Dr. Kristin Coppage Explains Ectopic Pregnancy
Kristin Coppage MD, a perinatologist at the Good Samaritan Hospital Seton Center for Advanced Obstetrics, discusses how she and her team saved a local baby boy, Kaydein Smith, who was born weighing less than two pounds.
Mary Smith came into the Seton Center about six weeks ago for testing and was surprised to learn she needed an operation to deliver her baby. “We noticed some active bleeding around the area of the placenta and recommended that she be delivered,” Dr. Coppage tells Local 12’s Liz Bonis.
The Diagnosis: Ectopic Pregnancy
Once inside the operating room, Dr. Smith and her team discovered that Mary’s baby was not developing in the uterus like a standard, healthy pregnancy. “I can’t believe I carried him in my ovaries 30 weeks and four days,” Mary reflects.
Mary had an abdominal pregnancy, which is a form of an ectopic pregnancy.
“Abdominal pregnancies are extremely difficult to diagnose,” Dr. Coppage points out. “Ectopic pregnancies are pregnancies outside of the uterus [and] account for about 1 to 2 percent of pregnancies. Abdominal pregnancies are only 1 percent of that one to 2 percent, so extremely rare.”
Kaydein was delivered at one pound, ten ounces. Mary credits her care team at Good Samaritan Hospital for saving Kaydein’s life. “He came out fine, nothing wrong at all,” Mary gushes. Six weeks later, he now weighs three pounds, one ounce.
“Approximately 20 percent of moms die from abdominal pregnancies world-wide,” Dr. Coppage points out. “There’s approximately a 90-fold increase in fetal death, so to survive – for both the mom and the fetus – is truly a miracle.”