Doctors open woman’s womb to fix baby with intestines outside its body

Baby undergoes pioneering surgery before birth, giving family hope against rare defect

A baby boy has become one of the few patients in the world to undergo pioneering surgery before birth, after doctors repaired a serious abdominal defect while he was still inside his mother’s womb.

Theo, now five months old and thriving, was diagnosed before birth with complex gastroschisis — a rare condition in which a baby’s intestines develop outside the body because the abdominal wall does not form properly.

His mother, 29-year-old London teacher Maisie Savage, was 26 weeks pregnant when she travelled to the United States for the groundbreaking procedure.

The operation was carried out at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston as part of a first-of-its-kind clinical trial. Theo was the third baby in the world to undergo the experimental treatment.

For Maisie and Theo’s father, 36-year-old teacher Josh French, the procedure offered a chance to change what had been a frightening diagnosis into a story of hope.

“He’s a little miracle, isn’t he?” Maisie told BBC News.

A routine scan turned into frightening news

The couple initially approached their 20-week pregnancy scan with the excitement of expectant parents simply wanting to see their unborn child.

They had no idea they were about to receive life-changing news.

“Going towards a 20-week scan, we were purely just excited to have an image of our baby,” Josh recalled. “We didn’t know he was going to be a ‘he’ at the time.”

Instead, the scan revealed that their unborn child had gastroschisis.

Josh described the discovery as “incredibly scary.”

Further examinations showed that Theo had the more severe form — complex gastroschisis — meaning his condition carried substantially greater risks than the typical cases doctors encounter.

The family was subsequently referred to specialists at Texas Children’s Hospital.

The decision that followed meant Maisie would have to leave Britain and travel thousands of miles to Texas, where she would remain for the rest of her pregnancy.

“It was a huge decision,” she said.

Preparing Theo for surgery before birth

The treatment required an international medical journey even before the main operation.

As part of the trial, Maisie first travelled to Leuven Hospital in Belgium, where specialists administered Botox through her womb into Theo’s abdominal wall.

The injection was designed to relax the baby's abdominal muscles, creating better conditions for the surgical repair.

Baby undergoes pioneering surgery before birth, giving family hope against rare defect

The family then travelled onwards to Houston.

In November last year, at 26 weeks of pregnancy, doctors began the delicate operation.

Maisie’s womb was partially exposed so surgeons could position the uterus and baby. The amniotic fluid was drained and replaced with carbon dioxide gas to create additional space for the procedure.

Using keyhole surgical techniques, doctors carefully moved Theo’s exposed intestines back into his abdomen before closing the abdominal wall.

It was an extraordinary procedure — carried out on a baby who had not yet been born.

A painful recovery for Mum

The operation meant Maisie also faced a difficult recovery while still carrying her unborn son.

She was left with a scar roughly twice the size of a typical Caesarean-section incision.

But unlike a woman recovering after giving birth, Maisie still had another 14 weeks of pregnancy ahead of her.

Theo's movements sometimes made the recovery even more painful.

“He would often kick inside her, hitting her scar and causing her pain,” according to the account of the family's experience.

“It was a hard recovery,” Maisie said.

“But, it was worth it.”

Why the surgery matters

Gastroschisis affects approximately one in every 3,000 babies born in the UK each year.

Many babies with the condition require surgery after birth, prolonged intensive care and nutritional support delivered through a tube or intravenous line while their digestive systems recover.

But complex gastroschisis can be considerably more dangerous.

In the most severe cases, newborns may spend months in neonatal intensive care, undergo several operations and require intravenous nutrition for up to two years. Some may ultimately need an intestinal transplant.

Even with advanced medical care, the outlook can be devastating, with around one in 10 babies with the most serious forms dying.

That is why the experimental procedure performed on Theo represents such a significant development.

Rather than waiting until after birth to repair the defect, doctors attempted to correct the problem while the baby was still developing inside the womb.

Theo gets his second chance

After the operation, Maisie continued her pregnancy for another 14 weeks.

And despite the difficult recovery, she eventually reached the moment every parent in the trial had been hoping for.

Baby undergoes pioneering surgery before birth, giving family hope against rare defect

Theo was born by vaginal delivery.

Five months later, he is thriving — a result that his parents say has made every difficult decision, long-distance journey and painful moment worthwhile.

For Maisie and Josh, what began with the shock of an unexpected diagnosis has become a remarkable story of medical innovation.

And for Theo, the surgery may have changed his life before he had even taken his first breath.