Labor and Delivery Unit for High-Risk Pregnancy

Most parents have pictured how they want their child’s birth to go. Receiving a prenatal (before birth) diagnosis can change plans drastically but the fetal care experts in our Labor and Delivery Unit will help your family create a new, beautiful picture.

About the Labor and Delivery Unit at the Colorado Fetal Care Center

As one of the few children’s hospitals in the country with an in-house labor and delivery unit, the Colorado Fetal Care Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado offers everything a family with a high-risk pregnancy needs. Having our labor and delivery unit just steps away from our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) allows babies and parents to recover under the same roof and spend more time bonding during the first days of life.

We work with your family and your referring doctor to create the best birth plan for you. If you meet the necessary medical criteria and we think it’s best for you to deliver your baby here, we’ll transfer your care to our center. We may also be able to treat your baby before birth so you can deliver your baby closer to home. If it’s safest for you to deliver your baby at an adult hospital, we’ll ensure a smooth transition. No matter what, we’ll always help you make the best choice for you and your baby’s health.

Why come to the Colorado Fetal Care Center for your high-risk pregnancy delivery

Everything we do is focused on you and your baby’s health — giving you and your family the best experience possible is part of that. If your baby has a prenatal diagnosis, your pregnancy and delivery are probably different than you expected. But here, our experts help us provide the best medical care for even the most unexpected situations. We care for families like yours every day and have more experience with high-risk labor and delivery than almost any other fetal care center in the country.

We offer 24/7 care from our obstetricians, anesthesiologists, neonatologists or other pediatric specialists. No matter when you go into labor or need medical attention, you and your baby will have the very best care, right away. If your baby needs care immediately after birth, they will go just steps away to our Level IV NICU or Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU). Staying so close allows you and your baby to bond and recover together, which isn’t always possible in other hospitals. Our Center was designed with this in mind.

While always doing what is best for you and your baby’s safety, we also work hard to give you the best possible delivery experience. For some conditions, a cesarean section (C-section) delivery is medically necessary. We also have a great process and success rate for families who can and want to pursue a vaginal delivery.

Our anesthesia and pain management team has also developed an innovative program to reduce the use of opiates during and after delivery. More than a third of parents who deliver via C-section in our Center never use narcotics for pain management after delivery. Those who do use 80% less than parents who use standard pain management options.

Before, during and after your delivery, we work with you and your baby’s primary doctor to coordinate care and make your transition home as smooth as possible. We not only help your family have a safe birth, but a healthy start to life.

Who we treat in our Labor and Delivery Unit

We care for families who have a prenatal diagnosis that requires a higher level of care before, during or after birth. Our labor and delivery experts also help families deliver babies when the hospital closest to their home doesn’t have the capabilities to care for babies with complex fetal conditions.

We help deliver babies with virtually any fetal condition. Learn more about the conditions we treat.

What to expect for your labor and delivery

If your doctor feels you need advanced care for labor and delivery, they may refer you to our Colorado Fetal Care Center. Here, we’ll create a care plan specifically for you and your baby, which will begin before birth and can extend into your child’s early years, teen years and even young adulthood.

Our labor and delivery care includes:

• An initial evaluation of you and your baby by our fetal care experts
• A meeting with the full team that will be involved in you and your baby’s care
• Depending on your baby’s condition, staying in our Center before birth so we can monitor and care for you and your baby
• Surgery before or after birth, if necessary
• A planning meeting in your third trimester to discuss the care you and your baby will need during and after delivery
• A complete team of specialists ready for your delivery day including obstetricians, anesthesiologists, maternal fetal medicine doctors, labor and delivery nurses and others
• Neonatologists, heart specialists, pediatric surgeons and other specialists ready to care for your baby at birth
• Care coordinators, social workers, spiritual care specialists and more to make your delivery special and help you transition between care
• Communication with your primary doctor throughout your care
• A smooth transfer to UCHealth across the street if you have medical conditions that require you to deliver at an adult hospital

After delivery, your baby will get the immediate care they need and our team will communicate with you every step of the way. You’ll be able to recover just steps from each other and our team will help you create those bonding and memory-making experiences that are so important. When it’s time for your baby to go home, our providers will help make the transition as easy as possible.

Learn more about what to expect during labor and delivery

Contact the Labor and Delivery Unit

If you’re a provider who would like to refer a patient to us for labor and delivery care, please call us at 720-777-4463 or fax us at 720-777-7960.