“‘You are having twins!’ I looked at my husband. We were in total shock. When we went to the doctor experiencing bleeding, we were sure something else was the issue — not twins. It was a dream come true. Minutes later, I sat on the toilet. I heard a ‘pop.’ I felt this flow of water between my legs.”
“He’d deliberately go out and ‘ghost’ me. I felt trapped in a thick fog of confusion, heartbreak, and betrayal. My children and I grew to appreciate when he left to work. We could be ourselves and not have to walk on eggshells. Every time he’d swindle his way back in, I felt like I betrayed myself.”
“I was close to starting my second trimester and knew I couldn’t go to the doctors without my parents’ knowledge. My brother came home to help me tell my them. They ragged on him for 4 hours about his life choices before I finally pulled the plug. ‘Mom, Dad. I’m pregnant.’ The next week was a daze of my parents trying figure out what to do while I tried to keep food down.”
“Everyday interactions like strangers asking about my baby in the grocery store felt like ripping open a wound. I tried to prepare my 3-year-old for the chance that his baby sister may not come home from the hospital. As my due date approached, we considered planning for a funeral. But how do you truly prepare for the death of a child? I felt so bitter.”
“Then, everything shifted. ‘You don’t have CANCER, you can GET OVER IT’. My husband was like a deer in the headlights. The phone rings. What? How? I can’t do this AGAIN without them.”
“I was so tired of being the ‘fat friend.’ I started getting up at 5 a.m. to do my hair and makeup. I bought ‘promiscuous’ clothing and dropped to a size 0. When I was sent away to rehab for not eating, it took my so-called ‘friends’ over a year and a half to even notice I was gone. I could feel that something was still missing in my life, but I didn’t know what.”
“‘Can my day just be done?,’ I heard her say. She then said a word that took me by surprise, and scared me: ‘Abort.’”
“We were only allowed in the water to our ankles. We tried to make the best of our beach day. Monday morning, my daughter woke up with pain in her calf. I can’t help but feel sick to my stomach. We were on vacation, enjoying the warm weather and waves. Now, here we are, fighting to save her life.”
“It was the one month anniversary of Albert’s death. ‘I trust you,’ I said.”
“I headed to the hospital. I remember being in the room, feeling blood dripping from my body. I watched my friend’s body bleed simultaneously, signs of life, as she waited to bring her baby into the world. A life leaving and a life beginning all in the same room at the same moment. I was transfixed.”
