Learning you’re pregnant is an exciting moment. As you progress through your prenatal care, you may hear or learn things about your baby that are concerning or worrisome. These can often be identified by ultrasound and can include many findings. Rest assured that the specialists at UF Health are there for you. UF Health is the destination for fetal care where the care provided is of the highest caliber. We care for you and your child long before they are born. The physicians at UF Health will be with you every step of the way, from diagnosis to prenatal care, through delivery and discharge home.

Our team is comprised of the following highly trained fetal specialists:

• Maternal Fetal Medicine Physicians
• Pediatric Surgeons
• Neonatologists
• Cardiologists and Congenital Cardiac Surgeons
• Urologists
• Neurosurgeons, and many more.

We will sit down with you and explain everything you need to know, to put your mind at rest and heart at ease. We will go through explanations of what findings there are, what they mean and could mean, and what can be done about them. We will sit down with you in consultation, explain procedures, and walk you through the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) where your baby will be cared for. We do all this to minimize the uncertainty of the process and make you feel as familiar as possible with what to expect.

Some of the fetal care diagnoses we specialize in are:

• Congenital diaphragmatic hernia
• Esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula
• Lung cysts and masses including congenital pulmonary airway malformations (CPAM) and bronchopulmonary sequestrations (BPS)
• Abdominal wall defects including omphalocele and gastroschisis
• Intestinal atresia
• Intestinal obstructions
• Sacrococcygeal teratomas
• Abdominal masses and cysts
• Cystic hygromas and neck / chest cysts

You can learn about some of these specific diagnoses elsewhere on our page. You can also find excellent resources from the American Pediatric Surgical Association’s (APSA) patients and families page.

Besides what you see when you meet with us, we work together behind the scenes in a multidisciplinary approach to best care for your baby. Our team of clinical specialists, radiologists, pathologists, social workers, nutritionists and more will meet to discuss and provide the care your baby needs.

Shawn Larson, MD, leads our pediatric surgery team at UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital, which also includes Steven Raymond, MD, and Janice Taylor, MD, MEd. Each of our surgeons is board-certified in pediatric surgery which means your child’s care team is expertly trained to perform both minor and complicated surgeries and procedures on babies, children and teens. In addition to our pediatric surgeons, we have a team of experienced Advanced Practice Providers who are all involved in your child’s care.