Learn how Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia supports infants with congenital anomalies during the critical first hour after birth. [ Ссылка ]

The first hour after a baby is born is an especially critical transition period. This is why it is referred to as “the golden hour.” Babies emerge from the womb, where they’ve been completely supported by their mother, into the world, where they have to breathe and survive all on their own for the very first time. Many babies with birth defects cannot make this transition on their own.  The goal of this video — narrated by neonatologist Natalie Rintoul, MD — is to define golden hour care and explain what makes the team in CHOP’s Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit (SDU) the best in the world when it comes to providing it.

For babies with congenital anomalies, the care provided in the first hour of life is directly related to their future health, so it is critical to have the most experienced specialists there from the very beginning. For nearly 30 years, the Richard D. Wood Jr. Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment (CFDT) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has been one of the largest centers worldwide dedicated to babies with birth defects. With the 2008 opening of our Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit (SDU) — the world’s first birthplace for babies with anomalies within a freestanding children’s hospital — the CFDT introduced a new paradigm of specialized delivery. Our neonatal and obstetric teams were united in one location, eliminating the need to transport fragile infants and keeping families together.

This expert team is dedicated to making the most of a baby’s precious golden hour. We deliver the largest number of critically ill infants with birth defects in the nation. We have one of the most experienced teams in the world when it comes to delivering and immediately caring for babies with serious and life-threatening conditions such as congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), congenital heart disease, spina bifida, sacrococcygeal teratoma, conjoined twins, gastroschisis, omphalocele, cleft lip and palate, fetal lung lesions including CCAM/CPAM, and others. 

 We have been caring for critically ill newborns for decades. The care we provide in the golden hour is the culmination of countless hours of planning and collaboration. Our team members discuss each baby’s needs in detail to make an individualized plan. We also focus on supporting mothers and their partners throughout this process.

Our goal is to improve outcomes for the most vulnerable patients by providing resuscitation that is evidence based, that integrates important physiologic data in real-time to help the team perform the best interventions possible, and that is informed by our experience with the previous 6,000+ deliveries in our SDU. 

In addition to the vast team that cares for mothers and partners before, during and after delivery, we also have a dedicated team of specialists caring for the baby. This team includes neonatologists, neonatal nurses, advanced practice nurses, respiratory therapists, maternal-fetal medicine specialists, pediatric surgeons, pediatric anesthesiologists, and pediatric radiologists.  

 We have developed evidence-based tools to guide golden hour care for each type of diagnosis, and we lecture around the world to share our methods and knowledge. We’ve also created an interactive digital coach that integrates with patient monitors and equipment to guide decision-making. 

 After a baby is born, they are carried to our stabilization suite filled with an expert team that is ready and waiting to provide all the support the baby needs. The team places the baby on a warming bed, assesses their breathing and circulation, and uses state-of-the-art devices to monitor their brain, lungs and heart. This care is often referred to as “delivery room resuscitation.”

 If a baby needs surgery immediately, they will be brought to an operating room right next door to the delivery room. Once the baby is stabilized, they continue to receive specialized care in the nearby Newborn/Infant Intensive Care Unit (N/IICU) or the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU). 

Delivery of baby with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH)
Delivery of baby with spina bifida
Delivery of baby with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS)
Delivery of baby with cleft lip and palate
Delivery of baby with sacrococcygeal teratoma
Delivery of baby with omphalocele
Delivery of baby with fetal lung lesion
Delivery of baby with CCAM/CPAM
Delivery of conjoined twins
Delivery of baby with congenital heart disease
Delivery of baby with lower urinary tract obstruction (LUTO)
Delivery of baby with skeletal dysplasia
Delivery of babies with birth defects

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