Maternal Heart Program

If you have a heart problem, even a mild one, it is important for you to receive specialized care before, during, and after the delivery of your baby. When you are followed by a knowledgeable team of heart doctors and high-risk-pregnancy doctors (maternal-fetal medicine experts, or MFMs), you increase your chances of having fewer health complications while ensuring that your baby develops well. As experts in caring for expectant mothers with heart issues, we are able to provide you with the right care at just the right time and help your pregnancy and delivery go as smoothly as possible.

Why choose Stanford Medicine Children’s Health for high-risk pregnancy care

• Heart, pregnancy, and baby experts all on your team. Having a heart condition is one of the highest pregnancy risks you can have, and we can confidently decrease that risk. We bring together several adult and pediatric specialists from two of the best hospitals in the country—to care for you and your developing baby on one team and in the same clinic, for your convenience. The specialists you may see, before, during, or after delivery are:
  • Maternal-fetal medicine doctors (high-risk obstetricians)
  • Adult cardiologists (preventive, imaging, adult congenital heart disease [ACHD], electrophysiologists [EP], interventional cardiologists)
  • Perinatal genetic counselors and cardiogeneticists
  • Pulmonologists
  • Cardiac anesthesiologists
  • Obstetric anesthesiologists
  • Cardiothoracic surgeons
  • Fetal cardiologists
  • Neonatologists
• Successful outcomes for all kinds of heart conditions. Whether you have acquired heart disease or congenital heart disease, we are here for you. We seek to prevent and minimize your pregnancy risks and act quickly and skillfully if you need critical care. If you need heart surgery prior to or after pregnancy, we perform it with excellent results.
• The reassurance of personalized, respected, high-quality care. You can feel confident in the care you receive from us. Our 10-year-old maternal heart program is one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the nation, and our program serves as a standard of care for other hospitals nationally and internationally.