“This man then goes on to mumble homophobic slurs to me, the whole time I’m waiting in line. I ignore him, pay for my food, and start to walk away. I then notice his card gets declined.”
‘I was standing in line. An older gentleman said, ‘Why are you wearing that rainbow shirt? Are you some sort of fa***t?’: Man encounters homophobia for wearing rainbow shirt
‘She said I’d be a great foster mom. ‘Me?! Isn’t that for young people? We are grandparents, for goodness sakes!’: Grandparents take leap of faith and become foster parents
“We haven’t located any family.’ ‘When will we get her?’ ‘Tonight. Now.’ At 11:30 p.m., we brought our foster daughter, Laycee, into our home. Six months later, we got another call. ‘Mrs. Morgan? We have a 3-year-old little boy in the PICU. He’s been here 6 months and needs a home.”
‘She calmly said, ‘You’re a complicated case.’ I replied, ‘I know,’ with laughter. ‘No, the babies, this is a really complicated pregnancy.’ In that moment, my world shattered. I knew.’
“‘Are you sure your OB has heard the heartbeat on the Doppler? Maybe she is just hiding!’ I knew then, they were buying time.”
‘He looked at me screaming, helpless because he felt they were torturing him. All mommy could do was hold him tight, but not stop them. The room caved in on me. I wasn’t ready.’
“I took him to his pediatrician with no knowledge of what was to happen later that evening. The doctor walked in, looked at his stomach bulging out on the left side, and told me to go straight to the Children’s Hospital.”
‘That baby in the photo, the one you can’t see. The one who’s all snuggled up inside her mama. She did not survive.’
“I had been in the hospital for a week being monitored. I was in the safest place that I could be and under constant supervision. And then, it happened.”
‘I couldn’t catch my breath. I tried to call my husband, but I was shaking so much I couldn’t even hit the call button on my phone.’
“Things escalated so fast. But, truthfully, I didn’t have a choice.”
‘Before kids you sleep in. After kids you’re whacked in the face at 5 a.m. because you’re someone’s little breakfast making machine because sleep is overrated.’
“Before kids, you make out in your big bed, have a little nasty time and fall asleep lovingly in each other’s arms. After kids, you promise you’ll meet up later and lock the bathroom door for some adult time, but instead you both fall asleep snoring.”
‘The doctor starts clicking away on the ultrasound machine, trying to get a better look. ‘Well, you are pregnant.’ He said it looked ‘good.’ Then, he went silent.’
“I woke up at 1 a.m. on our wedding anniversary, and felt like I needed to go to the bathroom. This wasn’t unusual. I had been pregnant for over a month. But something didn’t feel right.”
‘I asked a friend to hold my drink while I went to the restroom and she set the drink down. We always stuck together but my friend went home with a guy, breaking our agreed upon friend code.’
“Finally, after a long ten year battle, and a few amazing people, I urged the police department to re-open my case.”
‘I easily doubled the speed limit. ‘We’re gonna make it buddy. You’re gonna be okay. Mommy loves you.’ I talked to him the whole way.’: Mom recounts son’s horrible experience with RSV
“I thought, ‘Hey, these ladies are kind of doctors, they’ll know what to do.’ I asked their advice. ‘Does he seem sick? Should I bring him in?’ The doctor had JUST examined him. The women wholeheartedly agreed it was probably just a cold and he’d be just fine. Oh naive me. I would slap the stupid out of me if I could go back.”