The Heller School for Social Policy and Management
National Center for Disability and Pregnancy Research

Our Community Blog

Welcome to the National Center for Disability and Pregnancy Research's community blog page! On this page you'll find our blog feed—a list of published blog posts that discuss pregnancy among disabled people from various angles and across a wide range of experiences.

The Pregnancy Center's blog originally began as an offshoot of the blog for the National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities, also housed at the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy. However, with numerous posts submitted that especially concerned pregnancy and childbirth, we felt it was time to make room for our own community blog focused on pregnancy and birth experiences. That's what you find here on this page.

Have an idea for a blog post? Check out our submission guidelines here. 

And please enjoy previous blog posts on pregnancy and disability that we have compiled below.

Recent Blog Posts

Preeclampsia’s Far Worse than Childbirth: What My Doctors Didn’t Tell Me about Placenta Abruption

“The amount of blood you’re losing is far more than typical for a regular labor,” said the doctor. “I think you’re having a placenta abruption with one of your twins.”

By Chelsea Devona | March 2025

My Experience as an Immigrant and Expectant Mother with a Physical Disability

What does it mean to be an expectant mother with a physical disability? And what does it mean to be an expectant mother who is an immigrant in the United States?

By Aggie Hu | August 2022

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Browse Our Full Set of Blog Posts on Disabled People and Pregnancy!

Preeclampsia’s far worse than childbirth: What my doctors didn’t tell me about placenta abruption

Mar 27, 2025

Preeclampsia can damage or destroy almost every one of the mother’s organs and is risky for the baby too—it can reduce a baby’s access to blood, oxygen, and nutrients. Preeclampsia is so dangerous that doctors often induce labor shortly after diagnosis even if the baby is premature.

After the diagnosis: Battling HG for a healthy twin pregnancy

May 29, 2024

by Chelsea Devona NOTE: In this post, Chelsea describes her experience after receiving a diagnosis of hyperemesis gravidarum. Her earlier post describes her experience up to the diagnosis. The physical toll of a pregnancy with twins with a diagnosis of hyperemesis gravidarum was enormous. I experienced intense nausea immediately and it continued throughout my entire …

Continue reading "After the diagnosis: Battling HG for a healthy twin pregnancy"

A twin pregnancy with a diagnosis of Charlotte Brontë’s pregnancy disability—hyperemesis gravidarum

Dec 18, 2023

Hyperemesis is a disability I’d read about in my pregnancy books, with vague descriptions like “the morning sickness from hell” and “if you think you have this, get thee to a doctor ASAP.” But my life—already affected by pregnancy—was completely upended by this disability, which affects approximately 0.3-2% of pregnancies.