“Without much explanation, the doctor headed back to her office to look over the measurements, leaving me to delve into Google. Without enough info, full of fear and armed with nothing but shock and anxiety, I stumbled upon scary statistics, a lack of information and words that seemed jumbled on the page.”
‘Your baby girl isn’t growing properly.’ My daughter doesn’t need changing. This world does.’: Mom to daughter with dwarfism advocates for inclusion
‘I heard the word ‘defect’ among whispers. Tears flowed, but her worth remained unchanged.’: Mom shares daughter’s journey with Down Syndrome, heart diagnoses
“I had my 20-week anatomy scan. This is always my favorite appointment, where the sonographer details every portion of the growing baby, and I go home to put a perfect sonogram photo on the fridge. This appointment was different.”
‘They told my mom, ‘I don’t think she will survive.’ All of my family came to say goodbye.’: Woman shares 24-year journey to rare Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome diagnosis, interabled love story
“The girl in the hospital bed who could barely walk across the room wouldn’t believe she’d be walking her baby in a stroller, with her trusty poodle by her side, taking care of a home, husband, and a baby all while working full time.”
‘She grabbed the doll in the wheelchair and her Barbie and said, ‘She has walkers too!’: Special needs mom shares daughter’s sweet inclusive moment, ‘I must be doing something right’
“To her, disability is normal. It’s not new, or scary. It’s not unapproachable. In her little pretend play mind, disability is fully included in every scenario. If only everyone in the world had Gabby’s lens.”
‘I woke up to my boyfriend panicking on the phone with 911. I had one too many.’: Woman shares sobriety, Epilepsy acceptance journey
“I kept drinking to fit in; I didn’t want to feel left out. I was in denial.”
‘You can’t tell me I’m not allowed to grieve.’: Special needs mom says ‘my feelings are valid’
“I’m not grieving WHO he is. I grieve the parts which bring me to my knees in tears – watching what his little body has to endure.”
‘Your wife looks really suspicious for Munchausen’s by proxy.’ He warned other doctors about me.’: Mom to medically complex child urges ‘ALWAYS trust your gut’ after doctor’s malpractice
“I later learned he had a pattern of doing this to mothers. It’s unfortunately a very real reality for mothers of chronically ill children.”
‘She will be in a wheelchair her entire life.’: 6-year-old walks for first time after widowed dad raises 100k for life-changing surgery
“She has defied all odds.”
‘The very best thing we could have ever done.’: Special needs mom raises feeding tube awareness
“I no longer cried countless tears over calories. I no longer looked into my child’s terrified eyes when the bottle would come near him. I no longer frantically called my mom asking if 2 ounces was all he really consumed that day.”
‘I am tired.’: Special needs mom urges ‘this massive weight of motherhood, it’s always with me’
“It’s the weight of the next doctor appointment. It’s the weight of new diagnoses added to our plate. It’s the weight of remembering which specialist follow-up is due in which month at which hospital. It’s the weight of am I doing enough for her, what more should I be doing, and why do I feel so alone while I am doing it all?”