Teacher, 25, shamed by friends after throwing a baby shower for her 4.7kilo ovarian cyst

A pre-school teacher who ‘threw a baby shower’ for her 4.7kilo ovarian cyst claims her friends and family were horrified by the cheeky event.

Raquel Rodriguez, 25, explained the cyst had grown so large many people, including close friends and family, assumed she was pregnant.

So before she had it removed she took the time to throw a party and even scheduled a maternity shoot.

Raquel explained she had been ‘pregnant’ with her cyst for five years. 

It was discovered after she went to the doctor with bloating and stomach pain. 

Scans revealed she had an 8cm cyst — or fluid-filled sac — on her ovary about the size of a softball, but doctors said it did not need to be removed.

However, it kept growing and eventually became so large that the pre-school teacher appeared to be ‘pregnant’. Friends even started asking her why she hadn’t told them she was ‘expecting’.

Despite being in pain and begging doctors to take it out, Raquel managed to take her health problems in good humour having a ‘maternity shoot’ for her bump.

The 25-year-old went to see doctors five years ago about stomach pain and bloating but couldn’t get the cyst removed – so had a ‘maternity shoot’ instead

And before having a two-hour operation to remove the cyst in July, Raquel had a party to celebrate the ‘birth’ of the cyst – which she nicknamed ‘Cystiana’.

Posting a clip to TikTok, Raquel, from Minnesota, showed her banners, cupcakes and typical baby shower games.

At first glance, photos from the party look like a typical baby shower – but no one attending was pregnant.  

‘My friends [are] telling me it’s wrong to keep sending out baby shower invites for my ovarian cyst,’ she wrote.

 ‘Okay, well, that’s you,’ she told her friends. 

The cyst kept growing and eventually became so large that the pre-school teacher appeared to be ‘pregnant’. She is pictured doing a ‘maternity shoot’ 

‘But on the other hand, me? I’m gonna turn up.’

Her videos quickly racked up thousands of views, with many joking about her ‘pregnancy’.

‘Is it a boy or a girl? It’s an ovarian cyst!’ one follower wrote.

Others said she must get judged in bars for ‘drinking while pregnant’ while another woman explained that she had a 35 pound (16kg) cyst which she used for good parking spots. 

‘Who the hell doesn’t think this is hilarious?’ added another.

Raquel is pictured above after the surgery to remove the ovarian cyst. Four weeks later she says she is doing well 

‘I think it’s a healthy hilarious way to know you’re about to go under the knife to have it removed. Team sport to me,’ wrote one.

‘This is hella hilarious and good for you for finding humour in this situation!’ commented one TikTok user.

While another even said they were ‘mad they didn’t think of it themselves’ before surgery.

Revealing the tale on TikTok, Rachel said the tumour grew to 28cm across — the top size for ovarian cysts.

She said during the operation her right ovary and Fallopian tube — where the cyst was — had to be removed, but that her left ones are still in tact. 

It was not clear what sparked the cyst, but Raquel said it may have been due to a urinary tract infection and sepsis that she suffered in 2017.

Ovarian cysts are when a fluid-filled sac forms on the side of the ovaries often during ovulation, when an egg is released.

They can also be triggered by infections in the pelvic area, hormonal problems and endometriosis — when tissue that normally lines the uterus grows outside it.

Doctors say ovarian cysts overall are ‘very common’, and normally disappear without causing any symptoms.

But some types — such as the mucinous cyst that Raquel had — do not disappear and may grow larger if they are not removed.

Symptoms of the condition include bloating, swelling and pain in the lower abdomen. In cases where they rupture they can also cause severe pain.

Most women diagnosed with the cysts are offered pain medication and prescribe hormonal pills to help regulate ovulation.

But those with more serious forms of the condition will be offered surgery to remove them. 

Describing when she was turned down for surgery by doctors, Raquel said she explained to a male medic she was in ‘excruciating pain’.

She added: ‘He happened to be male and he told me that the pain I was having was probably due to my partner being ‘too big’ and I should have ‘shallower sex’.

Other medics told her that the pain was likely down to cramps or bloating, and was nothing to worry about.

Raquel said even when the cyst was spotted doctors were not overly concerned, and sent her home.

Dr Taraneh Shirazian, the director of the Fibroid Care center at NYU Langone Health in New York City, told TODAY they should have operated when they found the cyst.

‘Mucinous cysts don’t resolve themselves like common cysts which typically come and go with a woman’s menstrual cycle,’ she said.

Raquel, 25 and from Minnesota, went to see doctors five years ago about the problem and to say she was also facing sudden bouts of pain. She is pictured (left) before surgery and (right) after surgery

The ovarian cyst eventually grew to be 28cm across and hold as much as a gallon of fluid, equivalent to seven Gatorade bottles

‘They either just hang out on the ovary and stay the same size or they can grow — and they grow quite rapidly.’

Shirazian said doctors should become worried about them when they are larger than 5cm, but when Raquel was diagnosed it was already 8cm.

Raquel said she normally has an ‘athletic’ build and is quite ‘petite’. 

But around her 24th birthday — after they had been turned away by doctors — family members noticed she was beginning to appear more bloated.

Describing when the cyst became quite large, she told TODAY: ‘I looked and felt pregnant.

‘I had shortness of breath and was bloated and peeing all the time. People were asking me, ‘when are you due?’ I had friends saying, ‘I didn’t know you were pregnant! Why didn’t you tell me?’.’

 I laugh now, but it’s not really funny,’ she said. ‘My hair was falling out, I was in a ton of pain and I was losing weight without trying.’

Raquel had the tumour removed during a two-hour procedure in Minnesota, and was discharged a week later. The next day she went grocery shopping