At 34 Weeks Pregnant, Things Were Too Quiet. Then the Itching Started.
When Kelsey Osgood began encountering mysterious complications in her pregnancy, her doctor told her, “Obstetrics is not a great branch of medicine. We often have to make a guess.” Did Kelsey make the right choice by having her son early? Can she ever know the answer to that question?
A New Book Combats the Loneliness of Parenting a Premature Baby, Slate
After Melody Schreiber’s son was born at 29 weeks, the new mom realized what she needed most was companionship for her new reality.
Perfect Pitch: Melody Schreiber’s Query for What We Didn’t Expect
My literary agent, Eric Smith, discusses why this project spoke to him, and what other writers can consider as they propose literary nonfiction anthologies.
Native America Calling: Insights on Preterm Birth
Featuring Shawn Spruce, contributor to What We Didn’t Expect
From the show: Preterm birth rates for Native mothers are consistently higher than the national average. More than one in ten Native pregnancies fail to reach full term. Any birth before 37 weeks has statistical risks, but depending on how premature they are, preterm newborns face a myriad of health dangers including serious brain, heart, and gastrointestinal problems. There are a number of prenatal risk factors, some of which mothers have control over to help their babies go to full term. We’ll talk about premature births and what parents of premature babies should expect.
Melody Schreiber 