12th Annual Fetal Surgery Family Reunion Gathers Families From Across the U.S. ...( Parents tour the Garbose Family S...),Health

Parents tour the Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the first-of-its-kind service for mothers carrying fetuses with prenatally diagnosed birth defects

PHILADELPHIA, June 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hundreds of families gathered today to celebrate at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for the 12th Annual Fetal Surgery Family Reunion. The reunion gathers together families who have been followed by the Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment and the Fetal Heart Program teams at Children's Hospital. Nearly all of the children attending were prenatally diagnosed with a birth defect that had potentially devastating outcomes. Ten families attended the Center's first reunion for current and former fetal patients in 1997; more than 150 families attended the 12th annual reunion today!

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080622/DC25729 )

Parents toured the Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit, an innovative new labor and delivery unit that is now available for expectant mothers needing highly specialized, sophisticated medical care. The Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit at Children's Hospital is the world's first comprehensive medical unit for mothers carrying a fetus with a known birth defect.

"The fetal surgery reunion is our team's favorite day of the year," says N. Scott Adzick, M.D. surgeon-in-chief at Children's Hospital and medical director of the Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment. "Each year we get to see children, who as babies likely could have died without intervention or close monitoring, running around, growing up healthy and strong and it is truly inspiring. This year we are honored to show our former families the newly opened Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit."

When expectant parents learn during an anticipated ultrasound that their baby has a birth defect, they nee
'/>"/>