BABY Born with Her Own Twin Growing Inside Her
Receiving the news that you’re going to be parents is always a cause for joy. However, there are times when things do not go as expected, and what was supposed to be a simple and one of the most beautiful moments of our life becomes a serious problem and a matter of general interest.
Monica and Pedro Vega were a young married couple from Colombia living a quiet life in their small, cozy house on the outskirts of Barranquilla, in one of the best residential neighborhoods in the entire city. The couple met at work as they were both in the real estate business, both being two of the best real estate salesmen in the area.
Their marriage was not long in coming, and just a year after they started dating, the couple tied the knot in a small religious ceremony in which they would swear eternal love to each other in front of their family and close friends. While the couple initially had no immediate plans to start a family, after they had been married for two years, their desire to become parents intensified, and they began trying to conceive their first child.
Unfortunately, every attempt they made for over a year was a failure, causing anxiety and fear of not being able to become parents to begin to take hold of both of them.
“Don’t worry, Monica. Nowadays there are many ways to conceive a child. The first thing we’ll have to do is an examination that will reveal the reason why you’re not able to get pregnant, and then we’ll evaluate which is the most suitable treatment for your case, agreed?” calmly explained the distinguished Dr. Miguel Parra-Saavedra, one of the most renowned doctors in the country in traditional gynecology and in the application and research of fertility treatments.
“We will, Doctor. We know you’re the best, and we could not be in better hands. We’ll do everything you recommend,” Monica told him, trying to keep a positive attitude.
It was not easy, and the road the Vegas had to travel in order to become parents was longer and more complicated than they first thought, as Monica suffered two miscarriages during the first weeks of the pregnancy. With each failure, the couple grew more fatigued and their hopes dwindled, but they never stopped trying until, finally, one summer morning, the good news came.
Monica was pregnant, and for the first time since they had started assisted reproduction treatments, the embryo endured the first weeks of gestation, making it to six months of pregnancy without any complications.
“Are you sure everything is all right, Doctor? We’ve waited so long and have had to suffer so many disappointments that I still can’t believe it. My baby is fine, right?” Monica had become more skeptical than usual over the past few years due to the numerous failures she had accumulated trying to get pregnant. As a result, every visit to the hospital to check on her fetus turned into an interrogation of her doctor to make sure everything was going according to plan.
“Everything is going according to plan, Mrs. Vega. You have nothing to worry about,” her doctor assured her as she looked at the monitor screen on which the baby could be seen in perfect condition—or at least that’s what it looked like at that moment.
Monica was entering the final stage of her pregnancy, with only a couple of months left before meeting her baby. The couple had chosen not to know the baby’s sex until the day of the birth. They wanted it to be a surprise, fully aware that they would be equally delighted regardless of whether it was a boy or a girl.
However, the couple would still have to overcome one more setback before welcoming their first child: a serious problem that no one had counted on, and that even the doctor carrying their pregnancy could not see coming. The fetus had developed a small cyst that was growing along with the baby.
Dr. Miguel Parra first saw the cyst when Monica was 35 weeks pregnant, 5 weeks before full term. The obstetrician believed the fetus had a liver cyst, a rare type of cyst that can be easily removed when the baby is born and poses no risk to the baby’s life. However, that first diagnosis was wrong, and the problem would be much more complicated to treat.
After seeing the lump during a routine ultrasound, the doctor requested more complimentary tests to rule out other types of malformations. Thus, thanks to the color Doppler and 3D/4D ultrasounds performed at the hospital, Dr. Parra-Saavedra was able to see that the fluid-filled space actually contained a tiny baby supported by a separate umbilical cord that drew blood where it connected to the intestine of the older twin.
This is a strange phenomenon referred to by professionals as “fetus in fetu” birth—something very rare to see but not unprecedented. Similar cases had been treated before. This strange gestation phenomenon was first described in a British medical journal in 1808 and is believed to occur in 1 in 500,000 births. In recent years, similar cases have occurred in India, Indonesia, and Singapore. However, this latest case was even more unusual as doctors clearly identified the fetus in fetu during pregnancy rather than after the baby was born.
When the doctor told the couple of his discovery, Mrs. Vega panicked. “What? No, Doctor, this is impossible. You told me everything was fine. How could this happen? And my baby, what’s going to happen to him? Is he going to die? Tell me the truth, Doctor!” Monica could not hold back her tears and burst into tears in the arms of her husband, who was sitting next to her and as confused as she was.
The doctor, who had to deal with similar and even worse situations, knew how to keep calm. After waiting for Mrs. Vega to calm down, he explained to them step by step what was happening and the measures they would take in the coming weeks.
The hospital wanted to document the case and give it the importance it deserved, since it was the first time this type of treatment would be carried out. With the parents’ consent, they notified a local television station who would follow Mrs. Vega from the birth of her baby—a cute girl who would eventually be named Itzamara—until the operation to remove the partially formed twin from her body.
“Everything will be fine, Monica. Your baby is strong, and the fetus that has formed next to her does not have to pose a danger to her life. This type of operation has been done before and it has always been successful, so you don’t need to be afraid. We will take care of you and your baby until the end, I promise you,” the doctor assured Monica a few days before the baby’s birth.
And so it was that after a long wait and days of fear and uncertainty, on February 22nd, when Mrs. Vega was 37 weeks pregnant and the baby weighed about 2 kilos, the doctors decided to perform a cesarean section, as they feared that the internal twin could crush her abdominal organs.
The birth of little Itzamara was a complete success. She was a beautiful brown-eyed, dark-haired baby girl who weighed over 2 kilos and appeared to be in perfect health, despite the tiny fetus that had attached itself to her tiny abdomen.
The day after the girl’s birth, Dr. Parra’s medical team successfully removed the fetal twin laparoscopically. The fetus measured about 5 cm and had a rudimentary head and limbs but lacked a brain and heart.
“It cannot be considered a human fetus since the tissue we removed from the baby was lifeless. It is something totally unprecedented, and we are very happy that everything went well and that both the mother and little Itzamara are in perfect health,” explained the doctor to the media, full of joy and proud of the work that his team had carried out.
The fetus in fetu is sometimes misdiagnosed as a teratoma, a tumor that can contain bone, muscle tissue, and hair.
“At this time, the DNA of the fetus extracted from your daughter is being compared, but we are absolutely certain that the fetuses were identical twins from the same egg. The reality is that you could have been the parents of twins, but something went wrong during the formation of one of the embryos and caused the strange phenomenon that we have all witnessed,” the doctor explained to Mr. and Mrs. Vega in the days following the birth of their daughter and the removal of the fetus that had grown attached to her.
“How is it possible that they could not realize what was happening until the last month of pregnancy?” asked Mr. Pedro Vega, intrigued.
“Actually, that we could see the fetus before your daughter was born is quite unusual. It’s believed that the fetus in fetu condition arises shortly after the 17th day of gestation, when the embryo flattens out like a disc and then folds in on itself to form the elongated fetus. However, this type of condition can go unnoticed even for years. For example, there’s a case in which a 45-year-old English woman living in Cyprus was operated on for what looked like a 10 cm tumor on her ovary. However, when doctors dissected it, the tumor turned out to have a partially formed face with an eye, a tooth, and black hair. The doctors concluded that it was a twin that she had absorbed in her mother’s womb. It is something really rare to see and very difficult to detect, but fortunately, science has come a long way, and we were able to see it quickly to avoid any complications,” the doctor explained to the couple with the intention of reassuring them and settling any doubts they still had.
“Thank you so much for everything you have done for us and our baby, and above all, thank you for your warmth and patience. Not all doctors make it a point to be empathetic and try to connect with their patients. We will always be grateful to you, Doctor. You and your team have saved my little girl’s life. We will be forever in your debt,” Mrs. Vega said to the doctor as she held her little girl in her arms and gave her a broad smile.
Monica was really happy with the way things had turned out, and her face reflected the gratitude and peace she felt at that moment. Both she and her husband felt like the happiest people in the world to have become parents, especially after the anguish and worry of the last few weeks leading up to the birth of their daughter.
Currently, little Itzamara is evolving favorably, and according to the doctors, the girl will not have any type of sequel beyond a small scar on her abdomen that will disappear over the years. Itzamara Vega is now a normal baby, except for the fact that half the world is talking about her. Although that, thankfully, will also pass, and as the years go by, both she and her parents will be able to look back on her arrival in the world feeling grateful for what happened, and not for what could have been.
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