{"id":335023,"date":"2025-07-24T16:37:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T21:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=335023"},"modified":"2025-07-22T23:26:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T04:26:18","slug":"doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctors perform life-saving procedure on &#8216;miracle baby&#8217; just before her birth"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A UK couple is <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/parents-detail-how-pioneering-surgery-in-womb-saved-unborn-babys-life-11775741\">thanking a team of medical professionals<\/a> who saved their baby girl by performing an operation on her while she was still in her mother\u2019s womb.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>An unexpected diagnosis<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eleanor Brannigan and her partner Adam Moseley were expecting their first child, a baby girl they named Eabha. A scan at 27 weeks showed fluid buildup around Eabha\u2019s lungs and elsewhere within her body, and she needed treatment to prevent potential heart failure.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nuh.nhs.uk\/news\/nottingham-consultant-helps-save-miracle-baby-by-going-above-and-beyond-10438\">Nottingham University Hospitals<\/a> (NUH) Obstetric and Fetal Medicine Consultant, Dr. Magdalena Fiolna, met with the couple, offered them the scans, and advised them on a treatment plan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The couple faced several treatment decisions after learning their daughter\u2019s diagnosis. Dr. Fiolna <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nuh.nhs.uk\/news\/nottingham-consultant-helps-save-miracle-baby-by-going-above-and-beyond-10438\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">explained<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">their options: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cto monitor, watch, and wait,\u201d which would likely lead \u201cto more complicated swelling, called fetal hydrops\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to perform an early delivery, which could result in preterm delivery complications<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to drain the fluid using a needle (a temporary treatment which would have to be repeated multiple times)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201cto insert a series of shunts to permanently drain the fluid, with the latter only being able to be carried out by specialists in large Fetal Medicine Centres, such as London or Birmingham\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dr. Fiolna connected the family with the Fetal Medicine Research Institute and Professor Nicolaides, \u201cwho advised the shunt insertion to reverse the fluid accumulation. He offered an urgent appointment. Dr Fiolna then travelled with the family to London to meet with the team of specialists, who agreed to carry out the procedure to insert the shunts to help drain the fluid,\u201d according to NUH.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After the shunts were inserted, Dr. Fiolna monitored the baby weekly. The shunts stopped working after a few weeks, which commonly happens. The couple chose ongoing monitoring for their baby.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>A Pre-Delivery Surgery<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brannigan\u2019s water broke while Fiolna was at a friend\u2019s wedding, but the doctor was able to take a call from the staff caring for Brannigan and explain to the team what to do with the shunts if an emergency delivery was necessary. Fiolna used the moment as a teaching opportunity for her colleagues.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThese shunts are uncommon, and I wanted to empower my colleagues so that they knew exactly what to do,\u201d Fiolna said. She <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">continued to go above and beyond in her care for the mother and her sick preborn baby.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI went to see Eleanor the next day to reassure her and to make a management plan. The day after, I was off but came in to scan her,\u201d recalled Fiolna. She <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">determined that Baby Eabha needed to be delivered and decided with her colleague that they were going to operate on her, draining the fluid from her lungs, before delivering her via C-section.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fiolna explained that this would be beneficial. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThis way, she could take her first breaths like any other baby to expand her lungs,&#8221; she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fiolna and her colleagues also decided to delay clamping the baby\u2019s umbilical cord, which she said would &#8220;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">allow more time for [Eabha&#8217;s] assessment by the neonatal doctors and nurses to plan more permanent drainage of fluid after birth.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Home After Short NICU Stay<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baby Eabha was born at 31 weeks, and thanks to her medical team\u2019s intervention, was much better after birth than she would otherwise have been and was able to go home with her parents in good health after 12 weeks in the NICU.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe will be eternally grateful for all the help and support of Dr Fiolna and the teams that helped to save and look after Eabha,&#8221; Brannigan said. &#8220;Had we not met Dr Fiolna that day when we came in to get checked out, then the outcome may have been so very different\u2026. Thank you to everyone for looking after us and for going above and beyond for our family. Eabha will always be our special miracle baby. She is a little fighter and we are just so grateful that she is here with us.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cShe is a miracle baby and if we had not intervened, she might not be here with her family now,&#8221; added Dr. Fiolna. &#8220;I am so very pleased that we were able to help and that Eabha is now at home and doing really well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b><i>Follow Live Action News on <\/i><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveactionnewsonline\/\"><b><i>Facebook<\/i><\/b><\/a><b><i> and <\/i><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/LiveActionOrg\/\"><b><i>Instagram<\/i><\/b><\/a><b><i> for more pro-life news.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A UK couple is thanking a team of medical professionals who saved their baby girl by performing an operation on her while she was still in her mother\u2019s womb. An unexpected diagnosis Eleanor Brannigan and her partner Adam Moseley were expecting their first child, a baby girl they named Eabha. A scan at 27 weeks [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":867,"featured_media":335056,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[9455,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Doctors perform life-saving procedure on &#039;miracle baby&#039; just before her birth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A UK couple is thanking a team of medical professionals who saved their baby girl by performing an operation on her while in the womb.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Doctors perform life-saving procedure on &#039;miracle baby&#039; just before her birth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A UK couple is thanking a team of medical professionals who saved their baby girl by performing an operation on her while in the womb.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-24T21:37:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-23T04:26:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-1756324936-pregnant.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Isabella Childs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Isabella Childs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Isabella Childs\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/a40456914eec6fe99ed7ab57703b7db7\"},\"headline\":\"Doctors perform life-saving procedure on &#8216;miracle baby&#8217; just before her birth\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-24T21:37:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-23T04:26:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/\"},\"wordCount\":727,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Human Interest\",\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/\",\"name\":\"Doctors perform life-saving procedure on 'miracle baby' just before her birth\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-24T21:37:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-23T04:26:18+00:00\",\"description\":\"A UK couple is thanking a team of medical professionals who saved their baby girl by performing an operation on her while in the womb.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Doctors perform life-saving procedure on &#8216;miracle baby&#8217; just before her birth\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/a40456914eec6fe99ed7ab57703b7db7\",\"name\":\"Isabella Childs\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/068c493915608944af1af835ec23e26a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/068c493915608944af1af835ec23e26a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Isabella Childs\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/isabella-childs\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Doctors perform life-saving procedure on 'miracle baby' just before her birth","description":"A UK couple is thanking a team of medical professionals who saved their baby girl by performing an operation on her while in the womb.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Doctors perform life-saving procedure on 'miracle baby' just before her birth","og_description":"A UK couple is thanking a team of medical professionals who saved their baby girl by performing an operation on her while in the womb.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2025-07-24T21:37:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-23T04:26:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-1756324936-pregnant.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Isabella Childs","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Isabella Childs","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/"},"author":{"name":"Isabella Childs","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/a40456914eec6fe99ed7ab57703b7db7"},"headline":"Doctors perform life-saving procedure on &#8216;miracle baby&#8217; just before her birth","datePublished":"2025-07-24T21:37:19+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-23T04:26:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/"},"wordCount":727,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Human Interest","Newsbreak"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/","name":"Doctors perform life-saving procedure on 'miracle baby' just before her birth","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-07-24T21:37:19+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-23T04:26:18+00:00","description":"A UK couple is thanking a team of medical professionals who saved their baby girl by performing an operation on her while in the womb.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/doctors-lifesaving-procedure-miracle-baby-before-birth\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Doctors perform life-saving procedure on &#8216;miracle baby&#8217; just before her birth"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/a40456914eec6fe99ed7ab57703b7db7","name":"Isabella Childs","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/068c493915608944af1af835ec23e26a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/068c493915608944af1af835ec23e26a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Isabella Childs"},"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/isabella-childs\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335023"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/867"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335023"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":335057,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335023\/revisions\/335057"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}