A local woman Asks The Experts about pre-natal testing and early diagnosis in a baby before it is ever born. Dawana Melford is expecting a baby boy in early September. He is already being treated for potential lung and kidney problems. "We were just very thankful that there was something that they were willing to try to allow us to give the baby a chance to live, because that's all we wanted was for him to have a chance."
Melford's story also helps our experts at TriHealth answer a question submitted from a Local 12 viewer on-line. Our viewer didn't want us to use her full name but she did want to know about diagnosis in the womb, she'd apparently had a grandchild, and they thought initially there were going to be problems, and now that grandchild is just fine. She says, "Could you ask your experts about medical in-womb diagnosis?"
Dr. Bill Polzin is a maternal fetal medicine specialist. He says on an initial ultrasound, "They noticed there wasn't a normal amount of fluid around the baby and they had also noticed the kidneys were not normal in appearance."
So his team is now administering fluid into the womb to help lung development. Kidney problems can't be fixed until after birth. But our viewer wanted to know however, how do you know if that is accurate? "When we are looking at the baby during one moment in the pregnancy and an organ doesn't look normal, it doesn't mean there is a problem, but the likely-hood of something wrong goes way up and we have to disclose that to the family."
Dawana Melford says either way, she's not giving up hope. "Faith is one reason, we never know what God can work out Dr. Polzin and everybody that we've worked with what medically to expect but we also have faith that God can work out additional miracles."
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