“He began having seizures. He required a wheelchair, was unable to feed himself, could not use the restroom, and basically became dependent for all of his daily needs. But in the midst of all the changes, Kelly never lost his ability to smile.”
‘He should be institutionalized!’ People wanted to know why we didn’t put him in a home to free up our time.’: Nephew of late uncle with Down syndrome shares his journey, ‘I always knew Kelly’s life mattered’
‘When people find out we’re expecting they say, ‘Wow, you’re brave.’ ‘Brave’ often sounds a lot like ‘crazy.’: Mom pregnant with rainbow baby during quarantine, ‘This is exactly the right time’
“This little one is the exact person we need, joining our family at exactly the right time. We know this is how things were designed to be.”
‘I don’t know where you guys live, but where I am, there’s structure and a schedule. It’s flexible and resilient.’: Woman reminds others to ‘find happiness in what’s in front of us’
“I don’t have to set my alarm. My husband and I stay up late watching our favorite show. We’ll be staying at home until the summer.”
‘I quickly pick up my phone and have a peek at Zoom. I was scammed by my 5-year old. It looked like he was listening.’: Mom hilariously pranked by 5-year-old, ‘Today’s home school session was mildly unsupervised’
“Today’s home school session was mildly unsupervised. He had his sisters iPad, propped up and situated perfectly in front of his iPad’s camera lenses. A picture of him sitting at the desk looking slightly amused. Scammed by a 5-year-old. I AM DEAD.”
‘I heard him say to his sister Ellie, ‘I’m going to save these for you. We can all have chocolate for my birthday!’ I swelled with pride.’: Mom explains why teaching kids to share is a ‘priority’
“Today my son woke up to birthday presents. Right away, he gave out his chocolate to his siblings and his mommy and daddy. Next, he gave his sisters a balloon for their bedroom. We have never FORCED them to share. We’ve just always modeled it.”
‘Get off the frontline, you aren’t a hero.’ I wasn’t supposed to be seeing COVID patients at 8 months pregnant.’: Physician Assistant fights COVID-19 during 3rd trimester
“I heard, ‘You are a bad mother.’ ‘You’re putting your child’s life at risk.’ It is heavy, it’s raw, and it leaves us feeling incredibly vulnerable. There is no place for shame in motherhood.”
‘Will you take a 2-year-old little girl?’ I didn’t sign up to foster 5 kids under 5!’: Single mom adopts 5 kids from foster care, ‘Once I saw their faces, I couldn’t say no’
“‘First comes love, then comes marriage and then comes a baby in the baby carriage.’ But what if you can’t get to love?! There I was, 38 years old with no man in sight. It was time to stop waiting for Mr. Right. It was time to take action.”
‘My boss said, ‘You’re a liability due to your health issues.’ I felt like I’d lost my purpose. I didn’t think I’d make it.’: Child abuse survivor, chronic illness warrior births child with down syndrome, ‘I WILL be the mother my kids deserve’
“We were told, ‘Your daughter has Down syndrome and will need heart surgery.’ I was urged to have an abortion, due to my own health issues. Everyone doubted my ability to be a mother to a special needs child. I was determined to prove everyone wrong.”
‘Go home and rest. It appears there is nothing we can do to prevent this.’ I look over at my husband and his face breaks me.’: Mom adopts after infertility battle, ‘He chose us, he set us aside to be parents’
“Every time I saw some pregnant woman smoking a cigarette… I questioned how in the world he could be giving all of these women these babies and they can’t even take care of them? It hit me like a semi-truck. They fulfilled us and completed our lives.”
‘Ezra is sick and I can’t get to him!’ We sat in tears while they operated on him in front of us.’: Mom loses baby to Congenital Leukemia, ‘He worked so hard to make sure we got to meet him’
“The doctor explained, ‘Ezra has bleeding on the brain that we can’t stop.’ We were told they believed the kindest thing to do was to turn his life support machine off. She asked me so many questions about what I did during my pregnancy, as if something I had done may have caused it.”