Colombian woman gives birth to baby with twin growing inside her

Rare case prompted surgery for infant

Colombian woman gives birth to baby with twin growing inside her

Rare case prompted surgery for infant

In February, a Colombian woman gave birth to a baby whose twin was growing inside of her abdomen. The newborn girl had a half-formed fetus without a heart or brain inside her belly: An example of a rare, but not unprecedented, type of birth known as fetus-in-fetu which is thought to occur in about one in every 500,000 births, reports The New York Times.Originally, doctors thought that the fetus had a cyst on her liver. But that changed when the mother, Monica Vega, visited Dr. Miguel Parra-Saavedra, a high-risk pregnancy specialist in Baranquilla, Columbia. Parra-Saavedra was able to see that was believed to be a cyst was actually a tiny infant who was "supported by a separate umbilical cord drawing blood where it connected to the larger twin’s intestine," per The New York Times. The connection through the umbilical chord is why the smaller fetus is frequently known as a parasitic twin, according to The Times. This was discovered at 35 weeks' gestation, five weeks before full-term birth, which sets this fetus-in-fetu case apart from others that have occurred over the past few years, such as those in India and Indonesia. Two weeks later at 37 weeks gestation, Vega gave birth via cesarean section to a 7-pound baby girl named Itzamara. One day later, the newborn underwent laparoscopic surgery to remove the fetal twin, who measured at about 2 inches long, Parra-Saavedra told The New York Times. Both mom and baby girl are doing well.

In February, a Colombian woman gave birth to a baby whose twin was growing inside of her abdomen.

The newborn girl had a half-formed fetus without a heart or brain inside her belly: An example of a rare, but not unprecedented, type of birth known as fetus-in-fetu which is thought to occur in about one in every 500,000 births, reports .

Originally, doctors thought that the fetus had a cyst on her liver. But that changed when the mother, Monica Vega, visited Dr. Miguel Parra-Saavedra, a high-risk pregnancy specialist in Baranquilla, Columbia. Parra-Saavedra was able to see that was believed to be a cyst was actually a tiny infant who was "supported by a separate umbilical cord drawing blood where it connected to the larger twin’s intestine," per . The connection through the umbilical chord is why the smaller fetus is frequently known as a parasitic twin, according to The Times.

Dr. Miguel Parra-Saavedra

The twin fetus.

This was discovered at 35 weeks' gestation, five weeks before full-term birth, which sets this fetus-in-fetu case apart from others that have occurred over the past few years, such as those in and .

Two weeks later at 37 weeks gestation, Vega gave birth via cesarean section to a 7-pound baby girl named Itzamara. One day later, the newborn underwent laparoscopic surgery to remove the fetal twin, who measured at about 2 inches long, Parra-Saavedra told .

Both mom and baby girl are doing well.

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