“I had planned my son’s funeral. I had cried brutally painful tears which turned to moans because I had none left. That day, my life changed. I thought I had witnessed miracles in the past, but those were just test runs and rehearsals for this moment. I know when the anesthesiologist said, ‘We’ll treat him as our own,’ she meant it.”
“I am not a perfect wife. I get jealous. I’ve snooped through his phone. I’ve done things I’m not proud of. I have insecurities. I’ve been cheated on.”
“I just crack and act like a maniac. I yell ridiculous things at my people, get pushed to the Breaking Point. And once I’m there, I feel terrible for losing it. It doesn’t mean we’re bad people, just human ones.”
“I was having a good day. I expected to walk up the block, finish my errands. From the corner of my eye, I saw an older man in a red sweater. ‘OW OW! How much?’ He could see my anger. ‘Sorry, miss. I thought you were a hooker. Your dress is so short.’ My dress was BELOW THE KNEE. The first thing my daughter asked when we got home was, ‘Mommy, what’s a pros-toot-toot?” I was livid.”
“I know it’s not easy. But we see you. And we–all your girls–are behind you.”
“This embryo was a fighter from the beginning – it took. Then I got a life changing phone call. ‘Your baby has Down syndrome,’ the nurse informed me. WHAT? We signed paperwork saying we DIDN’T want any blood tests. The nurse, in an effort to ‘bond’ with me, told me how she got pregnant naturally with twins. One of the twins died, and the other twin had Down syndrome, so she terminated. ‘We would have taken that baby,’ my husband replied.”
“This was her first birthday party. We had over 30 guests waiting downstairs to celebrate her. I couldn’t go down. I only had one thought: ‘This day is a celebration of everything she can’t do.’ In my closet, I huddled in a ball, trying to find my brave face. We were already 3 months into speech and physical therapy. We’d seen all 3 specialists and were no closer to an answer.”
“‘Everything will change when you have your own kids together.’ The comments stung. He had a vasectomy in his first marriage. I felt robbed. He had the young love. He married young. As we enter our 3rd year of infertility, will his first wife will be the only woman who will share this part of him? The part I always wished for? I made it ‘my fault’ we couldn’t get pregnant. I lied, covered up the truth.”
“It was just after 11 a.m. on a Saturday morning when I received the phone call from my mom. ‘Your sister has been in a car accident.’ She was headed to the hospital. I’ll never forget the pain in my dad’s voice and anguish in my mother’s cry’s echoing in the background. I decided in that room of 7 doctors that my sister had already showed us she wants to live!”
“Her words were confident as she loaded the belt with groceries, one by one, BEAMING. I smiled. ‘Oh! That’s not how it works. My bio son isn’t some weird reward for adopting.’ A lady actually argued with me. She told me pregnancy and biological babies are always the goal, ‘congrats for me.’ He was always our plan.”
