SALT LAKE CITY — During her 20-week ultrasound, doctors told Cali Budge they found some abnormalities in her unborn baby.

The baby had a congenital pulmonary airway malformation, which occurs when part of the lung develops abnormally and can compress on the baby’s heart and lungs.

Budge, of Lehi, decided to go to Philadelphia to receive care, but she changed her mind when she realized she and her baby could receive just as good of care closer to home. Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital and University of Utah Health recently formed a partnership to open a new state-of-the-art fetal care center that provides a multidisciplinary approach to the care of pregnant women who have babies with complex conditions in the womb.

The Utah Fetal Center aims to treat a woman’s unborn baby who has been diagnosed with a birth defect with highly specialized care before and after the child is born. Sometimes surgical intervention while the child is still in the womb is required.

“We have a multidisciplinary team with doctors for both the mother and baby who have expertise in fetal medicine and surgery, and who work together to compassionately care for these complicated patients,” said Dr. Stephen Fenton, a pediatric surgeon with U of U Health and Primary Children’s and director of the Utah Fetal Center. “We want to ensure that moms and babies get the highest level of care possible both during pregnancy and after birth here in the Intermountain West.”

Budge said she had a consultation with a team that included the surgeon, a high-risk obstetrician, a neonatologist and a social worker who would care for herself and her baby. The team reviewed imaging and tests to establish a plan that would optimize the care of both mom and the baby during pregnancy and after delivery. In addition, the team met weekly at a fetal care conference to discuss her plan as her pregnancy progressed.

“I didn’t have to make any calls or travel around to multiple medical offices,” she said. “It was all in one place. As an expecting mother already going through the stress of this situation, it was comforting to have that.”

Budge’s daughter, Noelle, was delivered at term without complication. She was then cautiously cared for until she underwent surgery where the abnormal portion of her lung was removed through several small incisions. She was released from the hospital a few days after surgery and is now happy and healthy.

“We know what a difficult time this can be for an expecting parent,” Fenton said. “We want to make sure that they know that there is a team of experts here to help them through this process, and to give them the best chance possible of having a happy outcome for their child.”

To make an appointment, call 801-662-6474.

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