North Texas woman delivers miracle baby after a robotic-assisted surgery
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A robotic-assisted surgery being done in North Texas helped a Mesquite woman bring her "miracle" baby into the world.
Dr. Quanita Crable, the Texas Health OBGYN who performed the procedure, says it could help other patients deal with uterine fibroids, which are the most common noncancerous tumors found in women of childbearing age, according to the CDC.
"About 70 to 80% of women have fibroids," said Dr. Crable. "And they're more common in African American women."
Ashley Burnett, now 37-years-old, found out she had uterine fibroids when she was 20.
"I was experiencing pain, crippling pain, to where I had to go into the emergency room, and that's when I discovered that I had fibroids," Burnett said.
She went through two procedures after her diagnosis: a myomectomy and a fibroid radiofrequency ablation, a procedure that uses heat to target fibroids one by one, reducing their size significantly.
In December 2020, Burnett and her husband found out they were expecting a baby boy.
Unfortunately, her fibroids had returned.
"It's difficult for a fibroid and a baby to share the same space," Dr. Crable said. "That can cause a lot of miscarriages, early pregnancy loss. That can cause difficulty getting pregnant in the first place."
The fibroids likely caused Burnett to go into early labor at 22 weeks.
"To deliver a baby, to hear them cry, and to have to say goodbye to them four hours after is pretty difficult," Burnett said.
Even though their son Silas died, they still wanted to grow their family.
"I couldn't do anything about losing him at that point, but I wanted to make sure that going forward, I made the right decision for body next," she said.
That's when Burnett turned to Dr. Crable, who performs myomectomies using the robotic-assisted da Vinci Surgical System.
"It is a very technically difficult surgery to do, but why is it important?" Dr. Crable said. "Because it gives the woman the opportunity to continue with her life."
The minimally invasive surgery has a quicker recovery time than traditional methods, and it helps preserve uterine function.
"I've seen a lot of women who are hopeless, crying in my office because they lost a baby or haven't been able to become pregnant," said Dr. Crable. "Just the fact that I'm able to give them a little bit of hope, or a lot of hope, it's a feeling you can't even describe."
Seven months after Burnett had the procedure, she got pregnant again.
"I was so nervous," she said. "I was scared. I was terrified. I was terrified the whole pregnancy."
Burnett gave birth to baby girl Scarlett in September of 2022.
"Now she's 19-weeks-old and I'm holding this miracle that's in my hand, this blessing," Burnett said. "Something I never thought I'd get."
She and Dr. Crable want women with uterine fibroids to know they're not alone. An estimated 26 million girls and women between the ages of 15 and 50 have uterine fibroids in the United States.
"There are so many women out there with Ashley's story, and I just want this to be in the forefront because I don't think people really realize how many women suffer with this or lose a baby with this," Dr. Crable said.
Dr. Crable says many patients with fibroids come to her after being told a hysterectomy is their only option. She encourages women to advocate for themselves and to always get a second opinion.
"26 fibroids later and one fallopian tube gone, I still conceived," Burnett said. "So don't give up."