When the Placenta Let Go: Placental Abruption Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe placental abruption, when the placenta begins to separate from the wall of the womb before the baby is born. Writers describe pain that would not go away, a slow bump in the car at a roundabout, a fall at home that was not an accident, bleeding on the highway, preeclampsia that ended in intensive care, and an abruption during an attempt to turn a breech baby. They include a primary school teacher, a hair stylist, a mail carrier expecting twins, a labour and delivery nurse who knew the signs, a deaf woman in an emergency room where nobody could sign, a woman carrying a baby for her sister, women living with sickle cell disease and lupus, and husbands and a grandmother in the corridor. The places range from Leeds to Lusaka, from Taveuni, a boat ride from the hospital, to a hill village three hours by road from care in Nepal. Writers cover emergency caesareans, neonatal care, cooling treatment for a newborn, feeding a baby born at thirty weeks, honest talk about smoking and cocaine, and pregnancy afterwards. Some outcomes are very hard: some writers lost a baby, one lost a twin, and one woke up without her womb, while others describe replaying the day long after everyone came home.

Who it's for

For anyone who has been through a placental abruption or is pregnant again afterwards, and for the partners, parents and friends who waited in the corridor and have their own story.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 263 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.