Prenatal Care

If your diagnosis is made prior to the baby’s birth, your pregnancy will be considered a high-risk one. That often entails that you go through much more than with a “normal” pregnancy. These are some of the things that you can expect.

• Referral to a perinatologist who may or may not take over your general OB care.
• Frequent ultrasounds to check the defect and the progress of your baby.
• Fetal echocardiograms usually done at the same time as the ultrasounds.
• You may be encouraged to have an MRI to learn more about the severity of the defect.
• You will have the option of an amniocentesis to detect chromosomal abnormalities.
• Frequent non-stress tests as your baby comes to term if it is determined that they are needed.
• You may be given the option of receiving steroid shots in the third trimester if pre-term labor is a concern. These shots can help fetal lung development however, it is not clear of the benefit for CDH children. They will not hurt anything though.
• You may undergo testing to determine the baby’s lung to head ratio (LHR). Some physicians dismiss this measurement while others rely on it to give a more complete picture of the amount of lung tissue your baby is developing.
• Fetal surgery may be an option in your case. It is currently rarely done and is only performed at a couple of hospitals in the United States. Talk to your doctor about the possibility.