The Baby Who Was “Born Twice”

At 23 weeks of pregnancy, Lynlee Hope Boemer was partially brought out of her mother’s womb — not to be born, but to undergo surgery that might save her life.

Doctors had discovered a massive sacrococcygeal teratoma growing from her tailbone. The tumor was nearly as large as the baby herself and was diverting so much blood that her tiny heart was beginning to fail. Waiting until birth could have been fatal.

Specialists at Texas Children’s Hospital decided on an extraordinary operation. Surgeons opened Margaret Boemer’s uterus and carefully brought Lynlee’s body partially outside while she remained connected to the placenta. She weighed only 1 pound, 3 ounces.

During the five-hour procedure, her heart stopped temporarily. The medical team revived her and removed about 90 percent of the tumor. Then they placed Lynlee back inside her mother’s womb and closed the uterus so she could continue growing.

And she did.

Nearly three months later, at almost 36 weeks, Lynlee was delivered by C-section weighing 5 pounds, 5 ounces. Eight days afterward, surgeons removed the remaining tumor.

Her story quickly became known as the baby who was “born twice.” Of course, the first moment wasn’t technically a birth — it was fetal surgery. But the nickname captured something extraordinary: Lynlee briefly entered the operating room before she was ready to enter the world, then returned to the womb for the rest of her development.

It’s hard to imagine being told that doctors needed to operate on your baby before she was even born, then place her back inside to keep growing.