“I fought back tears all day. I’d have breakdowns in the back of the classroom. I didn’t talk to my sisters for 6 months while living under the same roof. I’d never felt so alone.”
“I fought back tears all day. I’d have breakdowns in the back of the classroom. I didn’t talk to my sisters for 6 months while living under the same roof. I’d never felt so alone.”
“Not many people understand what it’s like to have your brother or sister leave with almost no warning. We hold that pain alone. It’s important to have a community.”
“I felt Rosie’s presence in the room so strongly. I couldn’t see her. But I could feel her. As if my midwife knew what was going through my head, she reassured me, ‘This birth is different. This is your son’s birth. It doesn’t have to be sad and awful, it can be beautiful.'”
“I wasn’t sure I’d ever find a person to accept me for who I am, but I knew one day I wanted to become a dad. I had no clue how it would ever happen.”
“I went into situations thinking, ‘They all hate me.’ I didn’t want to admit I had a drinking problem. I was in denial until I hit rock bottom.”
“The pediatrician said, ‘Has anyone talked to you about Finn’s eyes?’ They were dilated and pried open as I sat in the corner in tears.”
“Not long after I arrived home, I missed my period. ‘What do you want to do?’ How could I have a child? I was 30, living in a 1-bedroom apartment. Freddy couldn’t even visit, let alone live here.”
“I held him and assured him, ‘We’ll get through this together.’ We got through that relapse. And the next one. He relapsed three more times. And then, just like that, he was gone.”
“I was in the process of grabbing a handful of pads to put in my bag when I felt my heart in my throat. My period was not just due—it was overdue. My sister came back in the room. ‘Start thinking about what your fun aunt name will be.’ Despite all odds, I was pregnant on my first try.”
“My belly is squishy and bears the stretch marks of the babies I carried more than a few years ago. For a long time, I thought I had to either learn to love every bit of my body or figure out how to change it.”