# Episode 34: Placental Abruption, with Lesley Anne Viñales Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/born-on-the-rock-gibraltar-birth-stories-7113173/episode-34-placental-abruption-with-lesley-anne-vi-ales Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/born-on-the-rock-gibraltar-birth-stories-7113173/episode-34-placental-abruption-with-lesley-anne-vi-ales.md Podcast: [Born on The Rock: Gibraltar Birth Stories](https://stenobird.com/podcast/born-on-the-rock-gibraltar-birth-stories-7113173) Published: 2025-09-11T10:30:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/born-on-the-rock-gibraltar-birth-stories/episodes/68b83563ac09b9f6509b8555 Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/67448343507c8fc412e7b32b/e/68b83563ac09b9f6509b8555/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/born-on-the-rock-gibraltar-birth-stories-7113173/episodes/episode-34-placental-abruption-with-lesley-anne-vi-ales Duration seconds: 6793 ## Resource KEY TOPICS: 2 births, early miscarriages, subchorionic hematoma, hyperemesis, placental abruption, prematurity, emergency caesarean, pandemic, short age-gap, elective caesarean, blood transfusion, autism   We're squeezing a huge range of topics into this fascinating episode, with Lesley Anne Viñales and her husband. This couple married young and took a relaxed approach to starting their family, but as the years passed with two sad early miscarriages, they began to think parenthood could be out of reach. Happily, they became pregnant... but as the pandemic hit! Lesley speaks about the challenges of being an expectant mother when the whole world locked down.   At 33 weeks while in Spain, she felt increasing pain... followed by a sudden, heavy bleed. A frightening rush followed to get to Gibraltar, and thanks to the actions of a quick-thinking border officer, the couple reached St Bernard's quickly. It's an emotional listen as Lesley describes the blur of an emergency caesarean - her doctor detected life-threatening placental abruption, and safely delivered their daughter.  Unusually for a premature baby, she didn't have to leave the Rock for specialist care. Lesley reflects on how different the outcome could have been. She healed well and they settled into family life in the summer of 2020.   Then along came a second, unexpected pregnancy! Lesley explains the irony of the new baby's due date, and speaks about navigating gallbladder issues, another haematoma and more hyperemesis. She was monitored closely, and an elective caesarean was deemed the safest option. Their second daughter arrived healthy at full-term, and Lesley reflects on the two contrasting birth experiences, describing them as like 'night and day.'   Th… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/born-on-the-rock-gibraltar-birth-stories-7113173/episodes/episode-34-placental-abruption-with-lesley-anne-vi-ales/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/born-on-the-rock-gibraltar-birth-stories-7113173/episode-34-placental-abruption-with-lesley-anne-vi-ales.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.