You might be familiar with prenatal check-ups from a doctor, nurse, or midwife throughout your pregnancy. Such special consultations help keep you and your baby healthy and are an important part of any expecting parent. But what happens when during these routine check-ups your baby is noted to have a surgical condition that requires correction soon after birth, sometimes within hours of birth? Conditions discovered during these assessments are called prenatally diagnosed conditions.
Through collaboration with the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialists, and neonatologists, the Neonatal & Paediatric Surgeons of Pioneering Health Group have been able to deliver advanced knowledge and specific skills required to successfully care for newborn babies with prenatally diagnose conditions. Our teams have extensive experience in caring for even the youngest and smallest of patients.
Our commitment to neonatal care begins with an initial family consultation to discuss and formulate an individualised treatment plan. The surgeons play an integral role in the multidisciplinary teams that these newborn patients and their families need.
When do you need to start having prenatal surgical appointments?
You can start getting prenatal surgical care as soon as you know your baby has a prenatal diagnosis of a surgical condition. Usually this will come as a referral or recommendation from your prenatal healthcare team or a Fetal Medicine specialist.
How often will you have prenatal surgical visits?
How often you will get prenatal care depends on how far along your pregnancy is. Generally, such pregnancies should be delivered at a facility that can adequately care for these high-risk newborns.The Neonatal Surgical team might ask you to come in for regular check-ups more often with your Fetal Medicine team if you have a high-risk pregnancy.
What happens when the baby is born?
The actual care of a baby with a prenatally diagnosed surgical condition is dependent on the type of diagnosis they have.
However, your healthcare team, including neonatologists, will have given you an outline of the care plan in advance. Most babies are usually stable enough to have some tests and scans done before the planned surgery happens.
Your baby’s healthcare team is always available to answer any questions you might have concerning the care of your newborn baby.
