SALT LAKE CITY — When Angela Ibarra-Garcia went in for her 20-week ultrasound, she expected a routine checkup. Instead, she learned her baby girl, Daniela, had spina bifida — a condition where the spine doesn’t form properly and can lead to paralysis and lifelong medical challenges.

“I was worried that she wouldn’t be able to walk and do all those things,” she said.

Doctors at the Grant Scott Bonham Fetal Center at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital offered her an option she never expected: a surgery before her baby was even born.

“We didn’t even think about it. We said, ‘Let’s do it,'” she said.

Five years ago, the Fetal Center began performing in-utero spina bifida repairs — a complex surgery only done at a few centers nationwide.

But this year, the team started using a n

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