Special Delivery: from Spina Bifida to Living Miracle

The Great Candy Run benefits the Fetal Health Foundation, which helps families like the Carlins. We’re honored to share the story of their miracle baby, Clara.

When Coon Rapids, Minnesota residents Nicole Carlin and her husband, Robert, were expecting their second child in 2015, they decided to have a nuchal translucency (NT) scan detecting any genetic problems. “I only did this scan to get a free ultrasound; we never thought it would pull anything up,” Carlin admits.

After playing phone tag with the doctor, the Carlins eventually learned that the second trimester results showed there was a 1-in-33 chance their baby had a neural tube defect. A planned Christmas-Eve ultrasound revealed their baby was a girl — and that she had spina bifida, an open pocket in her back that results when the bones of the spine don’t form properly around part of the baby’s spinal cord.

“One thing I can be really thankful for is that when the doctor shared this scary news with us, at the same time he reassured us that the situation wasn’t as bad as we might think,” Carlin acknowledged. “He told us there is surgery they can do before birth and that we were great candidates for it.”

The Carlins met with Dr. Joseph Lillegard, who was starting to perform fetal surgeries at Children’s Minnesota in Minneapolis. They became the first fetal surgery patient at the Midwest Fetal Care Center, a collaboration between Children’s Minnesota and Allina Health. At 25 weeks pregnant, the expectant mother was ready to take the next step in trying to save her daughter’s life.

“About four weeks after the surgery, Clara unfolded one of her legs and I felt her kicking me,” Carlin recalls. “When Clara was born April 25, 2016, her Chiari malformation had almost returned to normal and her back was fully closed with only a small scab.”

A test in late January showed Clara has a healthy bladder and does not require catheterization, and she doesn’t need a shunt. “I really believe this was God’s plan for us,” Carlin says. “Fetal surgery was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but it was worth every second.”

Photo credits: Lynsey Jaden Photography.