In some cases, we begin treatment before birth. If your baby is diagnosed with a fetal dysrhythmia, or abnormal heartbeat, we partner with the Center for Maternal Fetal Medicine to begin treatment, including the administration of certain medications, while your baby is still in the womb. This treatment occurs at Orlando Health Winnie Palmer, the same hospital where you’ll give birth.

Orlando Health Winnie Palmer promotes bonding with your baby immediately after birth through skin-to-skin contact. Bonding with your baby is even more critical for infants born with congenital heart defects. The Heart Center, in partnership with Orlando Health Winnie Palmer, has developed safe protocols to allow and promote mother-baby bonding immediately after birth, even if your baby is diagnosed with a complex heart defect.

Immediate skin-to-skin contact with your infant promotes attachment. Successful bonding is especially important for infants in our Fetal Cardiac Program, since it:

• Boosts the infant’s immune system
• Decreases length of hospital stay even after surgery
• Decreases neonatal stress
• Improves breastfeeding success for both the infant and mother
• Improves neonatal temperature and breathing regulation
• Improves oral feeding, even postoperatively

Successful bonding is also important for parents. Just knowing you’ll be able to hold your newborn can dramatically decrease any stress or anxiety you may feel. And if your baby needs heart surgery very soon after birth, this bonding process can help increase the likelihood of better outcomes.

If doctors determine your baby is at particularly high risk, complex interventions or surgeries will be coordinated prior to delivery and will be made available at the time of birth. A multidisciplinary team of pediatric specialists, including cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, cardiac interventionists, OB-GYNs and neonatologists will help ensure a safe delivery for you and your baby.

Located at Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, and connected to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer by sky-bridge, our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is the most advanced NICU in the nation for premature newborns and babies born with complex concerns. We also have a state-of-the-art pediatric cardiovascular intensive care unit (PCICU) dedicated exclusively to providing pediatric and congenital heart care.

Dedicated pediatric specialists at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer, such as gastroenterologists, neurologists, hematologists, urologists, nephrologists, geneticists and more, are available to provide care if needed. We also offer complex care management and palliative care for babies born with serious health issues. Up to 40 percent of babies born with heart defects also have problems in other body systems, making a collaborative approach to care vital for their growth and development.

In addition to our other fetal cardiac program services, we also offer:

• Noninvasive cardiac imaging: We offer advanced cardiac imaging including echocardiography, three-dimensional echocardiography, cardiac MRI, and cardiac CT. Our echocardiography lab has been continuously accredited in transthoracic, transesophageal and fetal echocardiography since 2005; longer than any other lab in Central Florida.
• Pediatric cardiac home monitoring program: We offer 24/7 access to specialists and weekly home visits for children with single-ventricle heart defects between their first and second surgeries.
• Adult congenital heart program: Provides care for expectant mothers with complex heart defects, and ensures lifelong, seamless heart care for your baby if they have a heart defect.