“When I arrived at the ER, that’s when things started to get critical. It’s like my body knew I was finally in the right place, in the right care, and it could stop fighting. My lips and turned blue and my oxygen dropped. I couldn’t stand up any longer. Both lungs revealed patches where COVID-19 was present.”
“You probably spent your whole life trying to NOT get pregnant. Taking the pill, using condoms, panicking when your period was a few days late, taking a pregnancy test with your girlfriends and praying you wouldn’t see two pink lines. Now here you are, desperately hoping.”
“A tight smile on my face and a pang in my heart, I joked along, but something felt off. His painful cries stopped, and his little body became rigid with eyes that would no longer focus. I was done trying to not be the overly sensitive mom – it was time to sound some alarms. After only knowing our son for 5 short days, he was taken away on a helicopter in critical condition.”
“They are at home making videos about how people like my son move, jump, flap, bounce and dance to express themselves. We are supposed to laugh and be entertained? Well, we are not.”
“Mothers all over the world are literally being tortured. And I guess when you ask or complain about it, you’re met with, ‘Well if you can’t hack it then you shouldn’t have had kids.’ I mean calm down Betty.”
“I remember the drive to the hospital, telling Jose I wasn’t ready, that I couldn’t do this, and just crying. He grabbed my hand and told me, ‘Baby, no matter what happens today, no matter how long or short her life is, she will know if nothing else LOVE.’ Scared and shaking, I received her on my chest. Our 60 minutes in heaven started.”
“She’s had 100 brain surgeries. I’ve sat alone in a waiting room in the middle of the night after signing consent forms for emergency surgery, not knowing how she was going to be when she made it out. If she made it out. But it’s obvious she’s not giving up.”
“My friend shared that she was inspired on her way home from her essential job one day. She emphasized she used the word ‘inspired’ intentionally because the train of thought just appeared to her like a gift.”
“You didn’t get the ‘healthy one.’ But still, you hold up your head, move forward, and smile. You never back down. Your motherhood was not the way that you planned. But today you love more—and stronger you stand.”
“I stumbled forward. A man stopped his shopping. I looked him dead in the eye. ‘This may sound strange now, but I think my leg just broke.’ People started gathering around me. Instead of taking my finals, I broke up with my boyfriend, began to lose my friends, and went from doctor to doctor. No one could explain what was wrong with me.”
