“WHAT!! How?? I had an alarm on my phone reminding me to take my pill every single day! She insisted I test anyway…sure enough, it was positive. ‘This isn’t a baby yet. You have options.’ Once I saw the baby on the ultrasound, I knew my only option was to give our child a chance at life. I knew God had a plan for me.”
“The day after my biopsy, I received a phone call. ‘Wow, the results came fast. Must be good news!’ The nurse put the doctor on. ‘Hi, Danielle. I want you to know we found cancer…’ Suddenly, all of the air was sucked out of my body. I called my sister. ‘Man, you cursed me. I have it.’ I could hear my mom in the background saying, ‘Are you EFFING kidding me?!’ We were battling this together.”
“She wasn’t acting like other 2-year-olds we knew. Everyone told me I was crazy, but there was something wrong. I told her I pulled over, but kept driving. ‘I think your daughter is having seizures. I think she has epilepsy.’ There was a long pause as I pulled over, no longer cocky and full of myself. ‘Excuse me?’ I replied. I don’t remember the rest of the conversation.”
“When I moved two years ago, I didn’t know a soul. After 9 years in Chicago raising babies, I was terrified to start all over again, leaving behind an amazing mom tribe I’d formed. Starting from scratch in a new city is like dating. But during my first year in San Antonio, I met Amy at a PTA meeting.”
“My mother is a strong woman who NEVER complains about pain. Yet, there she was, writhing. Our doctor pulled up her records and angrily listed off her history of meds out loud. ‘Why did you take these?!’ He interrogated her. He wouldn’t give her an IV drip or her blood pressure meds. Her body was never physically checked. Instead, he tried to ‘out’ her as a drug abuser in front of her family!”
“My husband was active-duty military when we felt the calling to foster. ‘You’re so strong little man.’ All we could hear was a shallow cry from his tiny mouth. ‘Please, God, let him live.’ We never left his side.”
“He just kept looking through the windshield and kept driving like it wasn’t exactly what he was doing! I was hiding in our basement when they came into the church”
“This started long before ‘wine mom culture’. Earlier that morning, I was running errands alone. I pulled into a grocery store without thinking. That’s all it took. Horrified, my husband said, ‘You’ve got to stop. Emily, you need help.’ He breathalyzed me daily while taking away all access to money. I was greeted by judgmental preschool moms. These were the same women who cooked dinners every week for my husband and kids while I was gone.”
“I jumped up. My first instinct was to get angry and ask him to please not touch me. Then I noticed something. The man was crying. ‘Do you know where my wife is? I’ve been looking for her.’ He was now shaking and crying softly. I was thinking maybe he lost her in the aisles. Hasn’t everyone lost someone this way? I was wrong.”
“There were several times this week my mom said something about death, dying, a funeral, or a body. One time, she actually said, ‘He’s just going to throw my body in the water.’ Does she know something?”
