Our Services

The Fetal and Pregnancy Health Program at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford offers integrated, individualized care to expectant mothers and babies. Our Fetal and Pregnancy Health team uses the most advanced diagnostic and therapeutic options for mothers and fetuses with conditions that range from the routine to the very complex. For high-risk conditions, we use innovative interventions not commonly done elsewhere.

Our team offers maternal-fetal interventions and therapies that include open and fetoscopic in utero spina bifida repair, fetoscopic laser surgery for twin-to-twin transfusion, fetal shunt placements, and fetal blood and platelet transfusions, among many others.

Fetal and Pregnancy Health Program key services

Fetal imaging and diagnostic services. Many of the fetal conditions we specialize in are relatively rare, and the methods used to diagnose them are becoming more and more sophisticated.

Our Stanford Children’s Health teams have vast experience in evaluating some of the most complex cases in the world using the latest technology to examine abnormalities:

• Fetal ultrasound, including level 2, 3-D, and 4-D—we perform 30,000+ each year.
• Fetal echocardiogram—we collaborate with the Fetal Cardiology Program, which performs 3,600+ each year.
• Fetal MRI—we perform more than 200 each year, using specialized techniques to evaluate the fetal brain and body.

Other testing may be done through our Perinatal Diagnostic Centers, including genetic testing via chorionic villus sampling (CVS) and amniocentesis. Once tests have clarified your baby’s diagnosis, you will meet with our Fetal and Pregnancy Health team members. They will make sure you have the information you need to make the best decision for your family.

Multidisciplinary care during pregnancy

Our multidisciplinary Fetal and Pregnancy Health team not only meets with you but also holds regular conferences where the many medical and surgical subspecialists come together to:

• Review your diagnostic test and imaging findings.
• Discuss your individual needs.
• Plan the care for you and your baby based on the most recent research and our leading-edge treatments.

When possible, based on maternal and fetal conditions, we may be able to coordinate ongoing monitoring with an expectant mother’s local medical team in her own community if they choose. In these situations, we will work with your obstetrician or maternal-fetal medicine specialist to arrange ongoing advanced ultrasound imaging and other evaluations at one of our Perinatal Diagnostic Centers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

If you have a complex pregnancy, you may have the option of telehealth virtual visits to allow access to specialty consultations with a secure connection when it is not possible or convenient to travel for in-person visits.

Your baby’s delivery

If your baby will need specialty medical or surgical care right after birth, we may recommend that you deliver your baby at Packard Children’s Hospital, where we deliver more than 4,400 babies a year. Having our nationally recognized Neonatal Intensive Care Unit located just steps away from the delivery room allows for immediate access to the highest level of intensive care. Our team will help you and your family prepare for your baby’s arrival.

Otherwise, if your baby will not need specialty care or evaluation immediately after birth, our goal is that you deliver in your own community, close to home.

Care after delivery

We offer coordinated care after delivery, such as neonatal care for your baby, or adult specialty services at Stanford Health Care for you, if needed. The same medical and surgical specialist teams you meet during your pregnancy will see your baby during clinic visits. We work with you to coordinate appointments and consultations to be as convenient as possible for you.

Support services

Highly trained social workers, genetic counselors, mental health clinicians, and Fetal and Pregnancy Health Program coordinators are crucial members of our team. They can:

• Help you understand your baby’s condition and the hospital experience for you and your baby.
• Provide emotional support.
• Connect you with resources, including helping to relocate you and your family closer to the hospital before delivery, if needed.
• Work directly with you to coordinate appointments and consultations to be as convenient as possible for you, including some telehealth.

We can also put you in touch with health care professionals at our hospital who provide spiritual care and other mental health support before, during, and after pregnancy.