When a rare kidney pathology was discovered in the fetus, the expectant mother was forced to choose between losing the child and undergoing a risky operation. She was willing to go to any length to save her son. Natalie Kinsella, 38, experienced no complications during her five-month pregnancy. However, a 20-week screening revealed a serious kidney pathology in the fetus, which could lead to death. The diagnosis sounded like a verdict: left kidney hydronephrosis.

This is a disease in which the child’s still undeveloped organ swells and becomes unable to remove urine, causing it to accumulate in the pelvis.A massive cyst pressed on the fetus’s back and other internal organs, complicating matters. Natalie was offered surgery at Birmingham Women’s Hospital, but she was warned that surgery carries the risk of premature labor and pregnancy fading. It was also impossible to leave everything alone – a cyst of this size could kill a baby.

Natalie decided to have surgery after consulting with her husband. Doctors extracted six full syringes of fluid from the cyst during the 27th week of pregnancy, and the fetus’s condition improved. However, an ultrasound a week later revealed that the cyst had grown again, this time to the size of an orange.Natalie was devastated, but she maintained her faith in doctors.

And when she was offered another surgery, she gladly accepted. This time, surgeons used an innovative treatment method: a shunt was inserted into the kidney via a thin needle inserted into the uterus, which helped to drain the accumulated fluid from it. Finley’s health and life were not jeopardized as a result of the operation, which Natalie referred to as a success.

The shunt aided his development up to 30 weeks and birth. Finley was born weighing 2.1 kilograms and spent the first six weeks of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit. “Four days after giving birth, I was allowed to take him in my arms,” Natalie recalls. “It was terrible seeing my son with all these tubes and wires, but we are very grateful to the doctors for helping our child.”Unfortunately, the examination revealed that the cyst on the left kidney was not functioning.

When the child grows up, it will have to be removed. However, the prognosis for survival remains positive, and doctors anticipate that a second, healthy kidney will be able to function for two years.Natalie, a mother of four children, has no regrets about agreeing to the surgery. “I think with horror that by refusing, I could have lost my son forever,” she says.