“I didn’t just wake up one day with my body not fitting into jeans. I didn’t just wake up with muscle separation, a saggy belly, stretch marks or a bit of extra weight. I had a freaking baby. I grew a baby. I made it in my body. I made a foot in there, an eyeball, I made another heartbeat.”
“You sat with me when I couldn’t hold back the tears. You carried my mom when she was too weak to walk. You held her hand the day she died because you didn’t want her to be alone.”
“Go back to work 6 weeks after having the baby. The baby you spent 9-10 months growing inside of your body. Make sure to break the glass ceiling and excel at your job – you can do anything a man can do! It is your job to show society this! Show the world that women can do it all. Rise to the top of your career.”
“My husband and I began to brainstorm. Peyton and Parker were always our favorites. That was the easy part — Peyton and Parker were alive. Several floors below, in the hospital morgue, was our peaceful angel, only known as ‘Baby A.’ How was I supposed to name a child I only looked at for a few hours?”
“She told me she lost her husband and that tomorrow would have been their 60th anniversary.”
“It didn’t work out. He wasn’t mine to keep, but I finally realized what our relationship was meant for. I thank my daughter’s father for giving me the greatest gift I could ever know.”
‘I was in survivor mode. I wouldn’t let myself feel. I couldn’t be weak; I had to keep going. People asked, ‘When will they grow out of it?’ I remember getting to a point where I thought, ‘This is going to kill me. I need to accept it.'”
“She stepped out of the room to give my OB a call. My mind went crazy. She must’ve been calling for backup. I was crying in complete confusion. Two? TWINS? No one gets pregnant and thinks ‘Yay! I’m going to have babies!’ It’s always, ‘Yay! I’m going to have A baby!’ But I had this strange feeling in my chest.”
“I went back to work after maternity leave. I felt pretty good about the babysitter I found. She had a baby of her own whom she stayed at home with. I met her boyfriend (father of her baby). For two weeks, I went over on every lunch to check on him. Then I got the phone call.”
“You’re thinking: ‘How are we supposed to know if you don’t tell us?’ It doesn’t work like that, at least not for me. I haven’t been there recently. Have you noticed? I don’t have it in me.”
