My sister pushed me down the stairs at 8 months pregnant. “Apologize for making her angry,” mom demanded as I bled. “You know how stressed she is with her divorce.” I apologized. Then I made one phone call. They had no idea what I would do next…

Pain ripped through Emma Whitaker’s back so suddenly that for one impossible second she did not understand what had happened.

One moment she was standing near the top of the staircase in her parents’ house in Willow Creek, Ohio, one hand on the smooth wooden banister, the other resting over the wide curve of her eight-month pregnant belly. The next,continue reading …