“‘Are you SURE?’ I asked the doc, reading the report. ‘It would be like being struck by lightening TWICE. He’s fine.’ They were wrong. He was SICK. Sicker than any baby I’d seen.”
- Love What Matters
- Family
“‘Are you SURE?’ I asked the doc, reading the report. ‘It would be like being struck by lightening TWICE. He’s fine.’ They were wrong. He was SICK. Sicker than any baby I’d seen.”
“I have a facial difference that I cover daily. I haven’t had the courage to show my facial difference. Why? Because the town I live in now, well, most of them have no idea it’s even there. I’m worried I’ll be dubbed ‘the girl with the birthmark,’ like I have so many times before.”
“At first, I saw just a blob on the screen. I didn’t think much of it until the ultrasound tech zoomed in. I saw arms, legs, eyes, fingers…this was a real freaking baby in me! I didn’t know whether to cry or laugh, be happy or sad. I never felt a connection to this thing inside of me until I saw it. As time went by, I was counting down the days until I could meet my son. He was the only thing that kept me going.”
“I felt disgusted with myself. Why couldn’t I just put the pump down? I knew this decision would allow me more time to hold my baby, yet I was still holding on to this expectation of myself. I didn’t want to be strapped to a machine that was yielding no results…. Yet here I was.”
“Y’all. Things got worse. ‘MOM! The basement is leaking!’ In that 3.5 seconds, my doorbell rings. I run down because my pea-sized BRAIN forgets to process ‘put on pants.’ It’s the plumber I completely forgot I called. Steve goes downstairs. I have 15 minutes. Guess who is wrong? Yup. Me again. Steve done come BACK into the house while I’m laying down a quick colombian hot sloppy in the bathroom.”
“We stood in astonishment. Prior to this, he’d only known how to say one word: ‘Dog.’ My wife and I leaned in to tell him we loved him. He looked up again and said, ‘I love you.’ We held his little hand, his little frail body in my arms, and begged him to visit us. I asked him to watch over his siblings. We put him in the black Suburban, and watched them drive away.”
“This is what they will always be to you. But dang it if I don’t want to go back to that time when he looked up at his big sister, and was so proud. This year I’ll send that murderous clown out into the neighborhood hoping he’s polite and that people can see past his horrific costume.”
“‘You can be a Mom. You don’t need a husband.’ I couldn’t ignore how her words resonated with the deepest part of my heart. ‘Can I really do this?’ I asked the nurse, ‘is everything okay?’ She shook her head and said, ‘no.’ I was disoriented. ‘What are you saying?’ This pulled a strength out of me I never knew I had.”
“The last thing I want is a friend crying to me over the phone, holding her newborn, telling me she’s not cut out for this. So, I told her the truth. That most nights I sleep 4 hours. My relationship suffered, my body changed, and I got the baby blues. That I’m still mourning the carefree girl I was before, who loved not knowing what tomorrow would bring. I’m still letting her go.”
“‘Hey Girl, what you up to?’ ‘That’s my cousin, I’ll introduce ya.’ She motioned him over. Jasper winked and walked back to the car. ‘Girl he is waaaay too old for you,’ she cautioned. ‘Age ain’t nothing but a number. I like the way he looks.’ I was smitten.”