Learning your unborn baby will be born with a medical condition can be devastating. Families are faced with uncertainty and an endless list of questions about the future of the unborn baby.
The Fetal Care Center at Nicklaus Children’s is devoted to the care of infants prediagnosed with medical needs in utero that will require intervention at birth. 

The team well understands the concerns of families anticipating an infant with a complex diagnosis. The Nicklaus Children's network of pediatric subspecialists collaborate with prenatal care providers in the community and beyond to provide families comprehensive, coordinated care and support from prenatal testing to delivery, postnatal care and the transition to infant care.
 

The Fetal Care Center's Special Delivery Unit for High Risk Infants

The Fetal Care Center's Special Delivery Unit, which opened its doors in June of 2019, is a dedicated 10-bed high risk infant special delivery unit for healthy mothers whose infants will require immediate access to pediatric intensive and critical care after birth. The program eliminates the need to transfer the infant after birth, creating  better outcomes for the infant while keeping families together in the same hospital.

The special delivery unit is comprised of:

• Two high-technology operating rooms (one equipped for fetal surgery)
• Five labor and delivery rooms
• Five antepartum rooms

 

Initial Consultation and Scheduling

The Fetal Care Center's nurse navigators, available 24 hours a day,  are committed to optimizing care access and convenience for expectant families. The navigator is the first contact for families and offer support through every step of the journey. The goal is to support families in obtaining a definitive plan of care, definitive diagnosis and counseling plan. Subspecialist and diagnostic appointments can be coordinated for a single visit,  when possible. The appointment with the Fetal Care Center may include:

• Comprehensive Fetal Diagnostic Testing
• Prenatal counseling and counsultations with our world-class pediatric specialists
• Genetic consultation
• Diagnosis-specific subspecialty consultations

Subspecialty Consultations for the Treatment of:

• Abdominal wall defects
• Brain abnormalities
• Congenital diaphragmatic hernia
• Congenital hand malformations
• Congenital heart defects
• Congenital hip disorders
• Congenital lung malformation
• Craniofacial deformities
• Down syndrome
• Inborn errors of metabolism
• Limb length inequalities and deformities
• Metabolic disorders
• Neurogenetic disorders
• Zika

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Service Locations

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