{"id":243077,"date":"2026-04-02T07:30:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T11:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=243077"},"modified":"2026-04-02T09:58:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T13:58:31","slug":"uconn-health-team-navigates-rare-pregnancy-condition-to-deliver-healthy-baby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/04\/uconn-health-team-navigates-rare-pregnancy-condition-to-deliver-healthy-baby\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Health Team Navigates Rare Pregnancy Condition to Deliver Healthy Baby"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Andrea Garfield, the moment she learned she was pregnant will always be tied to another profound life event.<\/p>\n

\"Healthcare<\/p>\n

\u201cI found out the day of my grandmother\u2019s funeral,\u201d she recalls. \u201cIt was very bittersweet.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 34, Garfield entered her first pregnancy expecting a typical journey: routine appointments, growing excitement, and the milestones so often portrayed as joyful and seamless. Instead, her experience would become a powerful reminder that not all pregnancies follow a predictable path, and that early detection and expert care can make all the difference.<\/p>\n

Because of her medical history and family background, Andrea was referred for additional monitoring at UConn Health<\/a> where she underwent advanced imaging and testing with the maternal-fetal medicine team<\/a>. Around 20 weeks, during a routine anatomy ultrasound, clinicians identified a rare and potentially life-threatening condition known as vasa previa, a diagnosis Garfield had never heard of before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know what it was,\u201d she says. \u201cThen I looked it up, and it was terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Andrea Shields, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UConn Health (UConn Health Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr. Andrea Shields<\/a>, a maternal fetal medicine expert at UConn Health, explains that vasa previa occurs when fetal blood vessels run unprotected across or near the cervix.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf those vessels rupture, the fetus can lose blood very quickly,\u201d she says. \u201cIn those cases, the mortality rate can be as high as 50%.\u201d<\/p>\n

The condition is rare, occurring in approximately 1 in 2,500 pregnancies, and often goes undetected without careful ultrasound evaluation. In Andrea\u2019s case, it was identified early, something Shields says was critical.<\/p>\n

\u201cYears ago, we might not have caught this,\u201d she says. \u201cNow, with routine anatomy scans, we\u2019re able to identify these risks and manage them. That early diagnosis changes outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garfield\u2019s pregnancy quickly shifted into a high-risk category, requiring close monitoring and a carefully coordinated care plan. By 30 weeks, she was admitted to the hospital to ensure immediate intervention if complications arose. The reason was simple but urgent: if labor began naturally or her water broke, the exposed vessels could rupture, leaving only minutes to save her baby.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like a ticking time bomb,\u201d Garfield says. \u201cIf something happened, they would only have minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind the scenes, her care required a highly coordinated, multidisciplinary effort. Specialists in maternal-fetal medicine, obstetrics, anesthesiology, neonatology, nursing, and surgical teams worked in close collaboration planning for every possible scenario and meeting regularly to adjust her care as her pregnancy progressed. From advanced imaging and vessel mapping to continuous fetal monitoring and delivery planning, each step reflected a level of coordination designed to anticipate risk and act quickly when needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat kind of teamwork is essential in cases like this,\u201d Shields says. \u201cIt takes a coordinated, multidisciplinary approach to safely manage both the mother and the baby, especially when you\u2019re dealing with something this rare and high-risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

The physical demands of pregnancy were matched by the emotional toll of prolonged hospitalization. Weeks in the hospital meant isolation, uncertainty, and letting go of expectations she once had. \u201cI didn\u2019t have a baby shower. I didn\u2019t have that typical experience,\u201d she says. \u201cNot all pregnancies are perfect and we don\u2019t talk about that enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plan was to deliver her baby via scheduled cesarean section at 35 weeks. But at 32 weeks, during routine monitoring, her baby\u2019s heart rate dropped suddenly and significantly. Within moments, the plan changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey told me, \u2018She\u2019s coming now,\u2019\u201d Garfield says.<\/p>\n

\"baby
Baby Gracie (contributed photo).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What followed was an extraordinarily complex delivery. Garfield\u2019s case was even more unusual than typical vasa previa, involving multiple exposed vessels that made surgical entry particularly challenging. To prepare, Shields and the care team had performed detailed vessel mapping to determine the safest way to deliver the baby without disrupting any of the fragile blood vessels.<\/p>\n

In a rare turn of events, Garfield\u2019s baby was delivered \u201cen caul,\u201d still inside the intact amniotic sac, an occurrence more commonly seen in extremely premature births. \u201cThat actually helped us,\u201d Shields explains. \u201cWe were able to see the vessels clearly and open the sac safely, avoiding any rupture.\u201d The approach allowed the team to carefully navigate the complex anatomy and deliver the baby without catastrophic bleeding.<\/p>\n

On December 22, 2025, Garfield\u2019s daughter, Gracie Claire, was born. Her middle name honors Garfield\u2019s grandmother, tying together the day her story began with the day her daughter entered the world.<\/p>\n

Gracie spent her first month in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), another chapter Garfield says few people truly understand until they experience it themselves. \u201cNo one prepares you for leaving the hospital without your baby,\u201d she says. \u201cYou go home, and they stay behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each day meant returning to the hospital, balancing hope with uncertainty, and answering difficult questions from well-meaning friends and family. \u201cPeople ask when your baby is coming home, and you just don\u2019t know,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Gracie is thriving. Though she continues to be treated for hip dysplasia related to her early birth, she is gaining weight and growing stronger every day. For Garfield, recovery has included not only physical healing but also processing the emotional weight of the experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was definitely some depression,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shields notes that Garfield\u2019s experience reflects a broader reality for many patients facing high-risk pregnancies. \u201cThese situations can be traumatic,\u201d she says. \u201cThere can be anxiety, depression, even post-traumatic stress. That\u2019s why support systems both medical and personal are so important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garfield hopes her story will encourage other women to prioritize prenatal care and to understand that pregnancy does not always unfold as expected. \u201cGo to your appointments. Get the testing if you can,\u201d she says. \u201cIt might save your baby\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Shields, that message is central to modern maternal-fetal medicine. \u201cUltrasound is not just about seeing your baby,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a medical exam that allows us to identify risks early and change the course of care. In cases like Garfield\u2019s, it can be lifesaving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garfield\u2019s journey was not the one she envisioned, marked by uncertainty, fear, and resilience. But because of early detection, advanced imaging, and coordinated care at UConn Health, it is also a story of survival and of a little girl who arrived against the odds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever gone through,\u201d Garfield says. \u201cBut she\u2019s here and that\u2019s everything.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A rare pregnancy complication turned Andrea Garfield\u2019s journey into a race against time, but early detection and coordinated care at UConn Health helped deliver her daughter safely against the odds<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":243229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2231,2672,2235,179,2295],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2209],"class_list":["post-243077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-well-being","category-healthcare-reimagined","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-health","category-womens-health"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 06:41:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243077"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243282,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243077\/revisions\/243282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/243229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243077"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=243077"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=243077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}