A Heart Stretched Thin: Peripartum Cardiomyopathy Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe peripartum cardiomyopathy, the heart failure that begins in late pregnancy or the months after birth. Writers describe how it hid — the night cough blamed on dust, the wedding ring that would not come off, weight gained instead of lost, sleeping on three pillows and waking up gasping — and the friend with a stethoscope, the BNP test or the smartwatch that noticed first. There is the echo and an ejection fraction of twenty or thirty percent, the diuretic that drained the fluid away, carvedilol, enalapril and spironolactone, and the question of what was safe while breastfeeding. Writers describe wearing a defibrillator vest, an implanted device, a stroke nobody had warned about, a collapse after twins, and waking up days later in intensive care; some recovered fully, some live at a new normal, and one waited for a new heart. Partners write too, including a husband whose wife did not survive. Later chapters cover genetic testing, coming off the tablets, salt and confinement-month traditions, cost, long drives to a heart scan, the decision about another baby, and what life looks like twenty years on.

Who it's for

For mothers newly diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy, partners and grandmothers running the house around them, women weighing another pregnancy, and midwives and doctors who want to recognise it sooner.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 273 pages

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.