“We have three new foster children and the trenches of trauma and grief are deep. My village stepped into the trenches and sat with me. They didn’t ask me what I needed, they just started providing.”
‘I hit bottom. Knees to the ground, ugly tears in the shower. My friends stepped in. They didn’t ask what I needed because honestly, I’m in so deep I have no idea what I need.’
‘Come back to me, please. I love you.’ Her lips turned the darkest shade of blue. I was paralyzed.’: Mom mourns loss of baby girl, says rainbow baby ‘brings the sun back out for me’
“I was on my knees praying to God to save my baby. No mother should ever have to see their babies open chest cavity. My daughter died in my arms as I sang, ‘You are my Sunshine.’ I had to find a way to survive.”
‘Ewww put that away. I’ll never get stretchmarks like that when I’m pregnant.’ It was such a personal attack – feelings of shame and disgust had me cringing at my husband’s touch.’
“I was left curled up on the couch in the fetal position. I remember grabbing my thighs and crying to my husband, ‘How am I so big already? How could I possibly get any bigger?’ My 3-year-old son asked, ‘Mama, what’s wrong with your belly?’”
‘She came running into the house screaming. ‘What? What is it?’ She pointed to the open front door. ‘Daddy. The bird.’: Widow’s late husband tries to appease daughter, ‘Nothing is broken forever’
“I didn’t know what happened, but I knew something was wrong. She buried her head into my neck sobbing. ‘Outside.’ All the color drained from my husband’s face as he stood next to a ladder on the front porch, holding something in his hand.”
I Was Sexually Assaulted By A Family Member, And I’m Finally Speaking My Truth
“I can remember looking over at my brother who was still asleep. I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. I was too scared so I laid there, not speaking, thinking about the innocence I would never get back. He hurt me in the worst way that night.”
‘Get down!’ Oh my God, people are really dying here.’: Man’s harrowing first-person perspective from Las Vegas mass shooting, is ‘resilient’ now after PTSD
“I wanted to speak to my mom in case I didn’t make it out. ‘Mom, there is a shooter here, we are on the floor, please stay on the phone with me.’”
‘I hid my habits. On the way to visit my boyfriend, I’d down a burger in my car, hide the evidence, then go to dinner a few hours later like a proper lady. Salad only, please.’: Woman struggles to find her self worth
“When I moved, all the women looked like movie stars. Blonde with bountiful boobs, thin waists, and faces full of makeup. I went for a haircut and told the stylist I felt so out of place; I’d never be able to compete with these women. He stopped his snipping just long enough to say, ‘Sure you will. If you’re willing to pay enough.’”
‘I was about a mile away from my parents’ house when I saw a pair of headlights coming at me in my lane. I was so scared it was going to burst into flames. I sat in front of the car screaming.’
“I brushed it off and thought, ‘Oh there’s no way I’m pregnant.’ I went to Tennessee for a week for my birthday. I had my cousin buy me a bottle of Jager and I couldn’t even drink, it made me so sick. When I got home, I took another test. Sure, enough I was pregnant.”
‘I wish I could prepare you for the news you’ll receive just hours after snapping this blissful picture. I know you’ve been worried about the size of your happy baby’s belly.’
“He’s such a happy, calm baby. He’s never been sick, so you know there has to be an easy solution to whatever is causing his belly to appear big… A simple solution that may bring a few small moments of fear and discomfort, but after that, all will be fine.”
‘She had dark curls behind her ears, a tiny chin, and the most precious rosebud lips. I had never seen anything more exquisitely beautiful than her.’: Parents lose daughter to ‘cord accident,’ explain ‘We will never know why’
“My husband posted a photo of me with my pregnant belly in front of the window during a downpour complete with lightning the night before her due date. The caption read, ‘Watching the storm, waiting on the storm.’ If only we had known what we were in for.”