Lynlee shortly after she was born for a second time (Picture: Margaret Boemer)

A baby can lay claim to two birthdays after she was born twice.

Lynlee Boemer was taken out of the womb 12 weeks before she was born ‘properly’ for a life-saving operation when doctors found a tumour in her tailbone.

Her mother, Margaret Boemer, was told that Lynlee would need treatment during her routine ultrasound, 16 weeks into her pregnancy.

They removed Lynlee, who weighed just 1lb 3oz, for 20 minutes during a five-hour operation before putting her back and sewing up Mrs Boemer’s uterus.


Her heart was slowed right down and she was kept alive by a specialist while doctors removed the growth.



Twelve weeks later, almost at full term, Lynlee Hope was born through a caesarean section weighing 5lb 5oz.

She was sewn back in for another 12 weeks before being born via c-section (Picture: Margaret Boemer)

At eight days old she needed another operation to remove small bits of tumour that were left over and that had started growing. But several weeks on, Lynlee has been allowed to go home.

Mrs Boemer, from Plano, Texas, said: ‘They saw something on the scan, and the doctor came in and told us that there was something seriously wrong with our baby and that she had a sacrococcygeal teratoma.

‘And it was very shocking and scary, because we didn’t know what that long word meant or what diagnosis that would bring.’

Dr Darrell Cass explained that the teratoma is the most common tumour found in newborns, but even then it is still ‘pretty rare’, affecting one in 30-70,000 births.

Because the foetus and tumour were ‘competing’ for blood, the decision was made to operate on Lynlee before she was born.

Doctors said the tumours are pretty rare (Picture: Margaret Boemer)

The scan that revealed the tumour at 16 weeks (Picture: Margaret Boemer)

Dr Cass told CNN: ‘In some instances, the tumour wins and the heart just can’t keep up and the heart goes into failure and the baby dies.’

Another option had been for Mrs Boemer to terminate the pregnancy, but Lynlee had a twin who had not made it, so she was reluctant.

‘LynLee didn’t have much of a chance. At 23 weeks, the tumour was shutting her heart down and causing her to go into cardiac failure, so 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.’

Dr Cass added: ‘It’s kind of a miracle you’re able to open the uterus like that and seal it all back and the whole thing works.’

(Picture: Margaret Boemer)