“I went to poop really quick. To my surprise, I sat down on the toilet and felt a head descending. ‘The baby is coming!!!’ I stood up while my baby’s head was being born into my hands.”
‘Twins?! NO. WAY. Are you sure you’re seeing things correctly on the screen?!’ I was nearly 24 weeks along.’: Mom births twins at home, ‘Nothing went according to plan, and that’s okay’
‘Did he think we abandoned him?’ I was still grieving. He hardly slept day or night. I struggled to feel connection.’: Couple foster to adopt, ‘If you don’t get attached, you’re doing it wrong’
“Within minutes, I was holding him in my arms. It was as if my arms had always been missing something. Him. Grief hit hard when he was reunified with mom.”
‘Can you take in 3 siblings? They’ve been in foster care 15 months and need parents.’ We cried tears of joy.’: Couple adopt 4 siblings from foster care, ‘They are our heroes’
“Sitting in traffic, my phone began to ring. My husband said very frankly, ‘Yes…Of course…When do you need us to come?’ He whispered, ‘Another sibling was born yesterday. They want him to join our family.’ He didn’t even have a name. I immediately began to cry and shook my head yes.”
‘We found ourselves unexpectedly pregnant during finals week. I feared shame would follow my baby bump and I on campus.’: Young mom urges ’embrace your reality and its surprises’
“We were long-distance, unmarried, and unprepared. A gaping sinkhole opened up and swallowed the ‘normal’ out of this socially well-adjusted, academically inclined, and on-task college kid. There I was, confused and afraid…with life inside of me.”
‘I asked the nanny, ‘What happened to his eye?’ Doctors assured it was ‘pink eye.’: Mom urges ‘throw them away’ after bath toy nearly blinds toddler
“The redness was spreading down his neck. When he woke at 6 a.m. I screamed to my husband, ‘Get in the car!’ His eye was so swollen the white part was bulging out from between his eyelid and his iris was obscured. He felt hot to the touch. A temperature check revealed a raging fever.”
‘Why are you making me do this?’ My 13-year-old son was helping me install a bathroom sink. ‘Did YOUR your dad make you do stuff like this?’: Dad vows ‘I will teach my son the things my father never did’
“I wasn’t sure how to answer. ‘When I was your age, my dad was in jail. I want to show you how to do the things my father never taught me.’ He thought about what I’d said, and then he asked a question I didn’t expect: ‘Will you show me how to use the caulk gun?'”
‘Where’s their mom?’ She assumed I was kidnapping my son. She didn’t believe me when I said, ‘I’m Dad.’ The suffering of kids in foster care knows no color.’: Single foster, adoptive dad says ‘matching hearts make a family’
“I get strange looks at the grocery store. I don’t fit the stereotype of the absent or minimally involved black father. I am not a weekend dad. I’m here for my kids, always. When questioned about the whereabouts of my children’s mother, I politely say, ‘I am both their mother and their father.’ It’s a big job—but my heart is equipped for this.”
‘We were pregnant, adopting 3 children who didn’t speak our language. We were DOUBLING our family.’: Mom shares ‘crazy, life-changing adventure’ of adoption
“There is nothing sexy about taking SIX kids on a plane or driving a church van, but these are the things that bring us the greatest joy.”
‘My husband threw his cuff links across the room and said, ‘I want an annulment.’ I spent the first night as his wife alone on a hard hotel couch.’: Ex-couple join forces to co-parent after divorce
“Weeks from our wedding I was told, ‘You have cancer.’ He arrived at the hospital reeking of perfume. ‘I found someone. I’m in love. She’s pregnant.’ He left our fairytale for the woman I sat next to at his company dinner. She’d just rubbed my pregnant belly.”
‘You know, you can prevent that.’ We conceived another child out of wed-lock. I don’t have a kid-collecting complex.’: Mom of 9 grateful for ‘the gift of motherhood’
“My water broke at 22 weeks. I spent weeks on bedrest at home with 4 kids under 4. We spent 8 weeks separated, me in a hospital bed, begging God to bring my boy into the world healthy.”