Colorado Fetal Care Center

Comprehensive maternal and fetal care

At the Colorado Fetal Care Center, we care for moms and babies, before birth and beyond. That means we're able to provide comprehensive, world-class testing, diagnosis, treatment and care for unborn babies and moms-to-be.

We believe you and your baby deserve the best possible care as you navigate your high-risk pregnancy. That's why we're pioneering procedures and offering personalized treatments for every family entrusted to our care.

In fact, we're one of the few centers participating in a groundbreaking consortium where we're leading the way in finding solutions for patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a complex heart defect.

The Colorado Fetal Care Center also earned the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology's (SOAP) Center of Excellence designation. This is awarded to institutions that demonstrate excellence and safety in obstetric anesthesiology in their current practice, ongoing improvement and education.

A multidisciplinary approach to diagnosing and treating fetal conditions

Families from around the country, and even the world, seek our expertise in congenital (present at birth) conditions and fetal anomalies. We offer the most thorough, state-of-the-art testing and counseling available – and we do it in one day, in one location. This ensures that moms and babies receive the most advanced care before, during and after birth.

Clinical collaboration from day one

Our family-centered fetal care center makes difficult diagnoses and complicated pregnancies easier on mom, baby and the whole family.

You'll meet with every provider on your care team on day one, so they'll know all the details of your case. And this same team will be with you every step of the way.

Your first appointment at the Colorado Fetal Care Center will include a visit with your entire team of fetal specialists, which may include:

• Fetal surgeons, including maternal fetal medicine specialists and pediatric surgeons
• Fetal cardiologists
• Neonatologists
• Psychologists
• Genetics experts
• Fetal radiologists
• Maternal and fetal anesthesiologists

By involving every provider who may be involved in your baby's care from the very start, we build a close relationship with your family. We hold your hand through tests and treatments, and surround you with the same faces every day, so that things seem a little less scary.

We work in tandem with your primary doctor. Throughout your pregnancy, we'll regularly communicate with them, share test results and our recommendations, to ensure everyone is on the same page.

From your very first visit to the Colorado Fetal Care Center, we aim to:

• Provide you with a complete picture of what your baby's care will look like, so you know what to expect
• Help you better understand your baby's diagnosis and provide effective tools to help you in the decision-making process, so you can make informed decisions that are best for you and your baby
• Give you peace of mind by answering all your questions
• Give you the emotional support, tools and resources to navigate a difficult diagnosis

Learn what you can expect before, during and after you visit our fetal care center.

A fetal care center designed for mom and baby

We know you're eager to meet and bond with your new baby, which is why we've centralized the care you receive before, during and after birth.

Our space is designed so that babies with complex needs can receive immediate care at birth and moms can stay close to their babies during this stressful time. Our fetal care center has dedicated rooms for:

• Labor and delivery
• Recovery after birth
• Infant stabilization
• Triage, ultrasound and fetal echocardiograms
• Fetal surgery
• C-sections

Our Maternal Fetal Care Unit and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) are right down the hall from each other, and the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) is just a floor away. This means you can visit your newborn and play an active role in their care and recovery while you both rest.

And if your baby is transferred here from another hospital after delivery, you can be transported as well to recover in our maternal unit, just steps away from your child.

Fetal conditions we treat

As one of the few centers in the country offering a complete array of treatment for the complex needs of infants and expectant mothers, we care for the highest-risk babies.

Physicians all over the country refer their patients with the most complex fetal diagnoses to our Center. This means our team manages and treats higher volumes of these rare conditions — and higher volumes result in better experience.

With some of the best outcomes in the nation, we treat the breadth of fetal conditions, including:

Fetal interventions and procedures

Our team members are skilled in a full range of procedures to address fetal anomalies, including:

• Fetoscopic laser surgery for TTTS
• EXIT procedures
• Radio frequency ablation
• Fetal shunt placement
• Fetoscopic endoluminal tracheal occlusion (FETO)
• Open fetal surgery
• Ultrasound-guided procedures
• Fetal diagnostic techniques
• Subspecialty prenatal counseling

Why choose the Colorado Fetal Care Center to manage my high-risk pregnancy?

At the Colorado Fetal Care Center, we offer unmatched care for moms and babies — from common conditions to the very rare.

But infants' needs don't end at delivery. Babies grow, and as they do, we seamlessly integrate ongoing treatment with top-ranked pediatric subspecialty care for any condition. And all of these top programs and specialists your child may need are under the same roof, right here at Children's Colorado.

We make the transition to our Level IV NICU or CICU, specialty care and home as seamless as possible, and support your family every step of the way.

Learn more about NICU levels and what they mean for your baby's care.

A team of experts committed to your child's future

From your first visit to delivery, from treatment to follow-up care, we provide everything moms and babies need.

If you're referred to our fetal care center, you can rest assured that you and your baby are in the best of hands. Moms and doctors alike choose us for our unparalleled capabilities, positive outcomes and experience in treating these rare fetal conditions. Other reasons they choose us include:

• Unparalleled capabilities: We offer virtually every fetal treatment available and have the expertise to treat nearly any fetal condition that might affect your unborn child.
• We're always on-call: Our 24/7 care model means our onsite maternal fetal medicine providers are always prepared to perform the fetal surgery or laser procedure your baby needs.
• Optimizing unborn babies' health and delivery: Our Fetal Cardiology Program, fully integrated with the nationally ranked Heart Institute at Children's Colorado, prenatally diagnoses more than half of our neonates who have congenital heart defects and disease (CHD).
• We keep families close: Children's Colorado is one of only a few freestanding children's hospitals in the nation with a dedicated labor and delivery unit, so mom and baby can stay together.
• State-of-the-art imaging: With some of the most advanced fetal MRI capabilities in the country, we provide you with the full picture of your baby's condition. Our team improves outcomes by assessing for potential brain abnormalities with fetal MRIs before considering treatment options.
• Comprehensive genetic screening and testing: From carrier screens to diagnostic tests like amniocentesis, we offer the complete range of prenatal genetic screening and testing to help parents understand and plan for inheritable conditions.
• Advancing the field of maternal fetal medicine: Through our ongoing research, we're innovating fetal interventions and offering the most advanced fetal treatments.