I was diagnosed with fetomaternal alloimmunization, a condition in which a mother’s body creates antibodies against a fetus’ blood antigens. This diagnosis crushed us. My husband and I wanted a lot of children, and now we were left wondering whether we could even have a second.
Hydrops fetalis is a serious condition that affects about 1 in 1,700 pregnancies. For many families, answers about why this condition occurs have been in short supply because the cause is often not identified through standard testing.
“The doctor came in and handed me a box of tissues,” Katie recalls. “She was saying something about an abnormal pregnancy, shunts, abnormalities of the left leg, club foot. I was in complete shock at that point, and I couldn’t really make out what she was saying because it felt like time was suspended.”
In a span of two hours, their lives had been turned upside down.
“In severe cases of CDH, the survival rate is ranging from less than 20% to 50%, but with FETO, we’re seeing a huge improvement in odds of survival,” said Dr. Lim. “Right now, it looks like survival rates as high as 80-90% are possible, but we’re still learning.”
Babies born with Maverick’s heart condition and a restrictive or absent communication between the top two chambers of the heart, are born with abnormal lungs, in addition to the heart defect. In fact, most of these babies do not survive after birth. Maverick underwent creation of an opening in the top two chambers of the heart in fetal life with a stent, to allow him to be stable after birth..