Fetal Care

Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis Children's Hospital and WashU Medicine physicians work with referring providers across the region to deliver a level of extraordinary care that is only offered by very few places across the country. We offer family-focused care and leading-edge treatment options, to help you and your unborn baby stay as healthy as possible. A team of maternal, fetal, and pediatric specialists are beside you through a high-risk pregnancy, delivery and beyond, providing the tests, treatments, and support you need.    

When you come to the Fetal Care Center, you benefit from: 

• Integrated care for mom and baby: We’re the only medical center in St. Louis offering the highest level of specialized mom and baby care in a single location. Our birthing suites and mother-baby rooms connect to our Level IV newborn intensive care unit (NICU), so you are close by if your baby needs special care after delivery.  
• Specialized fetal surgeries: We’re one of the few medical centers in the country providing complex fetal surgeries and interventions for rare fetal conditions. Our highly skilled fetal and pediatric surgeons perform these procedures while your baby is still in the womb.  
• Expertise in follow-up care: Some babies have health needs that we can’t treat until after they’re born. If this happens, we develop a care plan during pregnancy, ensuring your baby receives the best care immediately after delivery.  
• Advanced diagnostic tools: Our specialists perform thousands of high-risk pregnancy tests each year to diagnose fetal conditions quickly and accurately, including rare conditions and many that are often misdiagnosed. Our maternal-fetal medicine specialists are present during your ultrasounds, so you receive fast, accurate information about your unborn baby’s condition. 
• Medical transportation: You may go into labor outside the St. Louis metropolitan area and need specialized care. If this happens, our maternal-fetal transport team can take you to the Women & Infants Center, a partnership between Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Should you deliver elsewhere, our newborn transport team can safely bring your baby here for advanced care.  
• Collaborative approach: Specialists and sub-specialists across multiple disciplines work together to coordinate your care, so you can focus on staying well. Maternal-fetal medicine specialists collaborate with fetal surgeons, neonatologists, genetic counselors, specialized radiologists, and other providers. Our team approach gives you and your baby the best possible outcome.  
• Guided care: A nurse coordinator helps you navigate the diagnostic and treatment process and is available to support you in a number of ways such as assisting with scheduling appointments, attending medical appointments with you,  answering you and your family’s questions and concerns, and working with your local doctor to convey important information. 
• Clinical trials: Our Fetal Care Center is a member of the North American Fetal Therapy Network (NAFTNet) which is a collaboration between almost 50 fetal surgery centers across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. This allows us to be well versed in all the proven fetal treatments and therapies, but when these options are not the best course of action, it also allows us the ability to give patients the opportunity to receive novel therapies and treatments by enrolling them in clinical trials at our center.