placenta abruptio

Filed in archive Health on October 26, 2005

She was my best friend when we were little girls. And at the early age of 7, she already had an acute sense of compassion. She is the kind of people who embody humility, reminding me every day to spread love as far and wide as I need to. Last summer, my friend and I finally celebrated her first being pregnant with much anticipation and excitement. I knew what it meant to her. To be able to give birth. She was having a normal pregnancy when at the beginning of her second trimester, she woke up in the middle of the night bleeding and having painful cramps. An ambulance took her to the hospital where she was diagnosed with placenta abruptio.

The WebMD site explains that "normally, during pregnancy the placenta is firmly attached to the inner wall of the uterus until the baby has born. Placenta abruptio is the premature separation of the placenta before childbirth. It usually occurs in the third trimester of pregnancy, but it can occur any time after the 20th week. Placenta abruptio can lead to preterm birth, low birth weight and major maternal blood loss. On rare occasions, in less than 1 in 1.000 deliveries, severe placenta abruption leads to fetal death."

It is very difficult to determine the exact causes of placenta abruptio. Direct causes are rare, like abdominal trauma (in a car accident for example), sudden loss in uterine volume or an abnormally short umbilical cord. Other risk factors include high blood pressure, maternal age, diabetes in the pregnant woman, cigarette smoking and drinking more than 14 alcoholic drinks per week during pregnancy. (Source healthcentral.com)

My friend is a healthy woman, who exercises regularly and does not smoke nor drink alcohol. Nothing quite explains why she has placenta abruptio. She is doing better and told me last week she feels her baby move now.

How we are all so different and not equal in the face of pregnancy is troubling to me. My family and friends still wonder how I birthed and raised twins without chronic medication. Yet I've never felt lucky nor grateful about it. But I do now.

This truly teaches me that every day with my children is a miracle.

via Creative Reporter,
Irene Nam is a writer living in Paris surviving twinshock, blank page days and dog poop. You can read about her life on her personal blog www.irenenam.squarespace.com