouth. \u201cIs that on me… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18104,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18101\/revisions\/18104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}