Innovative Fetal Care Center Programs Create Medical Home for Mom, Baby
A new antepartum unit and CenteringPregnancy® program at Cincinnati Children’s Fetal Care Center create a unique medical home for mom and baby. Our multidisciplinary team specializes in complex and rare fetal conditions. We provide families with support from the moment of diagnosis by caring for mom and baby’s well-being, both physically and emotionally.
“We offer the most thorough and comprehensive advanced prenatal testing, counseling, prenatal intervention, obstetric antenatal care and delivery, postpartum care, newborn and long-term care all in one location,” says Mounira Habli, MD, TriHealth and Cincinnati Children’s medical director of the Fetal Care Center and maternal-fetal medicine specialist.
Home-Like Antepartum Unit
The antepartum unit offers seven private rooms for moms with a high-risk, complex fetal disease or other complex conditions that need special care. Moms are admitted to the antepartum unit to monitor the pregnancy and ensure safe and timely management of prenatal issues to provide the best maternal fetal outcomes. The unit meets the needs of a growing patient population with complex fetal diseases.
“We offer advanced innovative prenatal medical and surgical interventions, so we have new hope and better outcomes for babies who a few years ago didn’t have that hope,” Habli says.
The Fetal Care Center antepartum unit provides comprehensive medical and nursing care in supportive and comfortable surroundings. Patients’ medical, physical and emotional needs are met on the unit. Moms and their babies receive comprehensive services and any subspecialty care they may need. Patient length of stay varies from a few days to several weeks. Engaging activities and amenities are provided for the whole family, including self-care services for moms.
A key amenity is the connection with other families facing a similar situation. Family members can stay at the Ronald McDonald House. This provides additional opportunities for interactions and shared activity time.
“Often moms with prenatal hospitalization become stressed, anxious and feel isolated due to separation from family, their environment, and concerns about pregnancy outcome,” Habli says. “On the unit, we created a unique healing environment to support our patients in every way possible.”
CenteringPregnancy®
Our CenteringPregnancy program provides prenatal care and education in a group setting for moms with pregnancies complicated by fetal anomalies. Managed by nurses and child life specialists, sessions address many topics, from breastfeeding to stress management. Moms also share experiences, ask questions and discuss specific concerns of high-risk pregnancies and fetal anomalies.
“This builds community and lifelong bonds and promotes patient self-empowerment and greater preparedness for their delivery and postdelivery care,” Habli says.
Research shows pregnant moms who participate experience:
- A decrease in preterm delivery and breastfeeding problems
- Better spacing between pregnancies
- Improved attendance at appointments
Some moms may have a complex post-birth diagnosis for their child. When this occurs, the program helps prepare them for what to expect after delivery, in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) or cardiac intensive care unit (CICU), and how their child’s life will be impacted, Habli explains.
“We can tell them what it looks like and how we will support them,” she says.
Partners and family members are encouraged to participate in the program, too. This family-centered approach focuses on everyone in the baby’s life.
Comprehensive Care Under One Roof
The Fetal Care Center features:
- Advanced diagnostics
- Coordinated care plan, including a customized multidisciplinary team
- Minimally invasive interventions, prenatal treatments and fetal surgery
- Communication with referring physicians
- Comprehensive obstetrics services
- On-site Special Delivery Unit
- State-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and cardiology intensive care unit (CICU)
- Long-term postnatal specialized care
For more information or to refer a patient, call 1-888-338-2559 or fill out the online referral form.
(Published January 2024)
