“I sat on the stairs thinking, ‘surely he will get sick of yelling at me at some point.’ He didn’t. So I locked myself in the bathroom. He broke the door down.”
‘He was gentle, humble and funny. But he perfected deceit. The counselor urgently told me to take my kids and ‘get out while you still can.’
‘We are expecting twins. But, not just ANY twins. We sat together on the bed and just held each other.’: Lesbian couple pregnant with twins using an egg from each, ‘There were no words’
“Before we were even ‘out,’ the church preschool where we both worked found out about our relationship and fired us. We were told we were living a life of sin.”
‘I walked into the NICU. Her nurse said, ‘Hey momma, I was just about to call you.’ I knew that wasn’t good. My heart started pounding. I could feel it in my ears as I choked back tears.’
“‘Am I allowed to kiss her?,’ I asked the nurse through tears. I didn’t want to leave. I cried even harder as they wheeled me out. I was frantic inside.”
‘I couldn’t walk without my body feeling like broken glass. How did this happen? All of a sudden I was a vegetable.’
“My head was spinning, my body was giving up on me, and the medications were slowly killing me. If I didn’t take my health into my own hands – I would be dead by now.”
‘I heard him speaking to my OB. ‘It’s nothing to worry about – it’s just a little spotting,’ he told her. As that word ‘just’ rolled off his tongue, I cringed.’
“I’ll never forget laying in that cold, sterile room, praying that I was wrong, hoping that I was being overly cautious. But I knew with certainty I wasn’t.”
‘Both of our babies had cancer. In 2 weeks, our 6-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son began the fight for their lives.’: Mother describes ‘worst day’ of her life after children diagnosed with medulloblastoma
“‘I’m sorry, but we found a mass in your daughter’s brain.’ I thought that would be the worst day of my life. Little did I know, only 13 days later, THAT would actually be the worst day of my life. In a different ER, a few floors below from where my daughter was, another doctor pulled a different curtain, looked at my husband and me, and said, ‘I’m sorry.’ Time stopped at that moment.”
‘I’m 10 years older, and 20 pounds heavier. I carry tweezers in my car to pluck chin hairs. I still have acne. And I refuse to apologize for it.’: Woman talks aging, self love journey
“I learned to compete, not with the girl standing next to me, but with the girl I used to be. I learned that strong women stumble, and even stronger women ask for help when they need it. I learned that worry doesn’t change anything, except my level of energy.”
‘The doctors looked at my parents. ‘We have no idea how this child is still alive.’ At that moment, the relief was greater than the fear. They were finally going to help me.’
“We didn’t know how hard it would be on my body. And what if I got pregnant with twins? That would make an already high risk pregnancy, that much more high risk.”
‘I got knocked up by the first guy I ever met from Tinder.’: Woman courageously places son for adoption after unexpected pregnancy
“‘I want to build us a van to live in. We can show our kid the world.’ I wish I remembered exactly what he said—I was rage-deaf by that point. It was the moment I knew we weren’t going to raise this baby.”
‘It was only weeks since we’d said ‘I do.’ I don’t remember what the fight was about. His hand was wrapped in my hair, close to my scalp. Then he yanked. There I was, a pastor’s wife.’
“I was about to get in the shower when the phone rang. Surprised, as it was around 7:45 a.m., I stared at my mother-in-law’s name on the screen. My heart sank. He had left me a few voicemails a few days prior.”