“While I lay on the operating table, my husband sat in the waiting room, wondering if he would lose all three children and his wife in one day. As he overheard the doctors, one word stood out.”
‘My eyes darted back and forth as I tried to make sense of where I was. As the fog lifted inside my head, I vaguely remembered bits and pieces of the day before, events that changed my life.’
‘I stood there, firm in my stance, hands on my hips, and let them cry rivers all around me – to the point I became an island. Just a big ole, mean mom island.’
“I sure won’t apologize for it. I had to stop caring whether they were having a good time. I made sure my children knew, once and for all, I am more than a friend.”
‘I can’t! I can’t!’, it hurt so much in my chest at that moment I couldn’t say anything else. We were relieved our little girl’s suffering was about to end, just not the way we had hoped.’
“We were told she would be okay. We were told she was strong. We were led to believe she wouldn’t need to be hospitalized. After being intubated, her father was showering, and I heard what sounded like crackling.”
‘I think he has what mommy has!’ He had white chunks of skin around his fingers and toes’: Mom and son diagnosed with Ichthyosis genetic skin condition
“I looked at the ultrasound picture with his hand balled up in a fist. In that moment, I knew. I felt guilty that my choice to potentially pass on this genetic condition could cause one of my children to have a less than perfect life.”
‘No one will miss you.’ I said goodbye to my kids. Everything went white.’: Woman thanks husband’s ‘mistress’ for ‘saving her’ after abuser attempts to take her life
“He briefly took his hand off of my throat and forced the barrel into my mouth. This was my gun, and I couldn’t stop him from turning it on me. I said goodbye to my kids, in my head. I thought of them coming downstairs to find me dead. His phone buzzed, and he stopped. His mistress was at the house. MPs, SWAT, NCIS, and a case worker. Every military wife in the neighborhood was outside my home, gawking.”
‘I kept bleeding, I had pain. They assured me it would ‘be over soon.’ I just didn’t feel right. I went to another OBGYN, and I got in THAT DAY. It sounded so morbid.’
“I called my husband sobbing, feeling like there was an elephant sitting on my chest. Not only did dissolving a pregnancy, a baby with a heartbeat, feel so morally wrong, I felt like a complete failure. After all, it was absolutely my tubes that were the problem.”
‘My healthy, 39-year-old husband said he felt ‘off.’ In the ER the doctor met me in the hall with tears in her eyes.’: Healthy, 39-year-old husband dies suddenly from ‘catastrophic’ tear in aorta
“Yes. He was gone and I had to sign paperwork to take him off life support. My mom showed up and she was hysterical. I thought to myself, ‘pull yourself together, I need you to be strong and support me.’ She immediately pulled me out into the hall and said, ‘Your sister died last night.’ What.”
‘Things look good, TOO good.’ For the first time ever, I was pregnant! We tried to hide our excitement.’: After adoption, woman discovers she is pregnant with triplets
“We received word that we would be able to adopt! Finally, my dreams were coming true. The night before my first scan, I started bleeding. My dreams of being pregnant were crushed.”
‘I knew something was up. She walked over to the couch, sits down, turns the TV on and I realized. It’s freaking Bachelor season.’
“It’s the grand opening. It’s like a crazy hormonal circus for married chicks. You bet your right freaking leg she can Instafollow, Snapchat and Facestalk 24 random women, working with nothing more than a first name a grid reference of 200 square miles.”
‘When they come out, everyone is gone. ‘What are we going to do?’ ‘I don’t know.’ They both begin to panic.’: Kids without smartphones forced to problem-solve, realize it made them ‘more likely to succeed’
“Their father is nowhere in sight. They have no way of contacting their parents. Michael is getting nervous. ‘We’re going to ask that policeman if we can use his phone,’ she says bravely. They approach the officer. Michael is afraid to speak. So is Emma.”
‘My world was spinning. How is this possible? He didn’t realize it at the time. His heart was a ticking time bomb.’
“He hadn’t been feeling well. First a case of the flu, then what we thought was walking pneumonia. He ate well, worked out, quit smoking. What had he done wrong to deserve this? Little did we know, the journey was about to begin.”
‘When I wiped, I felt something coming out. I got a sick feeling in my stomach – I knew what was about to happen.’: LGBT couple battle infertility, miscarriages, loss of triplets to have rainbow baby
“I laid on that cold bed, put my feet in the stirrups and prayed. After moments that felt like forever, my doctor looked up at me. ‘You’re having twins!’ We were in shock. But seconds later, our doctor had a weird look on her face. She said, ‘Wait! I think I see triplets!’”
‘I’ll catch you.’ My husband was chasing me. It was 28 degrees outside. I ran 2 miles, barefoot, to the police station, for my life.’: Mother finds courage to leave abusive husband after realizing this is ‘not love’
“The next morning, I tried to sit up, and that’s when I knew something had happened. My husband was sleeping like a baby next to me but his knuckles looked bruised and swollen. I scanned the room for my phone, and noticed it placed neatly on his bedside table… only mine was smashed beyond repair.”
Young Woman Becomes First Female High School Quarterback
“Someday one of these girls will see me and say ‘because of you I tried, I did something I didn’t think I could do, I am a winner, thank you.’ When that day comes I will be complete.”
‘He looked other worldly, like a magical being. I thought, ‘WOW! Am I the chosen one?’ Everyone was going nuts about his ‘blond’ hair. He was the star of the ward.’
“My OBGYN looked at my husband. ‘WOW, check out the hair!! Does anyone in your family have blond hair??’ Deep in pushing, I yelled back at him, ‘Can we have this conversation later?’”
‘He was named ‘Baby Boy’ since his mother left just hours after birth. Could they have the same mother? Something was different about this one.’: Mom ‘miraculously’ adopts children with same birth mother
“‘Hmmm, that’s funny their moms have the same name,’ I told my roommate. My roommate and I were looking at each other wondering if we were thinking the same thing. Part of me wanted to blab it all in that moment and reveal this huge secret.”
‘Let him move, God,’ I would silently plead over and over. We endured 9 long months of uncertainty. I easily lose patience and become consumed with exhaustion.’
“For me, it was 9 months of living in fear that each kick from within, each twinge, each flutter, would be the last. And for him, it was 9 months of surviving in a womb that had left his two previous siblings without breath, a womb that had seen more death than life.”
This Is What A Diastasis Recti Belly Looks Like After Birthing Twins, And I Will No Longer Be Shamed
“Am I 100% thrilled all the time with how my body looks in every picture? No, but I share it anyways, and I share the way it feels to look different than society thinks you should.”
‘It was only yesterday we were reckless and 18, and now we have an entire world of responsibility. Time is never guaranteed.’
“Since the age of 13 when I began to crave that drivers license, 16 when I began to crave freedom, 18 when I began to crave independence, I’ve been wishing to be further ahead in time. If only we knew how fast the time would actually go.”
‘Babies ruin bodies.’ The body I worked hard for, to eat next to nothing, to exercise any indulgence out of, would all go to waste once I decided to get pregnant.’
“Loose skin, stretched skin, white lines. Abdominal separation, prolapses, third degree tears and cesarean scars. Weight gain and weight loss. Wider hips, bigger breasts. It’s all there. A body that is a far cry from what it was. ‘Babies ruin bodies’”
‘9 years ago, my dad caught a cold virus. 3 years later, my mom was diagnosed with aggressive nasal cancer. Her stomach bloated like she was 7 months pregnant. Was this really happening again?’
“Things were looking up, so we thought.”
‘This year, I did a thing. A great, big, huge, beautiful thing. I put my wedding ring back on.’: Widow wears wedding ring as a physical reminder of the kind of man she deserves
“I will not take this ring off again until I meet the man who recognizes my value and wants to love me completely – just like my husband. I will no longer waste my time trying to convince somebody to pick me.”
‘There are items that are impossible to let go of, even if they are broken. My dad bought them for my children. He died almost 3 years ago.’
“Getting rid of anything he had a hand in giving them seems impossible. It’s like little by little, the things he was a part of die slowly over the years, and I don’t want to aide in that disappearance. Every time I look at it, I think about my dad.”
‘I got on the bus. 3 boys yelled, ‘Hey white boy!’ Mom, I was nervous. I was the only white boy on the bus. They asked if I use the N-word. ‘No, my Stepdad is black. He’s my family.’: Mom of autistic son finds new love
“Austin, my son with autism, asked him, ‘Have you killed anyone in a war?’ I quickly tried to hush him up. He looked at Austin and said, ‘No, but I know bullets can kill.’ Austin looked perplexed. ‘Do you like video games?’ ‘Yes, I love video games.’ Austin smiled from ear to ear.”
‘As quickly as the joy and relief entered the room, the terror began. Our perfect girl who had a perfect heartbeat 2 minutes before, was born without one.’
‘Let her live Lord. Just let her live. I’ll be better. I’ll be the best. I’ll never sin or cuss or be mad at my husband. I’ll cherish her. I don’t care if she is delayed. I’m a therapist, God…I can handle it. Just. Let. Her. Live.’