Baby Lynlee 'born twice' after surgery

  • 25/10/2016
(Margaret Hawkins Boemer / Facebook)
(Margaret Hawkins Boemer / Facebook)

A baby girl in the US has been "born twice" after being taken out of her mother's womb for surgery, and then returned in time for the birth.

Surgeons removed Lynlee Boemer from the womb for a 20-minute life-saving surgery.

She was then put back in her mother's uterus and born via Caesarean twelve weeks later, and her mother says it's a miracle to see her child alive.

At 16 weeks' pregnant, Margaret Hawkins Boemer discovered her daughter had a tumour on her spine, which was diverting blood from the foetus - raising the risk of fatal heart failure.

Baby Lynlee weighed just 1lb 3oz (0.53kg) when surgeons opened the womb, her mother had been expecting twins but lost one of her babies before the second trimester.

She had been advised to terminate her pregnancy entirely, before doctors at Texas Children's Fetal Center suggested the risky surgery.

The tumour and the unborn baby were almost the same size by the time the operation was performed, and Lynlee was given a 50% chance of survival.

"It was a choice of allowing the tumour to take over her body or giving her a chance at life… It was an easy decision for us: We wanted to give her life," Mrs Boemer told CNN.

Baby Lynlee 'born twice' after surgery

Mrs Boemer wants the story of her baby to give hope to others (Margaret Hawkins Boemer / Facebook)

Lynlee's heart virtually stopped during the procedure, but a heart specialist kept her alive while most of the tumour was removed, she was then placed back in her mother's womb and sewed her uterus up.

Mrs Boemer spent the next 12 weeks on bedrest, and Lynlee was born via Caesarean on June 6, weighing 5Ib, 5oz.

When baby Lynlee was eight days old, another operation removed the rest of the tumour from her tailbone.

Newshub.