“I wasn’t prepared for this. I was so caught off guard, I probably looked like a deer in headlights.”
‘I went to a play date at someone’s house. As I stepped through the front door, the mom giggled, ‘Mimosa time!’ My body froze up.’: Mom shares fear of judgement over sobriety, ‘Alcohol free shouldn’t require an explanation’
‘I went into my son’s room to wake him. I could sense something wasn’t right. I remember the pallor of his face as I turned him over. Grey. Porcelain.’: Mom loses rainbow baby to SIDS, ‘The darkness is worth telling; without it, there would not be light’
“I screamed my husband’s name. ‘His stomach is warm!,’ I said out loud. I fell over my baby’s body. Air escaped his throat in a tiny wheeze that sounds like a coo. ‘He made a noise!’ Their faces fell. ‘It’s from the CPR.’ ‘It happens.’ They were trying not to fall apart.”
‘I don’t have a mother.’ ‘Baby, everyone has a mother.’ ‘When you were born, your birth mother asked if WE could be your daddy and papa!’ She searched for people to love you with all their heart.’
“A few more days went by and we figured we had finished that conversation until she asked the heaviest question of all, ‘Who is my birth mother?’ We looked at each other and quickly changed the subject.”
‘If I was so miserable, I should leave.’ Eventually, I did. Our marriage looked perfect on social media. We always believed in keeping our issues private.’
“Our wedding day was intimate. But behind the façade were underlying issues that left a bad taste in my mouth. I was put on the back burner. I was failing him because he was expecting me to prepare a home-cooked meal every day while also juggling maintaining a home and breastfeeding our son.”
‘I love you, sweetie. I’ll call you Friday.’ Those words will forever haunt me. I received a call from my mom when school ended. ‘This is the hardest thing I’ll ever tell you.’ I fell to the floor.’
“My heart sank. I could tell by her voice I had to get home. I still hear the words as she fought back breaking down. ‘We have to go. We have to get there!’ I remember having thought, ‘He seems better. He seems more like himself.’ My dad was back. Boy, was I wrong.”
‘I wasn’t sure if I wanted to tell him I was pregnant. I found out he had been cheating. Just 3 months before, he learned he had a son from a previous relationship. I was a fool.’
“When the doctors delivered him, I didn’t cry with joy, I didn’t ask to see him. I guess I must have dozed off for a second, and he rolled off my chest and hit the side rail. Most moms would have freaked out. My thought was, ‘Oh well.'”
‘If you were to die today, what would happen to your girls?’ I was in a crumbling marriage to an unfaithful spouse, a stressful job and had just been recently diagnosed. My world was ending.’
“I started having severe chest pains. My soon to be ex-husband was determined to make my life a living nightmare. He stopped getting the girls from school, was coming and going from the house at all hours of the night. He treated our home like a roadside motel.”
‘Millions of dollars later, we’re finally home. I get to spend each day with the most amazing 14-pound child imaginable. Dammit, Baby B.’: Family’s amazing journey to overcome infertility
“I bled abundantly, but both babies continued to grow. My husband and I would leave appointments joking ‘dammit Baby B!,’ partially to prepare her for a lifetime of playful comparison, and partially to protect ourselves if something ever happened. We went into our 20-week scan assuming things were perfectly fine. They weren’t.”
‘Here’s a little secret about me: I have three fathers. The one who abused me at 3-years-old opted out of my life. I would say I’m devastated by this loss, but that’s just not the case.’
“You can either repeat the cycle or run from it. I sprinted. Because of a man who hurt me, I have the life I do now. I’ve seen this man cry at his children’s births. My kids are lucky to have a man who always shows up.”
‘There’s tiny hands in the drawer. Maybe it’s my medication and I’m finally losing it, but I can see tiny black hands.’ 5 minute long pause. ‘What? ‘It’s probably a toy.’: Mom recounts hilarious encounter with ‘pterodactyl’
“You ever open a drawer to see two little hands cradling a rolling pin? I did. You can imagine my disgust when I saw this… these little claws. Guess who got the call? Yep. Poor hubby.”