ARTICLE - New blood test of placental health to be trialled Australia-wide

September 23, 2025 - University of Melbourne

A simple blood test of placental health which could prevent many stillbirths will be trialled by University of Melbourne academics and partner institutes across Australia.

The nearly $2 million Medical Research Future Funded study was announced today at the University of Melbourne by Federal Assistant Minister for Health, Rebecca White.

The vision of the project’s new test is to identify pregnancies where the placenta is ailing fast and the unborn baby is at risk of stillbirth.

It would also flag pregnancies where the baby and placenta are healthy, and medical interventions can be safely avoided.

ARTICLE - My son was stillborn. Measuring the placenta might have saved him

September 23, 2025 - Opinion By Ann O’Neill

In 2018, I delivered my son Elijah David on his due date. But instead of joy, it was a day of grief. He was stillborn after an otherwise healthy, uneventful, “low-risk” pregnancy. I had to face the brutal reality of laboring to deliver my dead baby, a horrible silence in the room after his birth, broken only by our tears, and then going home to plan his memorial service.

Stillbirth is the eager, joyful anticipation of bringing home a living baby suddenly crashing down into despair and self-doubt. It is no wonder why families whose babies are stillborn are at higher risk for postpartum depression, anxiety, disenfranchised grief, relationship and financial strain, decreased productivity at work, and even maternal morbidity and mortality.

ARTICLE - Stillbirth education, preventive care is essential for expectant parents

September 17, 2025 - Opinion By Emma Wambeke

My pregnancy with our son Owen was generally normal until, at full term, Owen’s heartbeat couldn’t be found. In spite of my low-risk pregnancy, Owen died before he got the chance to live. It turns out low-risk just meant undiagnosed high-risk.

Looking back, I realized there were red flags and want to share my story as a reminder to others on National Stillbirth Prevention Day.

ARTICLE - A simple test might have saved my son's life

September 16, 2025 - Opinion By Kelly Sargent

I gave birth to my first child at 34 weeks. He never took a breath.

I am sharing my story to advocate for improved prenatal care practices that can significantly reduce the incidence of stillbirths. My pregnancy showed how urgently we need thorough monitoring and comprehensive care, especially for parents with pre-existing conditions. 

ARTICLE - To prevent stillbirth, empower women with knowledge

September 12, 2025 - Opinion By Angela Moxley

The exam room was dark. In a moment I would replay in my mind hundreds of times, I watched the side of my obstetrician’s face, illuminated by the glow of the ultrasound screen. The nurse had called her in after she couldn’t find my baby’s heartbeat with the Doppler wand.

I had gone into the office first thing that morning because I hadn’t been feeling my baby move. He was due in just over three weeks. 

ARTICLE - My daughter’s preventable stillbirth underscores a public health failure

September 9, 2025 - Opinion By Jessica Michel

My daughter Freya Grace was perfect. Five pounds, fourteen ounces, twenty inches long. Her eyelashes, her tiny fingers and toes, the peach fuzz on her back, I’ve memorized every detail. We went into the hospital at 39 weeks, bags packed, ready to bring home our healthy baby girl.

Instead, we left with empty arms and a broken future. When the nurse couldn’t find her heartbeat, I was naïve enough to show her where Freya’s feet were, where her little tushy always pressed against my belly. I thought surely they just needed a better machine.

ARTICLE - My stillbirth blindsided me. Doctors and researchers can do better and Congress can help

August 10, 2025 - Opinion By Helen Raleigh

My husband and I experienced an unimaginable loss when our son, Lucas, was stillborn seven years ago.
On May 14, 2018, just a day after Mother’s Day, my husband and I went to the hospital. I was 39 weeks pregnant with our first child. With joy and anticipation, we were looking forward to meeting our son, Lucas. His name means “light,” because his arrival would light up our world.

PODCAST On Air With Brittany Baldi - Measure the Placenta: Amanda F and Her Story

February 18, 2025

Amanda F is a loss momma. Her first daughter was stillborn. She now works with many others to advocate and bring awareness to the topic of measuring the placenta. A small placenta can be a cause for stillbirth. Britt and Amanda also discuss numerous other topics such as her early years, meeting her husband, and lovingly being a momma to living children.

ARTICLE - The Case for Integrating Placental Pathology into Prospective Clinical Trials

November 14, 2024

Perinatal pathologists are calling for placental pathology to be incorporated into prospective clinical trials so they can start telling clinical providers what the findings in their reports mean. For want of funding and the relevant diagnostic expertise, the placenta has long been a woefully under-investigated organ that could be providing critical insights on pregnancy-related conditions like preeclampsia and preterm birth that are currently defined solely based on a clinical diagnosis, according to Mana Parast, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pathology at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and director of the perinatal pathology service at UC San Diego Health.  

PODCAST Cuppa with a Doula - small placenta may be the leading cause of full term stillbirth

October 27, 2024

Thanks for tuning into today’s conversation with the amazing Ann, all the way from the USA who shares with us the story of her motherhood journey and in particular the birth and death and her baby Elijah who passed away at term due to a small placenta size. Since then, Ann has created an amazing organisation in the USA called measure the placenta, backed by research showing that the detection of small placentas through measuring the placenta during pregnancy could help prevent a large number of stillbirths. 

ARTICLE Discarding the placenta after birth leads to loss of valuable information, pathologists say

September 18, 2024

Physician-scientists argue that with most placentas discarded after birth, placental pathology is underutilized clinically, should be a routine part of obstetric and neonatal care, and also deserves more research attention.

PODCAST The Sad Mom’s Club - Amanda’s Story of Loss and Stillbirth Prevention

July 9, 2024

Amanda shares the emotional story of her daughter Junie, a full-term stillbirth. She shares the details of the pregnancy and the birth of her daughter. Since losing Junie, Amanda has become an advocate for various practices that can prevent stillbirth including placental measurement, monitoring fetal movements, and advocating for yourself.

ARTICLE The Ephemeral Organ: Researchers Look Closer at the Placenta

May 29, 2024

A better understanding of the placenta may help curb maternal and fetal mortality rates, but progress is slow.

PODCAST Silent Footprints - Freya’s Mom - EPV/Measure the Placenta

May 1, 2024

Measure the Placenta team member Jessica is a guest on episode 18 of Silent Footprints. Jessica recently got involved with a life saving organization called Measure the Placenta. If she knew of these life saving measures like EPV, maybe she could have saved Freya’s life. Now, instead of sitting on the sidelines, she is sharing her journey and bringing hope and comfort to other families.

PODCAST The Butterfly Broadcast - Measure the Placenta for Junie

March 27, 2024

Measure the Placenta team member Amanda, a Minnesota mama to three girls and co-founder of the instagram page @measuretheplacenta, is a guest on episode 53 of The Butterfly Broadcast. During her first pregnancy with Juniper, baby was measuring small at the anatomy scan so she was regularly monitored by MFM specialists. Despite the extra care, an important diagnosis of small placenta was missed and was not adequately treated for IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction) which unfortunately cost Juniper her life. Take a listen to learn how Amanda honors her daughter by advocating for public education in stillbirth prevention.

ARTICLE If This Pregnancy Screening Could Prevent 30% Of Stillbirths, Why Is No One Using It?

December 13, 2023

The standard of care for pregnant people is a very difficult thing to change.

PODCAST Science Friday - Placenta Research May Help Explain Pregnancy Loss

October 27, 2023

Dr. Harvey Kliman joins guest host Flora Lichtman to talk about his research, and the importance of studying the placenta as a way to better understand what leads to miscarriage and stillbirth.

ARTICLE Cologne woman advocates for stillborn awareness in D.C.

October 27, 2023

Measure the Placenta team member Amanda was featured in her hometown newspaper for her advocacy work.

ARTICLE Placenta holds answers to many unexplained pregnancy losses, study finds

September 19, 2023

Yale researchers show that placental examination could help determine the cause of more than 90% of previously unexplained pregnancy losses.

PODCAST At a Total Loss - Dr Heather Florescue, OBGYN

May 25, 2023

Dr Florescue is championing for major change in the prevention of stillbirth and she alone seems to be the only one in her field. We are hopeful that after hearing her speak, others will want to step forward and join her in the fight to end preventable stillbirth as well as help provide better bereavement and grief support to families as they navigate pregnancy after loss.

ARTICLE What You Need to Know About Stillbirths

May 3, 2023

Part of ProPublica’s ongoing series on stillbirth, this piece looks at how the U.S. has not prioritized stillbirth prevention, and American parents are losing babies even as other countries make larger strides to reduce deaths late in pregnancy. A link to Measure the Placenta is included in the piece.

PODCAST At a Total Loss - Dr Harvey Kliman

February 16, 2023

Katherine Lazar chats with Dr. Harvey Kliman about his research and medical opinion when it comes to the placenta, pregnancy loss/stillbirth, and reoccurring pregnancies.