Expectant mothers sometimes have special needs during pregnancy. Specialists at Le Bonheur Children's Fetal Center provide maternal fetal health services for high-risk pregnancy patients. The Fetal Center is the only center of its kind in the area that offers a complete range of services from prenatal diagnosis through fetal interventions.

As one of less than 30 centers in the country focused entirely on babies diagnosed in utero with a congenital anomaly, the Fetal Center has helped more than 600 families since opening in 2009.

Your medical team at the Fetal Center includes board certified maternal fetal medicine specialists and pediatric physicians, counselors, parent mentors, lactation consultants and a program director that will help you navigate the planning for your delivery and your baby’s care after birth. The team will help you understand your baby’s condition at every stage and will partner with your family and primary obstetrician to choose the best courses of treatment - both before and after your child’s birth.

Fetal Center patients most commonly come for:

• Congenital heart defects
• Hydrocephalus
• Down syndrome
• Spina bifida and neural tube defects
• Conjoined twins
• Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome
• Fetal oral cyst
• Diaphragmatic hernia
• Gastroschisis

Every Fetal Center case is discussed weekly among a group of pediatric experts and a course of treatment is planned by the entire Fetal Center team. Each year, the Le Bonheur Fetal Center team hosts the national Fetal and Neonatal Imaging Conference, pairing OB/GYN and fetal communities from across the country to improve outcomes for all fetal center patients and families.