“The ultrasound technician laughed. ‘What is it?,’ we said. She looked at us. ‘There are two in there!’ I immediately cracked up laughing. Rayni looked like she had seen a ghost! ‘Are you serious?’”
‘We were literally one in a million. This happens once out of every million pregnancies! We had been chosen for this task.’: Mom births Identical twins with Down syndrome
‘I turned to the nurse, ‘If you won’t take me to see her, I will crawl if I have to.’ My best friend looked at the nurse and said ‘You might want to read her chart, she’s not kidding.’
“When everyone around me was telling me to give up, I took a chance. I did what every 21st century parent does, and what every doctor tells you not to do and I googled it. I found cannabis.”
‘Our daughter was referred to as a number, I still remember that number to this day. I dropped to my knees and cried and begged and pleaded.’
“I felt so guilty, why couldn’t my body handle being pregnant?”
‘I kept hearing questions, ‘Should we keep resuscitating the baby? Mom, can we wheel you closer?’ I resisted coming closer; it meant goodbye.’: Woman pregnant with twins after infertility loses son after early labor
“Nurses and doctors flooded the bedside of a tiny precious human. My little boy. Alex stood off to the side letting the team work.”
‘I still remember where I was standing. A 19 year old girl wanted to chat. Something didn’t feel right. Then we saw her from a distance.’
“We knew there was a 72 hour waiting period where the birth parents minds could change and so could our world.”
‘I screamed ‘Do you need to pee?’ at my 4-year-old during her game. She said, ‘No,’ then peed her pants. Couldn’t help but respect her dedication to the game.’
“We’re two weeks into soccer season. Practice is on Tuesday afternoons, so we can have dinner at 3 p.m. or 10 p.m. My 4-year-old listens to her soccer coach better than she’s EVER listened to me in the history of her life, and I’m trying really hard not to be bitter about that.”
‘As a mom, you just KNOW. Something didn’t feel right.’: Mother discusses son’s autism diagnosis
“I wish I could’ve jumped into one of those passing cars and pretended it never happened. That I hitchhiked, ran away, disappeared. I thought we could find someone to ‘fix’ my son. As the woman in the office spoke, I couldn’t take my eyes off her mouth. I knew the word that would come. I didn’t believe her.”
‘Get here now! It’s bad, it’s real bad.’ I jumped out of bed and yelled, ‘We have to go now! Something has happened.’ I knelt down beside him. ‘I am so sorry son, I love you so much Joshua.’
“My fiancé hardly had the car in park. I jumped out and ran down the driveway toward my son. Before I could get to Josh, two police officers held me back. I cried out, ‘My baby, my baby, I want my baby!’ At that moment, I knew my worst nightmare had come true. My precious son was gone in a blink of an eye.”
‘When we’ve been told ‘sorry, this table’s full,’ is when we shine best. When we’ve been left out. That’s when we shine.’
“That’s when get out our hammer and nails and build a NEW table and include EVERYONE who has ever been left standing on the outside of the circle begging for an invitation.”
‘I answered the phone. ‘Anne?’ No, this is her daughter.’ ‘Oh, I didn’t know she had a daughter.’ Did my mom not talk about me? Was I not good enough for her?’: Woman recounts relationship with her mother
“When she asked how far along I was, I told her, ‘just 3 weeks.’ She responded with, ‘Wow, you’re really on top of things.’ I felt like I loved Grace more? What was wrong with me? I didn’t tell anyone, not even my husband.”