“Is my baby boy okay? All I wanted was my husband. Waiting for him to arrive at the hospital felt like a lifetime. When he arrived I collapsed into his arms sobbing. He asked what was wrong, but I could barely get the words out.”
‘He is coming!’ I was alone. I was in denial. My husband was deployed. I couldn’t possibly be giving birth without my two partners present.’
‘I thought, ‘How is THIS nothing to worry about?’ The walls were closing in. Everything turned black and I couldn’t move my body. ‘It’s common for college students to be under a lot of stress.’
“I decided to request one specific blood test; one that was much harder to receive than it should have been. I had to basically force my doctor to test me. One week later, I was finally given the answer I had been longing so badly for.”
‘I got a call from my dad. In a moment of panic, I blurted quickly, ‘Dad, I’m pregnant.’ There was radio silence on his end. I remember thinking it’d never get easier.’: Teen mom’s journey keeping her baby and co-parenting
“The friends I had gone to high school with tore me apart online for posting a picture of my baby and saying I loved him. ‘How can you say you love him when you didn’t even want him,’ they wrote. ‘You didn’t even want to be a mom.’”
‘She looked me dead in the eye. ‘What is it? Did the man leave?’ I can tell she was scared, her face went pale. Then I called 911.’
“I remember her concentrating on a certain part of my shirt, of course, I was scared. I never made it seem as if she was alone in this journey.”
‘I was SO nervous the morning of the surprise. But as I watched him cry tears of joy, the burden was instantly lifted.’: Special needs mom reciprocates kindness to recycling driver
“I thought that would be it. I was wrong. What is a mundane task to many is a big deal around here.”
‘Why can’t we just fly to Heaven and bring her back down?,’ our son asked. We told our kids I had a baby in my belly, but she had a boo-boo on her head, and would not come home with us.’
“I had a strong mom instinct. First thing on Monday morning, I shut my ultrasound door and put the probe on my belly to check out the progress of the baby. Immediately, I knew something was wrong.”
‘I was worried about falling asleep the night before I turned 10. The doctor said I wouldn’t live past 10. I always carried ‘expiration dates’ with me. It wasn’t the last time I was told I had this amount of time to live.’
“Mrs. Chase, I don’t think you need to worry about how many sick days Leah has, or if she is held back because of it because she will not live past 10-years-old.”
‘I rushed to the hospital. ‘I’ve never seen anything like this,’ the surgeon said. Our pregnancy checkup had gone well. There was never a reason to believe something was wrong. Our excitement turned to disbelief.’
“Her skin was pulled so tightly that her eyelids had flipped inside out. We were informed her limbs could suddenly detach on their own. Every day, we faced a new challenge.”
‘You’re going to have to get off Facebook, the sadness is overwhelming and it’s time for you to take a break.’ My heart broke every day. It was way too close to home.’
“‘Bridgette is going to need more than a lemonade stand, we need to do something to make her smile and raise money.’ She pointed to one of the dresses and said ‘Mom these dresses are beautiful, maybe the lady who makes these can make mine?’ I looked up the designers and with a hopeful heart we reached out.”
‘She was born with her umbilical chord around her neck, her face blue from lack of oxygen. She came into the world feet first. She always goes about things her own way, birth was no exception.’
“I had no idea what was happening, but I knew my mom was behind a cold, closed door that I wasn’t allowed to go through. I wish I could’ve held her hand – she needed it.”