Aleks Patete and her husband were on cloud nine when they found out they were going to have a baby.
But that excitement quickly turned into fear and uncertainty when doctors discovered a cyst on her ovary - and it was cancerous.
"I was scared to death," Patete said. "I cried about it all the time. I had no idea what was going to happen with him."
Patete went through the options with her doctor, ranging from holding off on treatment until after the baby was born, to terminating the pregnancy and doing aggressive chemo and surgery.
"I just knew deep down that there was no way we would have even known if it weren't for the pregnancy, so how am I going to terminate this baby where he's the reason I found the cancer? He basically saved my life, so I couldn't ever think about doing that to him. He's my little miracle baby."
So Patete and her unborn child fought the cancer together. She went through a low dose chemo regimen with regular ultrasounds to make sure the baby was doing well.
"So we really varied from what would be our normal way of treating something like this to maximize the chances for the baby without compromising her," said University Hospitals OBGYN Dr. Angelina Gangestad.
"I don't know if it was the grace of God or just everyone's prayers, but it was actually, the course went pretty well," Patete said.
In April, Dominic the Third came into the world at eight pounds, seven ounces. He was a perfectly healthy and happy baby boy.
As for mom? She had a second surgery after the delivery, is now done with chemo and officially in remission.
"Enjoy every minute I have with him, because now I definitely realize how life can change so quickly and you don't know what tomorrow brings so just trying to enjoy my time with him now."
Now that she has Dominic, Patete says she wants "a million more."
