Texas Children's Hospital® - VISION 2010

Maternity Center - High-Risk OB

Despite the incredible advances in medicine that have taken place in recent decades, the numbers of high-risk pregnancies, premature and low birth weight babies, miscarriages, stillbirths, and newborn and maternal deaths are all on the rise in the United States. With its expansion into high-risk obstetrics, Texas Children's Hospital is lending its world-renowned expertise to this growing problem, as well as responding to the health care needs of the greater Houston community.

Serving the Houston community

As the fourth largest city in the United States, with the third youngest population and one of the fastest-growing pediatric populations in the nation, Houston deserves to have a comprehensive maternity center where the most advanced treatments and technologies are combined with family-centered, compassionate care for mothers and their babies. Through the new Maternity Center, Texas Children's is addressing this unmet need for the Houston community.

Expanding the Mission

Texas Children's Newborn Center currently houses one of the world's largest Level III neonatal units, providing unparalleled care to newborns in need of specialized services. And Texas Children's Fetal Center is one of only a handful of centers in the country that can provide the full spectrum of fetal therapies — including fetal surgery and fetal intervention — to care for the unborn child. The addition of a targeted, high-risk obstetrics program within the Maternity Center will allow Texas Children's to expand its mission, helping to identify issues and solve problems prior to birth. By viewing the mother's womb as the natural starting point for specialized treatment and care, the Maternity Center team's goal will be to increase the number of healthy births, thereby potentially reducing the need for neonatal surgery or intensive care after birth.