“I remember sitting in the nursery almost every night, rocking in the glider and smiling. I have experienced multiple physical miscarriages, but they did not hurt me as much as this news did.”
‘We had made a place in our homes and hearts for the child we were going to adopt. It hurt like someone had died.’: Mom’s miracle births, adoption after infertility battle, failed adoption
‘I lost my capacity to bathe. Drowning, my depression took a dark, deep turn. And then came the muffins.’: Trauma survivor touched by friend’s kindness long after ‘world moved on’
“The meals stopped. The last sympathy card was sent. People stopped asking about our challenges. As the world moved on without me, my circumstances remained the same. But every year, you remember us.”
‘No, this is not my husband holding our newborn daughter. He is not my brother, cousin, or a friend I’ve known a lifetime.’: Mom thanks neonatologist for kindness through loss, birth of child
“This is the same doctor who I looked up at in between deep howls as we kissed our son goodbye two years ago. The same doctor who attended our son’s funeral. The same doctor who called and reached out countless times after our son’s passing, just to check on us. This time, these were tears of joy.”
‘I’m seeing something.’ My heart sank. This is it. I’ve lived a good life. She pointed to the screen. ‘That’s a yolk sac.’: Mom’s ovarian mass ultrasound turned surprise baby discovery
“I shot him a text: ‘Brace yourself. I have news.’ Would he be mad? Excited? Scared? He called immediately.”
‘I’d lie on the bathroom floor and tell God I was ready; he could take me. I’ll never be fully healed.’: Mom loses 6-day-old son to rare metabolic disorder, shares reality of grief
“One of the worst parts of all this is how gravely mistaken society is on what death and grief are actually like. As horrific as it is to simply imagine the loss of a child, it still doesn’t even graze the surface of what this pain is truly like.”
‘How could this active, healthy boy need surgery? How could I care for him after major surgery of my own?’: Mom shares ‘blessings’ after kidney donation, son’s open-heart surgery
“I struggled with the idea I scheduled his surgery in the middle of baseball season, and he may never be able to play baseball again. I felt like I was taking the joy from my son.”
‘I had no one who could relate, no one I could talk to. I needed to help women like me, to make their voices heard.’: Endometriosis warrior becomes nurse, fertility coach to advocate for others
“The women I saw in the clinic needed more. They needed someone to help them navigate their journey, a listening ear. You never think something like this could happen to you, until it does.”
‘From birth, he began growing in length and weight. Judgement was cast from others who’d never seen anything like our boy before. Doctors were hitting dead ends.’: Bardet Biedl warrior diagnosed after 5-year quest for answers
“One day I went to grab the mail, only to find a surprise letter that took me off my guard. I immediately scanned the letter with my phone app and emailed it to his primary care pediatrician. ‘Am I reading what I think I am?’ Literally in shock, after over 1826 days, I was holding a letter that confirmed Joshua, our boy.”
‘As I snapped photos of our barely 1-year-old twins, I jokingly said to my husband, ‘Maybe I’m pregnant!’: Woman births twins, third child after infertility battle, navigates Eosinophilic Esophagitis
“My husband looked shell-shocked with a one-year-old baby in each arm. ‘How are we going to do this? We already have two babies.’ I was feeling nauseous and extremely hungry. I also couldn’t stop sleeping.”
‘Don’t you want a child of your own?’ I do have a child of my own. She’s our child in every sense of the word.’: Mom shares grief and anxiety in international adoption journey
“It was hard being in the dark, but it was even harder thinking over and over again we weren’t good enough to be chosen. Grief and anxiety cause irrational fears and feelings of unworthiness, which was exactly what I was tackling. My poor husband felt powerless to help.”