About The Fetal Center

Over ten years of excellence in patient care, education and research

The Fetal Center at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital is a national referral center and an international leader in fetal diagnosis, fetal intervention and comprehensive fetal care for infants with congenital anomalies or genetic abnormalities. In collaboration with pediatric sub-specialists at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, the affiliated team offers patients a complete range of prenatal testing and fetal interventions with a coordinated program for mother and child before, during and after birth.

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Meet the Team


The Fetal Center Team is a multi-specialty group brought together to provide the most comprehensive care for mothers and their babies.

Fetal Outcomes Data


We strive to be transparent about patient outcomes in hopes that the data serves as a helpful resource when making informed decisions regarding care.

Educational Videos


Our educational video series provides families with comprehensive information about fetal conditions and treatments.

mom  and baby

Follow-Up Program


mom  and baby

The Fetal Center’s Follow-Up Program provides families with a dedicated nurse coordinator who primarily focuses on following the baby’s plan of care before delivery and through post-delivery.

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Fetal physicians performing surgery

Research and Clinical Trials


Fetal physicians performing surgery

Learn more about the innovative research and numerous clinical trials at The Fetal Center.

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Patient Stories

  • patient sienna laying in hospital bed smiling

    Surgery for Tetralogy of Fallot Unleashes the Full Potential of Sienna Wilson’s Brain

    When Sienna Grace Wilson was born, a little fighter came into the world. Her parents, Sarah and David Wilson, were in awe of their new baby. They were also very emotional because of Sienna’s pre-birth diagnosis of Tetralogy of Fallot.

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  • patient landon sitting on grass

    Landon's Journey: Overcoming CDH with Gratitude and Hope

    When Elizabeth came in for a second scan a week later, things felt off. The ultrasound technician kept going back to the same spot, muttering about the baby's diaphragm. Finally, she broke the silence with, "I can't see his diaphragm. It's there... and then it stops. I need to contact your OBGYN....

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  • patient noah

    A Soldier's Sacrifice: Relocating for Her Baby's Lifeline to Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital

    The majority of Teemer’s pregnancy was uneventful, and she felt healthy, happy and excited. But as she neared the 34-week mark, she began experiencing an unrelenting migraine for three consecutive days. Concerned, she sought medical attention at the hospital where she worked, just to ensure...

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  • patient evan with family

    A life reimagined: Evan's victory over adult congenital diaphragmatic hernia

    Rewind to the year 2020. Evan and his wife, Rachel, were expecting their first child. Rachel was several months pregnant and in the process of completing years of study for a PhD. It was during this time that Evan noticed that something wasn’t quite feeling right with his health.

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  • patient William portrait

    William’s CDH and heart journey: A story of hope, resilience and positive outcomes

    Despite the previous reassuring tests, William’s position during the ultrasound raised concerns. His heart appeared too far to the left and his stomach couldn’t be located.

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  • patient Luke Keaton

    Luke’s Story: Above and beyond care after a hypoplastic left heart syndrome diagnosis

    As soon as possible, she and Troy made an appointment with The Fetal Center at Children Memorial Hermann Hospital for an in-utero echocardiogram, which would provide a detailed image of their baby's heart. Prenatal diagnosis plays a vital role in identifying critical cardiac defects, helps guide ...

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  • patient theodore

    Giving Theodore a fighting chance: This little heart warrior beat the odds after HLHS diagnosis

    Theodore was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a complex congenital heart defect in which the left side of the heart is underdeveloped and cannot pump oxygen-rich blood to the body. Babies with this condition need a minimum of three open-heart surgeries. ...

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  • patient in swing

    Maggie’s Story: Seeking Out Highly Specialized Care for Placenta Accreta

    “My doctor and I decided together to monitor it and follow up with another scan in a few weeks,” Maggie said. “I was so nervous after I first learned about my diagnosis, so I started doing all of this research on my own, and that’s when I first came across The Fetal ...

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  • patient Dylan

    Dylan’s Story: Celebrating Small, but Mighty Victories After Fetoscopic Spina Bifida Surgery

    "The ultrasound showed the ventricles in my baby’s brain were enlarged,” said Courtney. “Concerned he might have hydrocephalus, my OB-GYN sent me to a maternal-fetal medicine specialist in town.” A few days later, Courtney met with her family friend and MFM physician, Dr. ...

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  • patient Wyatt waiving hello

    Wyatt’s Spina Bifida Journey: How Our Miracle Baby Beat the Odds One Step at a Time

    A few weeks later, Sarah returned to her OB-GYN for another anatomy ultrasound. As the ultrasound technician glided the probe on Sarah’s growing belly, she noticed something unusual on the monitor. “The ultrasound showed Wyatt had fluid in his brain,” said Sarah.

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  • patient with flower crown

    Lindsay and Kendall’s Story: Finding help for their unborn baby’s spina bifida

    Their baby had spina bifida. A portion of her lower spinal cord was exposed. The long-term effects could be seizures, bowel and bladder control issues, and difficulty walking. She might also need a special shunt to regulate her brain’s fluid levels.

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  • Ryder

    Ryder’s Story: Our Son’s Courageous Heart Journey

    When Falon was 23 weeks pregnant, she was very excited about her next ultrasound and couldn’t wait to catch a glimpse of Ryder on the ultrasound screen to see how much he had grown since his last anatomy scan. At first, things were going well. Then, the atmosphere in the room abruptly chan...

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  • Neal smiling

    Neal Wille’s Path to a Big Smile

    Three-year-old Neal Wille is among the one in 700 kids annually around the world born with a cleft lip and palate. Today, he’s a ball of smiles and sunshine when his parents bring him to see the Texas Cleft-Craniofacial Team for follow-up care after his surgeries that were performed at Chil...

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  • Isabella’s Story: A Complex Neonatal Heart Patient and Her Mother’s Whole World

    Sweet Isabella was held by her mother Jessica for just a few moments before being whisked away for her first heart surgery at just 14 hours old. Born with pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum, half of Isabella’s heart was severely underdeveloped causing major issues with blood f...

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  • Baby Sleeping

    Carter’s Story: Multidisciplinary Team Treats Newborn with Rare Congenital Tumor

    At Sarah’s 16-week ultrasound, her obstetrician explained that one of the babies she was carrying had a 2- to 3-centimeter mass at the base of his tailbone. The doctor explained that the baby had a sacrococcygeal teratoma (SCT), a tumor growing at the base of his tailbone. SCT is a rare condition...

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  • Baby Lily Nail

    Lily Nail Celebrates Independence from Spina Bifida

    Hailee Nail learned her baby had spina bifida on Aug. 13, 2020, when she saw her obstetrician in Tulsa, Okla., for her 20-week anatomy scan. “My OB/GYN told me that it would require surgery and gave me the names of several centers, but he wanted me to go to Houston,” she says.

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  • Andrew outside smiling

    Andrew’s Story: Team Approach Cures Rare Lung Defect

    When their unborn son was diagnosed with a rare and potentially life-threatening congenital birth defect, Carrie and Jordan Farrar knew they needed to find the experts, and fast. Fortunately, the couple from Tyler, Texas, was referred to The Fetal Center at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital. T...

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  • CDH Patient Aryah and Mom

    Aryah’s CDH Story: Thriving at 4

    Aryah plays basketball. She cheerleads. She rides horses. She jumps on the trampoline and loves water slides. “She’s ahead of the curve for her age,” says Courtney. But that wasn’t always the case. Before Aryah was born, Courtney and her husband, Robert, learned that their baby had congenital dia...

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  • Dugger Family poses together

    To Grief and Back: Joy, Heartbreak and Gratitude in the Dugger Family

    Christine and Blake Dugger learned they were pregnant with twins in December, 2017. “The entire pregnancy was a surprise,” Christine Dugger says. “We have two older daughters, who were six and three at the time, and we were very much not planning on having more children, but whe...

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  • Mila Grace

    Mila Grace: The Little Smile Monster

    When Natalie’s unborn baby daughter, Mila Grace, was diagnosed with spina bifida in utero, Natalie and her husband, Kevin, were stunned. After a routine ultrasound done just a week earlier, her obstetrician suspected that one of Mila Grace’s feet was clubbed and referred Natalie to a ...

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  • Baby Aryah

    Aryah’s CDH Story: The First FETO Intervention Patient of The Fetal Center

    Courtney and Robert both remember the feeling of pure joy in January 2016 when finding out they were pregnant with their second child – a baby girl – after three years of trying. Their happiness soon gave way to worry, though, when Courtney’s obstetrician said her ultrasound sca...

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  • Dr. Mary Austin in surgery

    A Surgeon’s Secret: As She Operated on Babies’ Birth Defects, a Doctor Hid Her Own Diagnosis

    For many years, Dr. Mary Austin could count on one hand the people who knew. There was her close friend through middle school, who helped her pee by pushing on her lower abdomen. Years later, during her surgical training at Vanderbilt University, she confided in a mentor. Her husband knew, of cou...

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  • Figueroa Sisters

    Iris’ Story: MoMo Twins Survive Rollercoaster Start

    When Iris finally got her wish, an ultrasound revealed not one, but two heartbeats. Twins. Identical twins, in fact. Iris and her husband were elated. But the ultrasound indicated a potential problem, and her doctor referred her to The Fetal Center at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital.&n...

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  • Faith Hagler

    Faith Hagler Five Years Later: Celebrating Independence from Spina Bifida

    Picture the bounciest, bubbliest five-year-old you can imagine. Her songs and dance moves come straight from Beyoncé. She loves bright colors and runs to the mirror to check every outfit. Her goal is to be a superstar. And she is a child who was born with spina bifida, one whose immediate future ...

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  • Grace

    Grace’s Story: Overcoming CDH

    For some parents, a newborn’s cry can cause distress. But for Marlen and Kevin, hearing their daughter Grace’s first cry brought relief and joy. Grace was born with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), a condition that occurs during fetal development that can lead to severe respiratory and ot...

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  • Cassandra

    Cassandra's Story: Gastroschisis

    As Sabrina sat at her 16-week checkup, she was expecting her appointment to be ordinary. However, after receiving her ultrasound, she found out her baby girl was diagnosed with a birth defect known as gastroschisis. Shocked and scared about her baby’s health, her obstetrician referred her to The ...

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  • Jayden and Luke

    Baby Luke's Battle With CDH

    Jayden and Luke. Two-year-old identical twin boys. They run and wrestle, giggle and converse in their own shared lingo – jibber-jabber only they understand. But Jayden is taller, more robust. Luke wears the same size clothes as the boys’ younger brother Cooper. Each of the twins in his own way is...

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  • Kelly Williams

    Kelly Williams Is Getting Another Wonderful Birthday Present This Year

    Kelly and her husband, Chad, count themselves very lucky. The diagnosis of an open neural tube defect, or myelomeningocele, led them on a journey of education, referral, consultations and, ultimately, to open fetal surgery for spina bifida repair. Spina bifida – a major birth defect involving the...

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  • Faith Hagler

    Faith: Surgery in the Womb to Repair Spina Bifida

    Faith’s story begins before she was born. But unlike others, her history was complicated by a prenatal diagnosis of myelomeningocele – spina bifida – at the age of 20 weeks. A complex and permanently disabling birth defect, spina bifida involves incomplete development of a porti...

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The Fetal Center Image Gallery

Contact Us

When you contact The Fetal Center, you will be in touch with a dedicated coordinator who will walk you through the process step-by-step and help you to understand every aspect of your care.

The Fetal Center at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital
UT Professional Building
6410 Fannin, Suite 210
Houston, Texas 77030

Phone: (832) 325-7288
Toll free: (888) 818-4818
Fax: (713) 383-1464
Email: thefetalcenter@memorialhermann.org

To contact The Fetal Center at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital, please fill out the form below.

Thank
You!

Thank you for contacting The Fetal Center at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital. We have received your inquiry, and a team member will contact you soon.

If you need more immediate assistance, please call us during business hours at (832) 325-7288.

If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.

Located within the Texas Medical Center, The Fetal Center is affiliated with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, UT Physicians and Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital.

Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital
Baby feet

Donate to The Fetal Center


Please consider making a donation to The Fetal Center at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital. No matter which area of the mission you support, your gift will make a lasting impact on patients and their families.

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