“The phone rings. A client of yours is bleeding at 15 weeks. She’s worried and has a history of loss. You go over to listen for a heartbeat to find no fetal tone, no baby’s heartbeat. That look on her face; you carry that home and it sits on your mind heavily for the next few days. You couldn’t stop thinking about her even if you tried.”
‘You look in her eyes and don’t need to say a word. You feel her sadness and defeat. Without choice, you carry it home.’: Birth worker shares candid peek inside emotional profession
Don’t Forget To Check In On New Moms
“Who holds the mom while she holds the baby? Why is it when a woman has a baby, we tend to put more focus on the baby than the mother?”
‘I think there’s something wrong with me. I know I should love her, but I just don’t feel anything.’: First-time mom shares battle with postpartum anxiety, intrusive thoughts
“I was never the woman who saw her baby on the screen and fell rapturously in love. I figured it would come once we met in person. It didn’t. And I felt terrified and ashamed. What mother doesn’t love their child at first sight?!”
Everything I Wish I Knew Before Getting Pregnant With My Rainbow Baby
“Getting pregnant after a miscarriage can be triggering, but be gentle with yourself.”
‘Your baby girl isn’t growing properly.’ My daughter doesn’t need changing. This world does.’: Mom to daughter with dwarfism advocates for inclusion
“Without much explanation, the doctor headed back to her office to look over the measurements, leaving me to delve into Google. Without enough info, full of fear and armed with nothing but shock and anxiety, I stumbled upon scary statistics, a lack of information and words that seemed jumbled on the page.”
‘I heard the word ‘defect’ among whispers. Tears flowed, but her worth remained unchanged.’: Mom shares daughter’s journey with Down Syndrome, heart diagnoses
“I had my 20-week anatomy scan. This is always my favorite appointment, where the sonographer details every portion of the growing baby, and I go home to put a perfect sonogram photo on the fridge. This appointment was different.”
‘The person she’ll become tonight will awe the person she is right now.’: Mom reflects on childbirth, shares words of encouragement for new moms
“‘Here we go,’ she texted me, with a photo of her in a hospital gown, lovely and tired. I felt ever so vividly where she was.”
‘I asked my husband, ‘Who does she look like?’ His response was, ‘She doesn’t really look like any of us.’: Mom births rainbow baby with Down Syndrome after 10 miscarriages
“Not only did Rebecca have Down Syndrome, but she also had 2 holes in her heart and a fissure.”
‘Your wife looks really suspicious for Munchausen’s by proxy.’ He warned other doctors about me.’: Mom to medically complex child urges ‘ALWAYS trust your gut’ after doctor’s malpractice
“I later learned he had a pattern of doing this to mothers. It’s unfortunately a very real reality for mothers of chronically ill children.”
‘We were twice blessed!’: Woman battling infertility births miracle twins in final IVF attempt
“I nearly gave up. I was tired of tricking my body into thinking it might be pregnant. This would be our last attempt.”