“Martin lost the opportunity to teach Sage how to lace a glove or how to properly stand at home plate. Everything he could have done with Sage, or for Sage. He lost all of that.”
‘This is not just about me. HIS BABY DIED, TOO.’ They dismiss or ignore his grief.’: Woman reminds us dads also need support after losing child, ‘He, too, needs to heal’
‘My body failed me. Betrayed me in the worst way. I wanted it to be a mistake.’: Woman’s first pregnancy results in miscarriage, ‘I’m not going to give up on becoming a mom’
“My husband and I needed to be together, but not at home. Not at the home where we were going to raise our first child together. Where we had the room picked out for the nursery. The home that had every ultrasound image plastered on the fridge.”
‘The nurse said, ‘This poor baby just needs something to eat!’ I knew there was something else going on.’: Woman loses preemie daughter to infection, ‘We have continued to celebrate our girl’
“They had to poke her AGAIN for more blood because they must have mixed up her blood with someone else’s. ‘That couldn’t have been hers,’ the doctor said, ‘she’s not that sick.’ The blood tests came back with the same terrifying results. Our girl was very sick.”
‘His heart kept stopping. It was as though I was adrift at sea, waiting for a life vest.’: Mom births baby with Down syndrome who has open heart surgery, ‘I’ll spend the rest of my life shouting his worth from the rooftops’
“The first 36 hours of my son’s life were some of the worst of mine. I wanted to turn back the clock and return back to my normal life. In that hospital room, it felt as though nothing would ever feel normal again.”
’I woke up hanging from my seat belt. ‘Can you move your legs?’ They hung like dead meat.’: Woman paralyzed from car accident, ‘My mind, soul, and spirit remained untouched’
“My last thought before losing consciousness was that I had killed the car full of people, and those people were my family.”
‘Come on,’ we whispered, willing life into our soundless baby. We took lessons on bringing him home to die.’: Woman loses son to sepsis, ‘Grief taught me the enormity of love’
“First came silence, then fear. We watched helplessly as the nurse administered oxygen. We attempted to rock our baby into heaven. But life had another plan. Now I understand why it’s called The Miracle of Life.”
‘I got the call and instantly threw up. ‘Do you know how sick you are?’ We cried together.’: Young woman with Cystic fibrosis gives tribute to donor, ‘I am forever grateful for the second chance at life’
“I steadily declined. The doctor said, ‘Kenzie, there is what we call a ‘transplant window.’ I need to start the process now before it is too late. My family held hands around my bed. Being rolled away was the hardest part.”
‘What if my body becomes toxic?’ I didn’t trust my ability to carry a life. For so long, I felt broken.’: Woman struggles with anxiety after miscarriages, ‘We feel so lucky to have our rainbow baby’
“I spent the first two weeks of the pregnancy in tears over the fear of miscarrying for the third time. I had some bleeding and it completely crippled me. I was up all night, in tears over the thought of something terrible happening. I felt like my body didn’t work or that, somehow, I was broken.”
‘Unless you have a sick kid, you don’t understand. I wish I only had normal fears. I know any breath could be her last.’: Mom of CHD baby worries during Covid 19, ‘Your fears for your child’s health are NOT bigger than my fears.’
“Her appointment was flat out canceled, and her developmental checks were rescheduled and then canceled. For a normal child, that would be no big deal. For a child who just had major surgery that did not fix everything, those appointments are everything. I wish I could be ignorant like you.”
‘I’m on the floor, asking a friend to break isolation, putting her kids in danger, to come get the lentils from my fridge.’: Woman suffers from ARFID eating disorder
“It means you are happy to eat as many chicken nuggets as your belly can contain, but they must be from Wendy’s, they must be room temperature, and they must be dipped in a 50/50 mixture of ketchup and bbq sauce. If anything in that ritual is changed, then you cannot eat a single bite. Not will not, can not. You would literally rather starve to death then let that food pass over your lips.”