Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode

Shattered Conception


Jul 19, 2019

My guest is Dr. Ann O’Neill. Ann completed her Master’s degree in Environmental Science in 2006, and her PhD in Natural Resource Science & Management in 2015. Excitedly anticipating the arrival of their 4th son in July of 2018 and were shocked to learn Elijah, no longer had a heartbeat at 39 weeks and 6 days of pregnancy. Elijah was stillborn on his due date, July 2nd, 2018. They returned home from the hospital in desperate tears, bewildered, arms aching, and with a million questions.

Three months after Elijah’s stillbirth, the autopsy report concluded that the cause of Elijah’s death was “unknown”.  Unhappy with the insufficient answers to basic questions provided by the autopsy, Ann listened to a podcast interview of Dr. Harvey Kliman, a placental pathologist at Yale University. On this episode, Ann discusses learning that Elijah’s death was due to an extremely small placenta that could not provide the oxygen he needed to survive past week 39 of pregnancy. While Ann’s original plan was to continue teaching environmental science classes to undergraduate students, Elijah’s death was a watershed moment in her life. Elijah's death opened Ann’s eyes to the many unacceptable gaps in the world of prenatal care, stillbirth research, and basic answers for families asking why their baby died. Today, Ann is passionate about encouraging prenatal care providers to measure a baby’s placenta volume in utero to detect babies at high risk of stillbirth, and to help loss families pursue and hopefully find answers to the cause of their baby’s death.

Ann can be reached by email: ann.ebert.oneill@gmail.com

To learn more about Estimated Placental Volume (EPV) to measure placenta volumes during pregnancy: https://medicine.yale.edu/obgyn/kliman/placenta/epv/

To learn about having your baby’s placenta tissue reviewed by Dr. Harvey Kliman to investigate why your baby was miscarried or stillborn: https://medicine.yale.edu/obgyn/kliman/placenta/pregnancyloss/

Star Legacy Foundation is in Minnesota and are dedicated to stillbirth research.