“I was 6 when I wore my first bathing suit in a beauty competition. I was 8 when my dance instructor told my mom I was too chubby. I was 15 when I became addicted to diet pills. After seeing myself go through so much to bring my children into the world, I now know that worthiness is my birthright.”
“It was a quiet dinner; not many words were exchanged. We just sat together and acknowledged what was coming. He held my hand and made sure I drank and ate whatever I wanted. When we were done, I went home to feelings of intense physical pain. I didn’t want to go to the ER. I just had to wait.”
“My husband gripped my hand firmly and hugged me. ‘Please take care of our boy. Do anything you need to make sure he’s going to be ok.’ I reached out to hold his little hand. He couldn’t even grip it. His eyes were unable to open. He couldn’t close his mouth. He just lay there. The geneticist told us, ‘These types of cases very rarely live to see their 6-month birthday.’ He then shook my hand and left. I was in literaly hell.”
“When I first looked at her, I knew something was different. I asked my husband, ‘What did you think when you went to see her?’ He replied, ‘She’s just so perfect and beautiful.’ I couldn’t shake what was in the back of my mind.”
“We all have that inner voice that tells us when something is wrong. Something in your gut. Mine was saying this news wasn’t going to be good. The gynecologist came in, sat next to me on the bed, and said, ‘I’m sorry kiddo.'”
“‘I don’t look the same as when you last saw me. I’m not doing too well,’ I said. My face was a mess. I had cuts and blood in my nostrils. In that coffee shop, I sat across from him crying. I was scared of telling anyone.”
“It seemed like a match made in heaven. ‘We’re still kids,’ we can remember her saying. And then we got THE CALL.”
“I kept wondering how I would get out. He must have decided the kids were too much to handle on his own. I sat in ICU while he was declared brain dead and thought about everything that happened. I felt sadness, anger, shock. The biggest emotion I felt was relief. I no longer had to fight to be respected. I felt free.”
“We got the call. THE CALL. A baby had been born the day prior, and his birth mother had chosen us to raise him. We spent the next 12 hours frantically rushing around. And then, literally on our way out the door, we got another call: she had changed her mind. This wasn’t our baby.”
“Now when I think back to that moment, I can’t help but wonder why she didn’t tell us just how much joy and happiness Asher would bring us. Or how much closer our family would be because of him. Why didn’t she tell us it would be a HAPPY ending, and that Asher would change the world?”
